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For him, she was not simply the woman who raised him. She was the woman who sacrificed her own comfort to make sure her children had an education and a chance at a better future.
The memory of his mother remains deeply emotional for Dr Isaac Kofi Adjei-Maafo.
For him, she was not simply the woman who raised him. She was the woman who sacrificed her own comfort to make sure her children had an education and a chance at a better future.
Speaking to Kafui Dey, Dr Adjei-Maafo recalled how his mother struggled to provide for the family, even selling her own clothes to support her children through school.
“She would sell her clothes just to take care of us in secondary school,” he recalled.
It was a sacrifice that never left him.
His mother, he said, cared little about what she ate or wore. What mattered most to her was seeing her children in school.
“All she wanted to see was us at school,” he said.
Her determination also shaped his attitude towards education.
One piece of advice from her stayed with him throughout his life:
“Take my books seriously.”
For Dr Adjei-Maafo, that advice was more than words. His mother’s passion for education became one of the driving forces behind his own academic journey, eventually leading him to pursue a PhD.
But when the conversation turned to his late mother, the accomplished academic and former minister became visibly emotional.
“I miss my mom,” he said.
He spoke warmly about the woman he described as wonderful, remembering the sacrifices she made when the family had very little.
And because of everything she did for him and his siblings, Dr Adjei-Maafo said he does not joke with his mother even after her death.
“I don’t joke with my mom at all. No. Not even when she’s dead,” he said.
That respect extended to the way he honoured her after her passing.
Dr Adjei-Maafo explained that when his mother died, he made sure she received the kind of burial he believed she deserved.
“If you go and see what I’ve done to her… you see that I respect them for what they have done,” he said.
For him, the gesture was a small way of repaying a debt that could never truly be repaid.
His mother had sacrificed her clothes, her comfort and her resources to get her children through school.
She had endured hardship so they could have opportunities she herself did not have.
And years later, when he had achieved the success she had dreamed of for him, Dr Adjei-Maafo made sure her memory was honoured.
His story is ultimately not just about a mother’s sacrifice.
It is about a son who never forgot the woman who sacrificed everything she could to give him a future.
And even after all these years, speaking about her was enough to bring back the tears.
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