Margaret Safo honed my writing skills

Vance Azu Opinion Jun - 21 - 2014 , 04:45

I inherited this column, TRENDS, from my former boss, Mrs Margaret Safo, whom the Almighty God called to eternity on May 8, 2014.

Initially, when Mrs Safo invited me to her office and after a short discussion told me to take up that column, I was shaken and hesitant and asked, “ Auntie Maggie, how can I?”

She explained to me that her new role as the Editor of the paper would not make it possible for her to continue writing that column regularly and she felt I should continue, so that I updated our readers on issues that affected them, both directly and indirectly.

First, I wondered how I could step in those big shoes of Mrs Safo, the prolific writer, and grab the attention of readers.

After some persuasion, I accepted the challenge and promised to live up to expectation. She gave me that usual shout out, Oooooooh Vaaaaaaaance and I left her office.

Since I started the column in 2003, I have not looked back nor regretted taking up that responsibility.

I knew Auntie Maggie way back before I joined The Mirror in 1991. I remember that while I was a student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), I was invited by my cousin, Mrs Edith Wellington, to be part of a team that was being trained to embark on a research on HIV and AIDS in some communities in the Krobo area.

It was there that I met Auntie Maggie and my current boss, Mrs Mavis Kitcher, who were part of the research team.

Later on, after the project had ended, I joined The Mirror for my internship and later my national service.

I developed some soft spot for Auntie Maggie when I got to know that she was the woman behind the Nana Ama Advises You column in The Mirror. I loved that column so much because of the issues that were discussed, which really gave me an insight into how to deal with my relationship issues.

Later, when I was permanently employed, Auntie Maggie always tried to get me closer to God. She always ministered to me and when I told her I did not observe silent hour in the morning before coming to work, she was shocked.

She took me to the Challenge Bookshop at Kokomlemle, near the Accra Technical Training Centre, and bought me the One Year Bible. That was in 1995.

Auntie Maggie succeeded in achieving her aim of getting me to be religiously inclined and I am still grateful to her for that feat because I still use that Bible for my morning prayers.

Over the years, I got very close to my former boss, who always tasked me to do most of the big stories for the paper.

The two of us usually discussed ideas and new trends on the media landscape and what she felt could be good front page stories.

After those discussions, she dispatched me to go out and pursue the stories or personalities, if they were for the profile page.

She and I worked closely and most people in the Editorial Department called me her pet, even though there were some few occasions we had some disagreements.

It was Auntie Maggie who encouraged me to pursue a university degree from the University of Ghana and she always showed interest in my nuclear family.

She regularly sent her regards to my wife and children, as well as some autographed copies of her latest novels.

She impacted on my life as a journalist because honestly she was the one who honed my writing skills.

It was during her tenure that I won the maiden edition of the Graphic Communications Group Best Worker Award in my unit, while she was adjudged the best worker in the management category in 2004.

She was like an elder sister to me and I was always at her beck and call. I relished the monetary gifts from her for doing stories that impacted on the lives of people.

I remember the huge commendation I received from her in 2004 when I did a story about an ‘abolo’ seller who was wrongly jailed 10 years by the Circuit Court in Odumase-Krobo for causing illegal abortion.

Apparently, the judge had used a reviewed law and my pursuit of that story culminated in the release of the girl from the Akuse Prison after Nana Oye Lithur, now Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and her advocacy group had taken over the case.

My association with Auntie Maggie actually made me understand the psychology of dealing with female bosses. Since she left The Mirror in 2011, I have worked and continue to work with female bosses and so far, I have been able to get along with them.

As I write this tribute to the memory of Auntie Maggie, I am still wondering whether she has really departed this earth.

May she rest in peace.

Auntie Maggie, Da Yie!!!!