On the 27th of April when Mr Mark Forjoe is put to rest, I wish I could be in Ghana, to sing with my guitar by his grave. A melodious song, not of sorrow but of joy, a song sang in celebration of a life well led. For there-in would be the remains of a man loved by all, hated by none and whose very simplicity was an example for all.
Mr Mark Forjoe was my Art master in the St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast. For years, he was as much a part of Augusco as his old fender guitar. He would often be seen solemnly strolling down the hills from the staff bungalows, his guitar on his back, down into the valley with the little bridge lined on either side by palm date trees and up to the base of the St Stephens –St Patricks building. As he popped out between the school tower and the Biology Laboratory in front of the building, there would be the odd shout of “Mac Tonto!”, because he played the guitar and shared a first name with that member of the Osibisa band. He took it all in good spirit.
Mr Forjoe was a brilliant artist, guitarist and composer who not only took up the responsibility of organising the school choir, but also in teaching anybody who cared to walk into his house, how to play the guitar. Many of us did. One could walk into Mr Forjoe’s house anytime, any day and he would bring you a guitar to start practicing. I still wonder how they coped with the traffic of students going through the house each day.
Mr Forjoe was always the same, always even-tempered and soft-spoken. The only time he expressed reservation about how often I went to play the guitar was during a period when I was struggling with my A-levels and he quietly sought to ascertain from me whether I was getting my priorities right or something to that effect. That is how much he cared. He was a teacher, a mentor and a dad to me, and I believe to a host of other boys who went through St. Augustine’s.
And God was kind to him, blessing him with a wonderful wife, two extremely gifted and intelligent boys, Francis and Mark and two lovely daughters, Theresa and Margaret, who are all doing very well in their various spheres of life. He lived in peaceful retirement in his hometown in the Western region of Ghana where he will be laid to rest on the 27th of April.
It was during one long vacation when Mr Forjoe, perhaps bored by the lack of activity, decided to organise all the kids living on the St. Augustine’s campus into a choir. Within a couple of months, he had built a pretty good choir from a bunch of kids, many of whom had never sung seriously before in their lives. The Campus Choir had the honour of singing in the first church service when school re-opened.
I still can remember the look of surprise on people’s faces as they craned their necks to see who this choir was as we belted out popular tunes like Amazing Grace, Peace Perfect Peace and Let your light Shine! We will continue to try to let our lights shine in everything we do, even if only for the memory of a good man. “Oh let it shine, shine shine, Come on and let your light shine........” Papa Appiah
