Adjoa Darkoa Asare-Addo of Accra, Ghana

Written by Melvin Leavitt

When President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke to the Saints of Ghana in 1998, Adjoa Darkoa Asare-Addo, 11, was present. She stood and sang “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” with undisguised joy. “The Holy Spirit was with me, and I knew that President Hinckley was a prophet of God,” she recalls.

When President Hinckley announced that a temple would be built in Accra, Adjoa was thrilled. “Temples are so important!” she explains. “That is where families are sealed forever.” She intends to be married in that temple someday.

Ghana is a tropical country on the underbelly of Africa’s western bulge, its shores washed by the Gulf of Guinea (see map). It is a lush land of forest, lake, and savannah (tropical grassland), and it is rich in culture and tradition. There are almost a hundred different ethnic groups, and most people speak several African languages as well as English. Age and wisdom are respected here. Older people are often called “Uncle,” “Grandmother,” or “Grandfather,” even if they are not relatives.

Adjoa, whose parents are abroad, lives in an apartment building with her Uncle Isaac and her Aunt Georgette. They have great love and respect for their niece.

“She is the type of child any parent would want to have,” Uncle Isaac says. “She likes being honest. If she does something wrong, she tells the truth about it.” He shares other examples of her honesty. When a schoolteacher gave her too high a mark by mistake, she took the paper back to the teacher and corrected the error. Another time, she came home from buying yams and realized that she still had all the money. She immediately returned to the yam vendor and paid for her purchase. The lady was so pleased that she gave Adjoa a free piece of meat.

Adjoa is a good student with a special love for maths, and most of the time she’s a hard worker and does her household chores willingly. It helps that her aunt and uncle work beside her at their own tasks, making all the jobs more fun. She cleans the kitchen stove, sweeps out the kitchen and hallway, empties the garbage, washes her own clothes, and sometimes does the dishes. She is learning to cook rice, and she sews dresses for her doll, Trudy.

Scripture reader stories and the Friend are Adjoa’s favorite reading. She especially enjoys the Funstuf pages in the Friend. She and her aunt and uncle have finished reading the Book of Mormon together and have started it over again. If they read something she doesn’t understand, she asks questions until she does. Her favorite scripture is 1 Nephi 3:7. Read it and see if it is your favorite, too.

She fondly remembers being baptized and confirmed by her Uncle Isaac when she was eight. “I felt good. And when I have to overcome temptations, the Holy Spirit helps me know what’s right and wrong.”

Adjoa is full of life and enthusiasm. She likes to play jump rope, tag, and other games with her friends. She also enjoys a spirited game of oware with her aunt and uncle. Oware is a brain-teasing game of strategy in which seeds are moved between twelve holes hollowed out of wood.

Ghana has beautiful scenery, exotic wild animals, majestic ancient sites, and many cultural festivals. Adjoa’s aunt and uncle have taken her to see these wonders, especially in the central part of the country where their relatives live. They have also visited a sadder place—a seaside fortress where slave traders forced men and women in chains into the dark holds of ships.

Such cruelty is a mystery to Adjoa. Her own heart is tender toward all suffering or sadness. She was already comforting those who stood in need of comfort before she ever made baptismal covenants. And if she can’t help someone personally, she fasts and prays for him. When her younger brother, Dominic, who had been living with her aunt and uncle, was taken to live with his grandmother in London, Adjoa was worried about him. She fasted and prayed for him and was comforted.

Adjoa dreams of being a wife and mother someday, but she is also preparing herself to be a businesswoman until that day comes. Whatever happens, she won’t forget the real reason she came to earth. “Heavenly Father sent us here to get a body and be tested and then return to Him. He gave us a Savior who died on the cross to save us from our sins. I love Jesus. I love Heavenly Father.”

One of Ghana’s most important crops is cacao, from which yummy chocolate is made. But Ghana’s future depends on something sweeter than chocolate. It rests with children like Adjoa whose love and goodness will call down the powers of heaven on behalf of their people.

Note: Since this story was written, Adjoa has been reunited with her parents and three brothers.

Photographed by Melvin Leavitt

Whether studying the scriptures, playing a game of oware with her aunt and uncle, or just having fun with a friend, Adjoa is honest, faithful, loving, and giving.