She wanted to be a nurse and later a medical doctor in the future but her dream was cut short due to an accident in Wa in the Upper West Region.
That untimely event made her deaf and dumb. However, with a determination, Genevieve Basingha managed to complete Junior High School in 1994, and later attended the Mampong School for the Deaf in the Eastern Region, the only senior high school in Ghana for the deaf and dumb.
After completion, Madam Basingha went back to her hometown, Wa, and started apprenticeship to become a seamstress.
Luckily, she fell in love and got married to her current husband in 1997.
The couple, according to narrations, migrated from Wa to Obuasi popularly known as “Gold City” in the Ashanti Region due to her husband’s work.
Madam Basingha could not therefore complete her apprenticeship. At Obuasi, she did not to give up on the many abandoned deaf and dumb children everywhere in the city.
She therefore, renewed her passion to set up one of the few Schools for the deaf and dumb in the country in the year 2014.
She established the Research Utilisation School for the Deaf (RUSFORD) in Obuasi with few deaf and dumb pupils.
And within three years, Madam Basingha has single-handedly provided access to basic education for over 200 deaf and dumb children who never thought that they would ever have access to education.
She does not treat these deaf and dumb children as just pupils, Madam Basingha has made them her family. With the help of her deaf but able and supportive husband, Madam Basingha provides home, food, security and clothes for the pupils and staff of the school through all the hard times even when the parents of these deaf and dumb children, the community members and the government have turned deaf ears and blind eyes on their pleas.
Madam Basingha is also one of the two teachers who teach over 60 pupils from Nursery to primary School.
Today, Madam Basingha is competing with nine able individuals for the ultimate MTN Heroes of Change award.
The ultimate winner will receive GH¢100,000 to support his/her community project. Despite being deaf and dumb, Madam Basingha was nominated by the people of the Obuasi municipality to participate in this year’s MTN Heroes of Change which is currently aired on GTV every Saturday at 5:30pm; Multi TV on Sundays at 5:00pm; TV3 on Sundays at 6:30 p.m.,; and GhOne on Sundays at 7:00pm .
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