Oxford graduate tells his ‘rags to robes’ story to inspire others

A boy once called the dirtiest in an entire school by a teacher just because of his poor background has graduated from one of the prestigious universities in the world.

Samuel Asare Twumasi Ampofo, about a decade ago, was stopped by a teacher on his way from the washroom and given some strokes of the cane just because his school uniform had several patches.

“Look at the rags you are wearing! do you know you are the dirtiest boy in this school… My only wrong was that I bore the same surname as his. He invited two other teachers who also hurled insults at me and finally allowed me go to my class.” He narrated on his Facebook wall.

But that experience only put zeal in the young Samuel, a zeal to succeed in life and tell his story to the world.

“When I got home, I went straight to where my mat was, knelt down, removed my shorts (shown in the picture), lifted it up towards the heavens and said “GOD, I AM GOING TO KEEP THESE RAGS, BUT I AM GOING TO RISE SO HIGH IN LIFE TO SHOW THESE RAGS TO THE WORLD.”

He indeed kept those rags everywhere he went, even to the United Kingdom and over 10 years after saying that prayer, Samuel Asare Twumasi Ampofo showed the rags to the world after he received his Master of Science degree from the Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

On November 9, 2019, Samuel wore a black suit, trousers, white shirt with a white bow tie all nicely ironed along with socks and well-polished shoes, and without a spot of dirt or whole in any of them.

To complete his look, Samuel donned his graduation gown with a blue hood, which was a strict requirement for all Master of Science graduands.

As he sat among graduands at the Sheldonian theatre where the graduation ceremony took place, he remembered the day he was called the ‘dirtiest boy in the school’ and shared his story on Facebook to inspire others.

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