Deputy Registrar of the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA), Prof Vida Nyagre Yakong, has urged young people not to allow their backgrounds or difficult circumstances to define their future.
Drawing from her own journey from a rural community in the Nabdam District of the Upper East Region, Prof Yakong said determination and education enabled her to overcome barriers that once appeared insurmountable.
“Your background is not your prison. It is your platform,” she told about 2,000 young leaders at the Tamale Youth Summit.
Prof Yakong was delivering the keynote address at the summit held at the GNAT Hall in Tamale on Saturday, September 5, 2026.
She recalled growing up in Nyobok as a shepherd girl in a community without electricity for studying at night and walking long distances to school.
She said she also encountered voices that told her what was supposedly impossible for a girl from her background.
But she held onto her dream of acquiring a good education.
That journey, she said, took her from a village classroom to nursing, public health research and academia, eventually becoming a professor at the University for Development Studies (UDS), where she served as Foundation Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
She is now serving as Deputy Registrar of HeFRA.
Prof Yakong said her experience was evidence that the circumstances into which a person was born did not have to determine where that person ended up.
“That is what breaking barriers looks like,” she said.
She urged the youth to develop resilience, continue learning and refuse to be defined by rejection, failure or discouragement.
“Resilience is not that you never fall — it is that you rise every time you fall,” she said.
She also urged young people to choose service over applause and begin contributing to their communities rather than waiting until they attained senior positions.
“If you want to lead tomorrow, start serving your community today,” she said.
The summit was organised by the Dream Big Foundation under the theme “Breaking Barriers: Empowering Youth for Leadership, Innovation and Impact.”
Source: www.kumasimail.com
