I used to sell sacks of maize with my father at Kaneshie - Asamoah Gyan opens up on childhood

Gyan who attended Seven Great Princess Academy, one of the big schools in Accra, finds no delight in describing his parents as poor but admits there were tough times.

“When you talk about poor people, they are those in the village but my parents were able to cater for me. My mother was a headmistress and my father was a businessman, he sold maize at the Kaneshie market,” the ex-Black Stars player said.

According to Gyan although he went to the same school as Shatta Wale, the dancehall musician went to the elite branch in Dansoman while he schooled in Laterbiokoshie.

“I was with Charles Mensah [Shatta Wale] at Seven Great and they opened a new one, the one at Dansoman, so that was where Shatta went. The rich people went there,” the former Liberty Professionals player said.

When asked if he grew up as a rich kid, Gyan told TV3, “Nah, my parents did well to cater for my education, we were not that rich. I won’t be a hypocrite to motivate people that we were poor and they try to motivate people.”

Reminiscing on his days as a student, Gyan disclosed that he often went to the market after school to help his father whose business was selling bags of maize.

“From school, I used to go sit down at the Kaneshie market and sell. Now sometimes when I’m around that place driving when I get down people will think Asamoah Gyan came from the sky but they didn’t know I was there selling maize.

“I didn’t sell the maize but my dad goes to Nkoranza and they bring them in a sack to sell to the Kenkey sellers,” he said.

Gyan added “sometimes we don’t use the Kaneshie footbridge, we jump the fence to pick a car to Mallam but people don’t believe it.”

JNA/KPE