Biography of Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan was born in the Kofandros department of Kumasi, Ghana in what was then the British colony of the Gold Coast. He is a twin, which has a esteem status in Ghanaian culture. His twin sister Efua Atta, who died in 1991, sh ares the middle name Atta, which in Fante and Akan gist twin. Annan and his sister were born into one of the countrys aristocratic families both their grandfathers and their uncle were tribal chiefs. 2 In the Akan names tradition, almost children are named according to the day of the week on which they were born, and/or in relation to how many children precede them.Kofi in Akan is the name that corresponds with Friday. 3 Pronunciation Annan has said his surname rhymes with cannon in English. 4 From 1954 to 1957, Annan attended the elite Mfantsipim school, a Methodist boarding school in Cape Coast founded in the 1870s. Annan has said that the school taught him that suffering anyplace concerns people everywhere. 5 In 1957, the year Annan graduated from Mfa ntsipim, Ghana gained independence from Britain. In 1958, Annan began studying economic science at the Kumasi College of Science and Technology, now the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology of Ghana.He received a Ford home grant, enabling him to complete his undergraduate studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, in 1961. Annan then did a DEA degree in International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, from 196162. After some years of work experience, he studied at the MIT Sloan School of Management6 (197172) in the Sloan Fellows program and earned a Master of Science (M. S. ) degree. Annan is fluent in English, French, Kru, other dialects of Akan, and other African languages.