On Saturday, October 20, 2018, Georges Annan Kingsley awoke to a new life. Georges received his long awaited kidney transplant the night before. A perfect match, his new kidney worked immediately. This perfect match was on top of another successful transplant just twenty-three days earlier. On September 27, 2018, the United States welcomed Georges as a new citizen. It’s a blessing for Georges and his family. It’s a blessing for the greater Hartford community. It’s a perfect match.
All who know Georges love him, his wife Asse Marthe Ntchohou, and his son, Joe-William. A well respected resident of Hartford’s Asylum Hill Neighborhood, Georges is a community leader. He’s an accomplished artist (he has a painting on display in the White House), a teacher, and a radio host, as well as an Asylum Hill community organizer championing the acceptance and well being of refugees and immigrants. Despite being tethered to exhausting dialysis sessions three times a week prior to his transplant, Georges’ prolific production of paintings and sculptures ensured his works were always on display at local art shows. Most recently he had a two-week exhibition at Connecticut’s Legislative Office Building. Incredibly he found even more strength to organize cultural celebrations, sponsor clothing drives, teach art classes, and promote job skills training for new arrivals in his welcoming Hartford neighborhood.
George is a transplant who has taken root in Hartford successfully. His compelling stories about escaping from political persecution in Côte d’Ivoire and his quest for a kidney transplant are well documented. I’ve covered a bit of them in my blog posts: My Friend Needs a Kidney Transplant, and Listen to the Heartbeat of Africa in Hartford about Ghana Beats Radio, the on-line radio station he and his business partner, John Ackeifi, launched to serve the sub-Sahara African diaspora living in greater Hartford. But those posts only tell a small bit of his story.
To learn more about Georges I’ve compiled a series of links to stories that present a more complete appreciation of this talented and compassionate man who was a model citizen long before he actually became one. His perseverance and optimism embody Connecticut’s motto Qui transtulit sustinet: “He who transplanted sustains.”
Links to articles, videos, and a podcast about Georges Annan Kingsley:
Political Refugee Showing Art Work at Passages Gallery
New England Public Radio Words in Transit (podcast)
My Friend Needs a Kidney Transplant
Listen to the Heartbeat of Africa in Hartford
Nine Neighborhood Murals Chosen for Hartford Paint the City
Ivory Coast Artist at Hartford Public Library
Voices of Wisdom: Newcomer Stories
Don Shaw, Jr.
Writer and Editor
RedTruckStonecatcher.com
Photos by Don Shaw, Jr.; the photo of Georges with the judge was submitted by the Georges Annan Kingsley family.
Red Truck Stonecatcher 