My Story

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1972 to 2006
aged: 33
From: Ghana

7th June 1972 - 29th March 2006


Benji was taken very suddenly, but peacefully, from us and his family.
A death which needn't have happened yet.

Please please people - be aware of HIV and its consequences.

Testing is quick easy and simple. HIV can not be ignored or more talented people, such as Benji will die needlessly.




Benji had so many talents it seems impossible to do him justice in just a few lines of text. Although on paper he was not a man of academic calibre, he was rich from the life that he led. Benji truly lived his life to the full – he had achieved so much in his time. Not many people of his age can say that they have had their own nationwide radio programme and written, directed & produced two feature length movies.

It is only since Benji’s death that I have been able to truly appreciate the ‘star’ that he was in the Ghanaian community. I was used to him being stopped in the streets of London, his cheeks flushing each time when he would be asked, ‘Are you Benji Kumassah?’ usually followed by swooning when they realised that yes in fact it was him! My email box is now full of tributes, many from people who had never even met Benji in person, pouring with respect and emotion that people hold for him. As a lady emailed to me: it was difficult to encounter Benji and ‘delete him from your hard drive’!

Benji loved technology and would spend hours ‘tinkering’ –many nights I had to come downstairs at 3am to remind him to sleep! He would be busy creating a piece of music, fiddling with a photo or editing footage from his latest project. Always the perfectionist he couldn’t sleep leaving something unfinished. If anyone had a problem; Benji was the guy to help! Whether fixing a pc, selecting a song for a fellow radio presenter or just simply being a good friend Benji loved to help others. At one of the stations that he worked he won the acronym ‘Whizzkid’.

In the summer of 2004 we discovered that we were going to be parents and decided to leave London and move to Gainsborough. Benji walked straight into a job with the local council at the Trinity Arts Centre working as an Arts Co-ordinator. Benji couldn’t have wished for a more perfect job! He was able to make use of all his passions: music, film & IT and then share them with others. He was so proud of the people on the courses that he ran and what they managed to achieve in such a short time.

Jaye arrived in February 2005. She immediately became the apple of her Daddy’s eye. Our home is a treasure trove of memories – Jaye and I are so lucky to have thousands of photographs of the 14 months we spent as a family all preciously captured and documented on film & photo. Benji idolised Jaye and loved teaching her new tricks – whether it be how to clap, how to stamp her feet or most recently how to shout ‘Star’! He would say to her all the time ‘You’re a star!’ to which she had begun to reply ‘Tarrr!’ with a very cheeky grin.

Now I shall teach Jaye that Daddy is ‘A Star’ and that by looking into the night sky she will find her Daddy.



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