Born Fathia Halim Rizk, Helena Ritz Fathia Nkrumah (22 February 1932 – 31 May 2007) was a Coptic Egyptian who served as the first lady of the newly independent Ghana as the wife of Kwame Nkrumah.
Fathia Nkrumah was raised in the Cairo neighborhood of Zeitoun and was born into a Coptic Christian household. Fathia was the first child of a civil servant who passed away at a young age; after her husband’s passing, her mother reared Fathia by herself.
Fathia Nkrumah Biography Profile In Details
| Full Name: | Fathia Halim Rizk |
|---|---|
| Parent: | Mr. Halim Rizk (father), Mrs. Halim Rizk (mother) |
| Husband: | Kwame Nkrumah (married on 1957) |
| Date Of Birth: | 22 February 1932 |
| Age: | 75 Years Old |
| Place Of Birth: | Zeitoun , Cairo , Kingdom of Egypt |
| Death Date: | 31 May 2007 |
| Political Party: | Convention People’s Party (CPP) |
| Her Children: | Gamal (born 1959) Samia (born 1960) Sekou (born 1963) |
| Occupation: | Teacher , Bank teller, First Lady |
| Religion: | Christianity |
| Net Worth In Dollar: | $50,000 |
| Net Worth In Egyptian Pound: | 963,475.00 |
How Fathia Nkrumah Start Her Early Life And Career
Fathia Halim Rizk was born in Zeitoun, Cairo, in 1932. Early death of her father, a clerk for an Egyptian telephone company, left her mother widowed and responsible for raising Fathia alone.
She was the oldest of the family’s five kids.
After completing her secondary schooling, where she majored in French, she began working as a teacher at Notre Dame des Apôtres in Zeitoun.
She chose to work in banking because she did not enjoy teaching.
How Fathia Nkrumah Got Married
Nkrumah requested his buddy Alhaji Saleh Said Sinare, one of the first Ghanaian Muslims to study in Egypt, to locate him a Christian wife from Egypt.
And Fathia was one of the final five women chosen, according to Frederick, an American journalist whose book was released in 1967.
At that point, Kwame Nkrumah made a marriage proposal to her. Due to the fact that Fathia’s brother had left Egypt.
Not alone, he left with his English bride, her mother was unwilling to see another of her children marry a foreigner and leave the nation.
Nkrumah was an anti-colonial hero like Nasser, according to Fathia, but her mother would not speak to her or approve of the union. At Christianborg Castle in Accra on the evening of New Year’s Eve 1957, Nkrumah wed Fathia.
How Fathia Nkrumah Live Her Life In Ghana And After
When her husband was toppled in Ghana’s first successful military coup d’état on February 24, 1966, Fathia Nkrumah was a mother of three small children.
She was forced to bring her kids to Cairo so they might be raised there while her husband sought refuge in Guinea.
All of her offspring have pursued careers in politics.
Samia Nkrumah, her daughter, presided over the Ghanaian political party her father established, the Convention People’s Party (CPP), from 2011 until 2015.
The Death Of Fathia Nkrumah In Cairo
After a protracted illness, Fathia passed away on May 31, 2007, from a stroke, at Cairo’s Badrawy Hospital.
The Coptic Orthodox Cathedral Church in Cairo hosted a memorial service for her on June 1, 2007, officiated by Pope Shenouda III, read also Tamer Hosny net worth and biography.
Then, following her “lifelong wish,” Fathia Nkrumah’s body was flown to Ghana for a funeral at the State House and interred next to her husband in the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.
The Total Net Worth Of Fathia Nkrumah
She has an estimated net worth of about $50,000 equivalent to about 963,475.00 Egyptian Pound.