The dad-of-two has lived in Liverpool for nearly 40 years
16:20, 07 Jan 2026Updated 16:46, 07 Jan 2026
Sam Appiah-Anane said that he felt a sense of ‘warmth’ when he moved to Liverpool(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Raised among the hustle and bustle of Ghana’s second biggest city of Kumasi in the 50s, Sam Appiah-Anane, 70, took the leap and moved thousands of miles away to study dentistry in the UK when he was just 24, but it was the “warmth” of Scousers which really made him feel at home in the country.
Looking back to some of his earliest memories growing up in Ghana, Sam said that he couldn’t have asked for a better childhood. He told the ECHO: “It was totally different, one cannot imagine it. Every day is summer, there is no winter, every day the temperatures are high 20s and mostly 30C.”
He added: “Life growing up as children, it was outdoors playing and foraging for fruits which was glorious, [we’d collect] oranges, mangos, guava, sugarcane, so life was mostly outdoors, you only came home to have something to eat or to go to sleep. We’d go to school from Monday to Friday and our weekend was mainly filled with activities, with very little thought.”
After starting his training to become a dentist in Ghana, in 1980 he set off for Manchester to complete the remainder of his studies. But, eight years later he swapped Manchester for Liverpool and has hardly looked back ever since.
He first moved to the UK in 1980(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Sam has become a familiar place in Liverpool, plying his trade as a dentist in the city for decade. When he moved to the city, Sam said he felt there was something very different about Liverpool compared to other parts of the country he had previously visited.
He said: “My first feeling of Liverpool was that it was a warm place, I felt that [was the case] even more, when I compared it to some of the other places I’ve been to in England. For example, I worked in Colchester General Hospital, which is a typical, middle England town.
“Nobody talked to anybody, everyone kept themselves to themselves. I’d travel on the train in London, and in those days, broadsheet newspapers were broadsheet [in size] and they could cover your whole body and people would be reading their newspapers and would be hiding their faces, and they’d only fold it and get up when they got to their station, nobody talked to each other.”
However, there was a clear contrast when he made the move to Liverpool. He said: “When I came to Liverpool it was very, very warm, people would stop and talk to you about anything.”
While he instantly felt at ease when he came to Merseyside, he said there was one thing which he took a bit of time getting used to. He said: “There was one strange thing [about Liverpool], the language. I wasn’t sure whether it was English or something else.”
He retired from dentistry in 2018 but still works as and when he’s needed at Aigburth Dental Practice(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
But, Sam said he didn’t let the language barrier get in his way and he was “determined” to remain on Merseyside.
He added: “I was determined to stay, let me put it that way. So initially I had to strain to understand when I was talking with people, but before long [I got used to it].”
After finally getting used to the accent, it was kind gestures from strangers which made him fall in love with the city.
He said: “I worked at the Royal Liverpool Hospital and I had an issue with my car, so I drove to a nearby garage and he had a look at it and I asked him ‘how much do I owe?’ and he said ‘Nothing. It was only a small thing so you can just buy a jar of coffee for the boys.’
“That friendly approach, that honesty… that chap became the mechanic who looked after mine and my wife’s cars [for years] and he recommended many friends, that is something that has stayed with me all of these years and it’s just one example.”
Despite being thousands of miles away from where they grew up, Sam said that there was a distinct similarity between the attitudes of Scousers and where his wife, Maria is from in Ghana.
Sam said: “The Scousers are a special breed, I can only compare them to the people from my wife’s hometown in Ghana, they’re very very affable. Their general attitude is that if someone is new to a place, you try and make them welcome so you go the extra mile [for them]. It’s hard to put into words, but over the years, I have tried to get to know people, it sounds like I’m being nosey, but then you can start to relate to people.”
He shared his advice for future Ghanaians looking to make the move to the the UK(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
While he tries to go back to Ghana at least twice a year, Sam has managed to retain his links to the country despite living thousands of miles away in Liverpool.
He said: “Every last Saturday of the month, there is a social gathering where there is food, there’s music. When there is a funeral [within the community] there’s an announcement and we all chip-in to support [the family]. On Independence Day on the 6th of March there are activities planned.”
After meeting his wife in Manchester in 1982, the pair walked down the aisle six years later and have gone on to have two children together, Sam, 37 and their daughter, Esi, 34 as well as five grandchildren.
Having worked as a dentist for decades, in 2018, he retired from the profession despite still practicing as and when he’s needed from Aigburth Dental Practice in south Liverpool.
He said: “My son, who was born in Manchester [but grew up in Liverpool] calls himself an ‘African Liverpudlian’ and my daughter, Esi, who was born in Liverpool, when she puts on a Scouse accent, you would think that she is a typical Scouser.”
As he looks back to his early days after moving from Ghana to Manchester and then latterly to Liverpool, he shared his advice for future Ghanaians looking to take a similar step.
He said: “Seek the good of the city of which you are in, don’t isolate yourself, immerse yourself in the society as much as possible. Look out for things that you can do to help, but don’t forget where you have come from.”