A journalist in the Upper East Region has presented a “scanty” Gh¢1,000 (166 U.S. dollars; 140 Euros) to a widow with two crippled daughters after his solo efforts to source financial aid from some organisations for the poor family ended on a disappointing note.
All the organisations contacted in the region for help in that regard failed to part with even a red coin, according to the one-time radio morning show producer.
Stephen Chidozie Ngamegbulam told his colleagues Wednesday that his decision to not wait for the disappointing bodies by going ahead to present the “little amount” he had managed to gather from himself and some individuals to the widow was driven by the echo of a piece of advice his father gave him on a deathbed four years back.
“When he (my father) was about to die, he called me and told me that I shouldn’t wait until I had enough [before] I rendered a helping hand to the less privileged. [He told me] that anytime that I had little, I should use it to put smiles on the faces of the vulnerable. And it’s [a piece of] advice that has actually motivated me,” he disclosed as he presented the cash unsealed to the widow, Janet Nsoh Abotsi, at a brief ceremony held in the regional capital, Bolgatanga.
He also told reporters at the widow’s residence, where the donation took place with the two wheelchair-bound daughters in attendance, that a son to the widow (Aduko Nsoh Abotsi) used to fend for the family but he died not too long ago through an automobile crash.
“I identified this family. Their condition is very serious. This is a family that has a widow as a breadwinner currently. Their only breadwinner, who was the son of the widow, died somewhere eight months ago. And since then, all the [responsibilities] are on this woman (the widow). And what she does is to fry koose (spicy bean cake) and yam as her source of living to cater for these two crippled sisters,” he related.
The girls were born normal
When Stephen visited the family earlier in the year, the widow spoke a few words about the girls ― that they were not born with disability and that somebody also took advantage of one of them after they had suddenly become crippled, putting her in the family way.
“Paulina became a cripple after she said she caught sight of a snake. She has remained paralysed since then. Even though Ayine was disabled, she still was managing to move about. Somebody took advantage of her situation by impregnating her. Her condition grew worse. She could not move about anymore. She has become crippled to date,” she recounted in the locally spoken Gurune, fighting back tears unsuccessfully.
Stephen parroted the narrative at Wednesday’s ceremony, adding more details: “These two crippled sisters you have seen actually were not born crippled. One started at the age of thirteen. And the other started at the age of twenty. This is how they have been since then. They are children; they can’t throw them away. I actually wrote to some organisations to support, but I can tell you that those organisations have not come to [their] aid. But [a few] individuals who shared my idea contributed a token. What I have raised on my own and what a few individuals have also contributed is what I’m just to present to the widow to help cater for these children.”
In response to the support rendered her, the grateful widow said although she had lost her only begotten son, she considered members of the all-male group of reporters in attendance also as her sons because, by being present, they had come to fill the void her son’s departure had created in the poor family’s life. And whilst praying for the newsmen and their families for the concern shown, she also begged benevolent entities to come to the family’s aid.
Stephen owns Apexnews Gh-TV, a young online media outlet. In 2018, he constructed an access ramp to enable persons with disabilities enter the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs’ building without assistance. In the subsequent years, he fed mentally ill people in the streets of the regional capital― an activity GhanaWeb’s Castro Cazo Senyalah also carries out regularly in Navrongo and Paga, west of the region. Months ago, Word FM’s Simon Blessing Agana provided some deprived widows in the region with food items and toiletries bought with his salary.
By Edward Adeti, Upper East Region – Daily Mail GH
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