[ 2017-03-01 ]

Abandoned to die; found by love; 55-year-old father’s story
The seeming lifeless body of a man laid next to a
Church at Ablekuma Agape, Accra, for several
weeks. According to residents, they had observed
that the man, unknown to them, often walked about
the neighbourhood looking very sick.

“When I reported to the Anyaa Police, they
asked me if the man was a relative of theirs for
me to report the matter to them. The officer in
charge told me that all they can do about it is to
deposit his dead body in the mortuary should he
eventually die,” Victoria, one of the residents
narrated.

Later, the man was struck by a stroke and fell
into a gutter at Ablekuma Agape. The residents
picked him up and left him on a wooden board under
a mango tree close to the Light of God Church.

There, Victoria, the ‘good Samaritan
resident’, occasionally bathed him together with
another resident, Mary. They fed him when they
could afford.

But a Pastor of the Light of God Ministry, Pastor
Robert Aboagye, strangely condemned the man as
“mentally unstable person” sent by the devil
to destroy the Church, claiming that, anytime the
man defecated on himself, “it affected
attendance at Church because he lies along the
entrance to the Church.

Mary, one of the women who cared for him observed
that “anytime the man crawled to the Church for
help, they dragged him out.” He will then crawl
to the side of the road in search of food, eating
whatever he came by from the ground.

On one of those occasions, the Assemblies of God
Church organized a procession through the streets;
but many walked past him. But Maxwell Appiah; a
member of the Assemblies of God Church, learnt
from his inquiry that the man was not mad.

Moved by compassion, Maxwell with his wife
Cynthia; would send food daily to feed the man.
According to Victoria, she discovered to her
horror “maggots in his festering wounds” when
she took off his trousers to bathe him.

His condition worsened almost to the point of
death after a heavy rain on one of the days. The
residents called on Maxwell who rushed him off to
the Ga South Hospital.

Over there; the nurses insisted Maxwell washed the
man before they gave him any attention – a job
that ordinarily and professionally, the nurses
were supposed to carry out by themselves.

This is because the man had defecated on himself
and was very dirty and smelly.

Around 11:00pm that day, Maxwell reported to the
Anyaa Police Station where according to him, the
police, while speaking on a mobile phone,
dismissively said the case was a DOVVSU case hence
there is nothing that can be done about it.

When he reported to the Odorkor DOVVSU, they
turned him away with the argument that “the man
was above 55 years therefore does not fall under
their remit.

 In his frustration, Maxwell lamented “life as
a Ghanaian almost meant nothing to the state.”

From the Ga South Hospital where Maxwell paid the
bills, he was referred to the Ridge Hospital. The
man could not say a word even as he tried.


The Head of Internal Medicine, Dr. Henrietta
Fiscian, told Citi News, even though he was
responding to treatment, his condition remained
critical.

“He’s had a stroke so what we need to do now
is to be able to do a CC scan on his head and some
additional laps for me.

The first time he didn’t have any form of
physiotherapy so it’s unlikely that he will
regain full power on that side; and we think that
he has a recurrent stroke which means that the
risk of dying from the next one is very high.”

The hospital declared him a pauper patient which
means Social Welfare will foot the rest of his
bills, giving some relief for Maxwell’s
pocket.But his headache will be how to reconnect
the man back to his family should he eventually
recover.

“The most important thing now is reconnect him
to his family. It becomes more difficult because
he cannot speak at all” Maxwell remarked.

At Ablekuma Agape, Mary, told Citi News that
before the man went completely dumb, he mentioned
the name Steven Hornu to her. She was however
doubtful if that was his name.

After airing the report of the sad story on Citi
FM, word got to the family about their relative
who had gone missing for nearly a year. The next
day, a family drenched in tears, stood round the
bed of the man who became known as Abel Hornu.

His wife, who herself, is a mild stroke patient in
a wheel chair; said even though she was “happy
to finally see her lost husband, she was
devastated by the condition in which she found
him.”

Source - citifmonline.com

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