At age one, she was abandoned by her father. Her grandmother suggested she should be buried alive.
Ama Serwaa’s crime, is her disability, friends and family have deserted Ama and her mother due to her condition.
Four-year-old Ama has been abandoned by her father too and has never been able to sit or stand. She can only lie either awake or asleep.
She is familiar with only her mother, Felicia Korankyewaa because she is the only person she sees every day.
Speaking in an interview with GHOne TV’s Odilia Agyeman Prempeh, Korankyewaa said the only meal Ama takes is cereal. She has never taken in a solid food in her life. At times, she does not eat or drink for a day or two.
She said her husband, who abandoned her over their baby’s disability, suggested they visit a fetish priest at Kwahu Nkwati in the Eastern region in search for cure. At Kwahu, Kofi’s mother took them to a fetish priest, who prescribed a concoction to end the life of the ailing child within two weeks, but Felicia stood against it. The development resulted in Kofi abandoning them.
Felicia has not worked for four years and only depends on the benevolence of loved ones to survive. Family and friends have refused to pay her a visit due to the condition of her daughter.
She lacks confidence to speak about her daughter’s condition.
When GHOne News visited Ama at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital she managed an unusual smile. Felicia had lived for the past four years with little knowledge about what exactly is wrong with her daughter.
Doctors told GhOne News Ama is battling Cerebral Palsy – a group of disorders that affects balance, movement and tone.
A doctor at the Child Health Department at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Professor Eben Badoe said it is possible Ama will live with the ailment all her life.
He explained Ama needs constant attention since her four limbs have been affected.
Not only do loved ones reject Ama and her mother, she is also stigmatized. She recounted how she was once evicted by her landlord due to Ama’s condition.
Felicia is calling on well-meaning Ghanaians to come to their aid as Ama battles for her life at the nation’s premier hospital.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Odilia Agyeman Prempeh
