General News
A 13-year-old girl drops out of school and goes into farming to earn money for sanitary pads
A 13-year-old class five student at Saint Francis Primary School in Dakompilayiri, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District, Savannah Region, has put her schooling on hold in order to earn funds for sanitary pads.
Khadijatu Bawuma, who lives in Dakompilayiri with her 68-year-old paternal grandmother, told Myjoyonline.com in an interview that she was forced to temporarily leave school to raise money and buy enough sanitary pads to avoid staining her outfits – an incident that had happened to her many times while in school.
“I don’t have anybody to help me financially. At first, it was my grandmother but now, she says she doesn’t have. So, she (grandmother) asks that I use a piece of cloth but I can’t wear it and go to school with it. Because from experience, it will disgrace me again.”
“So, anytime my flow is due, I stay away from school and now, I’m tired of doing that because friends are all aware and some even gave me names. But once I’m here on the farm with my grandmother, our focus is to get money to enable me to buy enough pads and fend for ourselves,” Khadihatu Bawumah said.
Felicia Bawumah, the teenager’s grandma, said her biological mother abandoned her when she was four years old and left her marriage.
She also stated that Khadijatu’s father left following his wife’s actions and has not returned after nine years.
“See how weak I am with this young one. What else can I do; I don’t have a husband. I’m a widow and my children are not here too. So, she is here with me on the farm because she started having her monthly flow and said she wouldn’t wear clothes. But me too I can’t afford the pads. And it’s always like this every month but this time around, she wouldn’t go back,” the grandmother indicated.
Our news crew discovered Khadijatu Bawumah while weeding on a two-acre corn patch.
Madam Felicia pleaded with everyone who could help to come to her grandchild’s aid.
“If we get help from anywhere for her, I’ll be very happy because I need her to be better than me tomorrow,” Felicia added.
Little Khadijatu Bawumah told MyJoyOnline that she aspires to be a professional nurse or teacher since she enjoys both occupations.
Following our news team’s report on the teenager’s distress, a retired educationist and the chief of Dakompilayiri and Kunkuya, Eku-Ewilawura Amos Seidu, visited the farm and contributed an unknown sum of money to Khadijatu through her grandmother in order for her to obtain the pads.
“She needs to get back to school. At least, she can buy sanitary pads that might last for two months or so.
I’ll also try and visit you anytime I come to the community, but use the money very well,” he said.
The retired educator also provided a beehive cage and enrolled Khadija and her grandmother in bee-keeping training, along with 60 other women, as part of the intervention to help them create a company and raise their income.
MyJoyOnline investigations in that enclave revealed that many young girls are forced to drop out of school and are coerced into early marriages.
A terrible accident occurred at the base of Galenkui Mountain in Ho, claiming the lives of nine people, including babies.
The terrifying occurrence occurred as a 207 Benz was transporting goods and passengers from Abotoase to Sogakofe.
The car encountered brake failure while descending the mountain, culminating in a collision with a Zoomlion garbage truck.
Initial reports verified seven fatalities at the disaster scene, including newborns and children.
Following that, Mary Dzifa, a nurse at Ho Municipal Hospital, informed Citi News that roughly ten children had died in the disaster.
“I was at our facility yesterday, November 22, when a car rushed in with dead and injured children and injured adults, especially men. Some were attended to at the facility, and the rest who were severely injured were taken to the Ho Teaching Hospital. The dead children will be about 10.”
Officials at the Ho Teaching Hospital said that 32 people were admitted for injuries incurred, with 9 dying as a result of their injuries.
Amos Jah, the Public Relations Officer of Ho Teaching Hospital, said that the injured patients are receiving medical attention and making progress in their rehabilitation.
“I received a call from a friend yesterday who was going back to town and that he saw the accident, so I quickly informed the nurses to be on alert. Some were brought in with pickups, ambulance, tricycles; the situation was very bad, some had broken limbs, some heads almost being severed, some were bleeding from all parts of the body. After two hours, we were able to calm the situation down.”
“We had a total of 30 accident victims brought here. Two others were brought from the Municipal Hospital this morning, making it 32 in all. My information is that we lost 9 of them, 4 are kids and 5 are adults. For the kids, three were brought in dead. Those injured are responding to treatment.”
Dr Adam Bonaa, a security expert, has requested the Oti Regional Minister to restrict all public events in Nkwanta in response to the riots that have taken eight lives.
The fights, in his opinion, were avoidable.
“The Regional Minister and his men must make certain that this never happens again.” This was avoidable, yet 8 people died as a result,” he remarked on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Tuesday, November 21.
He further suggested that “It is important to suspend all public activities that are likely to take place by the two factions, this is the surest way of letting them know that there is an authority within Nkwanta and the region.”
The Oti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) will host an emergency security meeting today, Wednesday, November 22, in response to the Nkwanta riots.
Regional Minister Joshua Gmayenaam Makubu, appearing on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Tuesday, November 21, verified the number of dead and described the pandemonium as “ethnic clashes.”
“Tomorrow we are going to have an emergency security meeting again, ” he further said.
He also disclosed that there had been conflicts in town two weeks earlier between members of two tribes, Adele and Akyode.
Following the conflicts, the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, acted on the advice of the REGSEC and via Executive Instrument to impose a curfew on Nkwanta township.
The curfew will be in force from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 21.
On Tuesday, November 21, an attacker opened fire in the town’s central market area.
Several people have been murdered and others have been injured as a result of the incident.
The Oti Regional Security Council dispatched officers to the region to handle the situation.
“Government wishes to appeal to all to exercise restraint and to use the established mechanisms for the resolution of all their conflicts and disputes.
“Meanwhile, the Government will like to reiterate that, there is a ban on all persons in Nkwanta Township and its environs from carrying arms, ammunition or any offensive weapons and any persons found with any arms or ammunition will be arrested and prosecuted,” the Minister said.
Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has categorically rejected selling his official house to a private developer.
He then stated that his home was “almost sold” to a private developer.
The Speaker of Parliament recently revealed that his Accra home was sold to a private developer while he was still living there.
He said this only came to light when the developer went to the Lands Commission to register the land on Monday at the Speaker’s Breakfast Forum in Accra.
However, the Lands Commission claimed in a statement that “at no time did the Lands Commission sell the said property to a private developer.”
In a recent meeting with civil society organisations, the Speaker emphasised that his official house was on the verge of being turned over to a developer except for the intervention of the Lands Commission.
“I didn’t say my residence was sold. That was not what I said. This was just a comment in passing when I said it was almost sold but luckily, I was in possession. And I said it was when they went to Lands Commission that they realised from the search that it was the residence of the Speaker,” Alban Bagbin clarified.
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