When Ada (pseudonym) woke up that fateful dawn of 1 August 2022, and left her home in Gongnia to go and support her mistress in her porridge and bread-making business near St John Bosco’s College of Education in the Navrongo municipality, as she has done over the years to support herself and family, she did not know a vicious attack awaited her in the bushes of a familiar path.
“I was going to work on Monday early dawn around 4am,” said the tearful victim, recounting her ordeal. “Behind UDS [the University for Development Studies, now C K Tedam University], there are some teaks and bushes there, so the guy was hiding there. When I got there, he attacked me with a cutlass. I tried to escape. I ran and he kicked me down. He hit me with the cutlass and I struggled and fought with him. I shouted, but no one came to help.”
“He said I should bring my phone, and I gave [it to] him. He said I should bring money and I told him, ‘I don’t have money with me.’ He attacked me again and we struggled there. He pressed my neck against the ground and he pulled me into the bushes and he raped me.”
Waking up in the early hours of dawn was not a new thing to Ada. It was a practice she had gotten used to and not even the dark path and rains she sometimes walked through stopped her from going to work to earn a living.
But on that fateful day, Ada who would usually arrive at her madam’s place safe, sound and begin her duties, found herself in a different situation, which would later threatened her health, marriage and even a chance to go to school.
She was attacked by a heartless man with a knife who stabbed her in the ear, many times in her thighs and later raped her. The perpetrator who was later in the morning of that fateful day identified and arrested by the police in Navrongo, escaped from custody in the evening of the same day. The police are yet to re-arrest him.
Working as an assistant at the porridge and bread shop was to afford Ada a decent living and also to help her save towards furthering her education.
While she worked at the shop, Ada on the other hand applied to the Animal Health and Production College in Tamale to study animal health. Her dream is to become an agricultural extension officer.
So, all the waking up at dawn and getting beaten sometimes by the rains, were all sacrifices she made to build for herself a better future.
Although, what she got as earnings from the shop was inadequate to even meet her needs, determined Ada found the urge to save so she could pay for her fees when she is offered admission.
“Working there is not easy. But I wake up everyday to go there so that I can get something to help myself and my family. The pay is not good but what can I do. I don’t have anything else to do to get money. But any time I get something (money), I save some so that I can get enough to pay my admission fees in case I get the admission.”
Depleted savings
After the attacker had had his way with Ada and deserted her that dawn, a good Samaritan supported her husband to transport Ada to the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo.
Ada spent a week in the hospital. Her husband, a peasant farmer could not raise money for the medical expenses and that meant going back to use the money which had been saved towards her education.
While she was detained at the War Memorial Hospital, she received a letter on 2 August 2022, announcing the offer of admission to her in the college. The letter gave her until 19 August 2022 to settle the admission fees.
“I was still on my sick bed in the hospital when I got the message that I had been given admission into the school. I was happy but I knew that I will not get the money to pay the fees because I finished the money I saved at the hospital to treat myself,” said Ada.
School fees challenge and help at last
Ada has been discharged from the hospital but she was yet to fully recover from the attack.
While she pulled through the pain, trauma and hurt from the incident, she also cried for help to secure her placement at the college. She had used up all her savings at the hospital and was left with nothing but hope.
When Asaase Radio’s Upper East Regional correspondent, Senyalah Castro who first broke the news of the attack, paid a visit to Ada at her home to see how she was faring after being discharged from hospital, she cried out about the stigma she was facing, how the stigma had made it difficult for her to go back to work and wanting justice.
She also mentioned the difficulty she faced with finding money to pay her admission fees.
Following the revelations, Castro launched a media campaign to get her help.
It was in that light that Sheikh Abdallah Otito Achuliwor, the executive director of the Ghana Libya Arab Holding Company Limited (GLAHCO) and Sampson Tangombu Chiragia, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Navrongo Central donated cash to support the victim..
Sheikh Otito donated GHC2,500 with assurance to take up other future expenses and support her through her education.
Chiragia, on the other hand, also donated GHC2,040, being full payment of the admission fees. He also pledged support towards the education of the victim in the future.
With this huge financial support, Ada has since paid her fees and will now be able to further her education to realise her dream of becoming an agricultural extension officer in the future.
What it also means is that, Ada will have a new change of environment to help her grow out of her pain, hurt, stigma and trauma.
“The change of environment will help her recover fully and fast as compared to being home,” the Assemblyman for Gongnia electoral area, Caesar Ananga, who has been active to get justice for the victim, said.
Senyalah Castro
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