LOVERS will exchange notes, gifts and text messages. Broken up relationships will be mended, while many other hearts will be broken; all in the name of love.
Valentine's Day is a day meant to celebrate the affections among people in various kinds of relationships.Various countries and cultures have their own unique ways of commemorating the day and valuing the relationships that hold them together.
In Nigeria, Lagos in particular, the streets, including those that are always quiet after 8:30 p.m., bustle with cars and people on the night of February 14. Hotels, stores, and restaurants are covered in red, pink and white decorations, with big heart shaped signs wishing passers by a Happy Valentine’s Day.
The situation is not different from that of Ghana. Ghanaians have taken the celebration a step more up the stage of the ladder, and have construed its purpose and associated it with satisfying their eroticism or sexual urge.
This day has become so important to many Ghanaians that they would not mind spending or sparing all they have for their loved ones on this “special” day of love.
Valentine’s Day, which is shortened to Val’s day and also known as chocolate day, is a day which, according to some history books, honours an early Christian martyr named Saint Valentine.
In the days when Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius, men were expected to voluntarily join his (Claudius’) army to fight against his enemies on war fronts, but many of the men in Rome refused to join.
They did not want to leave their wives and families to fight in a war which could determine their death.
This made the emperor so furious that he came up with an idea that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army.
He, therefore, set up a law that did not allow any more marriages in his empire, but this man named St Valentine, whose favourite duty was to marry couples, kept on performing marriage ceremonies secretly.
During one of his (St Valentine) secret marriage blessing for couples at night, he was caught and sent to prison.
History also has it that while he was in prison, the daughter of the prison guard was allowed to visit him in cell and they became very good friends. They shared views together each time his friend (the guard’s daughter) visited him.
On the day St Valentine was to die, which was on February 14, 269 AD, he wrote a note to his newly found best friend, thanking her for her friendship and loyalty, on which he signed, “love from your valentine”, a phrase which is still used by most people, especially on Val’s day.
This is just a brief anecdote about the Valentine’s Day which has eaten up the minds of most people in the world, especially in our motherland Ghana.
This 14th day of February is now remembered and celebrated by many people around the world, most importantly, with a thought about love on their minds.
Most Ghanaians who like holidays will even be glad if the day is recognised and commemorated as a national holiday.
The day has been characterised with different opinions and views about love. There is over commercialisation of love products, with the media also giving it so much eminence. There are mostly red decorations at most public places, and lot of special gift items designed especially for the celebration.
While some people celebrated the day to share and express love, which goes with peace and happiness, others, especially the youth, commemorate the Chocolate day with a whole lot of ill-mannered acts and indiscriminate sexual activities, all in the name of love.
Most young people do not actually know what the day is about or how it got into existence, so when asked about what they think about the day, they simply say it is a time to show one’s partner that he or she truly loves him or her by giving in to all that the person wants, be it a sexual act or any deed which is right or wrong.
Many young Ghanaians also make gargantuan preparations towards this special day of love to shower their loved ones with so many gifts to show how much they care and love their partners.
There is nothing wrong at all in doing all that to show one’s love, but the only thing people need to remember is that the Val’s day is just like any other day which passes by. They should, therefore, not celebrate it as if that would be their last day on earth.
I entreat all Ghanaians to take advantage of the day to show some love for the poor children on the streets and to stay away from all deeds that can put them in great trouble.
The vulnerable, poor children who do not have any loved one to care for them on this day of love need the love and care of every single Ghanaian to feel protected and cared for.
Ghanaians, especially the youth, should also realise that AIDS is real, and always protect themselves with condoms if they cannot abstain from pre-marital sex to avoid any dreadful sexually transmitted diseases or infection.
I urge all Ghanaians to be aware of their safety and health and also look forward to seeing many people healthy and alive after the celebrations to help in developing our nation and continent as a whole.
Monday 12 March 2012
Graphic presents cash to throat cancer patient
THE Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) yesterday presented a cheque for GH¢3,830 to a 47-year-old man suffering from throat cancer at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH).
Mr Patrick Addadey, the patient, will undergo treatment for seven weeks at a cost fully covered by the donation.
The Resident Medical Officer of the GCGL, Dr Henry K. Aidoo, said the donation was in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility to assist the needy, and help people in society, especially in health situations.
He underscored the need for all Ghanaians to help ensure that people had access to good health, which is critical to the development of the country.
Mr Addadey, with tears in his eyes, thanked the officials of the GCGL and the medical officers who were taking care of him.
“I had spent all my money on initial surgery last year. I never thought Graphic would come to my aid,” he said.
He was optimistic that with the help, he would successfully undergo the treatment.
“I was a coal tar burner of a Chinese construction firm before my condition became worse, but they refused to help me out,” he said.
Dr Mrs Hannah Ayettey Anie, a Resident Medical Officer in Radiation Oncology at the National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine of the KBTH, who received the cheque, expressed profound gratitude to the GCGL for the kind gesture towards the patient.
She advised people who developed a hoarse voice lasting for more than two to four weeks to report to a medical officer.
The donation was from the Graphic Needy Trust Fund (GNTF) which the GCGL uses to help the needy to pay for medical treatment.
So far about 180 people have benefited from the fund since 1989.
Mr Patrick Addadey, the patient, will undergo treatment for seven weeks at a cost fully covered by the donation.
The Resident Medical Officer of the GCGL, Dr Henry K. Aidoo, said the donation was in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility to assist the needy, and help people in society, especially in health situations.
He underscored the need for all Ghanaians to help ensure that people had access to good health, which is critical to the development of the country.
Mr Addadey, with tears in his eyes, thanked the officials of the GCGL and the medical officers who were taking care of him.
“I had spent all my money on initial surgery last year. I never thought Graphic would come to my aid,” he said.
He was optimistic that with the help, he would successfully undergo the treatment.
“I was a coal tar burner of a Chinese construction firm before my condition became worse, but they refused to help me out,” he said.
Dr Mrs Hannah Ayettey Anie, a Resident Medical Officer in Radiation Oncology at the National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine of the KBTH, who received the cheque, expressed profound gratitude to the GCGL for the kind gesture towards the patient.
She advised people who developed a hoarse voice lasting for more than two to four weeks to report to a medical officer.
The donation was from the Graphic Needy Trust Fund (GNTF) which the GCGL uses to help the needy to pay for medical treatment.
So far about 180 people have benefited from the fund since 1989.
2,300 Liberia refugees opt to stay in Ghana
TWO thousand three hundred Liberian refugees have registered with the Ghana Refugees Board (GRB) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to legalise their stay in the country.
The figure was what obtained on March 2, 2012 and the registration followed an ultimatum given to the refugees by the UNHCR and the GRB in the early part of February to decide whether or not to voluntarily return to their countries of origin or legalise their stay in the country before March 30, this year.
The action was informed by the decision of the international community to invoke the cessation of clause of 1951 UN Refugee Convention for Liberian, Angolan, Rwandan, and Burundian refugees on the continent.
The Programme Co-ordinator of the GRB, Mr Tetteh Padi, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic on Wednesday, affirmed that as of March 2, 2012, only 450 of the Liberian refugees had voluntarily registered to be repatriated.
The management of GRB, he said, was drafting a proposal to the government to make decisions on the local integration policy or procedure that would apply to those who wanted to legalise their stay in the country, while other GRB officials were currently counselling and collecting data from the refugees to help in easier and faster facilitation of the project.
Liberians, with a population of 11,301 registered with the UNHCR and the GRB as refugees as of the end of 2011, constitute the largest population affected by the cessation invocation in Ghana.
Mr Padi noted that the reasons given by most of the refugees who wanted to legalise their stay in the country were the fear of death when they went back to their country.
Others also said they did not have enough belongings or property to start a new life in their country, while some other refugees complained that they were born here in Ghana and had lived here for a very long time, thus, they would not know where to go to when they went back to their country of origin.
The invocation would be the legal end of the refugee status for Liberian, Angolan, and Burundian refugees on June 30, 2012, while that of the Rwandan refugees would end on June 30, 2013.
The international community deem it fit for the refugees to return to their countries, since the conditions that pertained in their countries at the time they left have changed.
In Liberia, for instance, there had been two successive elections and the war in the country has ceased.
Only 33 Rwandans and five Burundian refugees are currently registered with the GRB and UNHCR as refugees.
The UNHCR would only assist registered refugees to return home and any effort by those who did not register after cessation would be made without UNHCR assistance.
The figure was what obtained on March 2, 2012 and the registration followed an ultimatum given to the refugees by the UNHCR and the GRB in the early part of February to decide whether or not to voluntarily return to their countries of origin or legalise their stay in the country before March 30, this year.
The action was informed by the decision of the international community to invoke the cessation of clause of 1951 UN Refugee Convention for Liberian, Angolan, Rwandan, and Burundian refugees on the continent.
The Programme Co-ordinator of the GRB, Mr Tetteh Padi, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic on Wednesday, affirmed that as of March 2, 2012, only 450 of the Liberian refugees had voluntarily registered to be repatriated.
The management of GRB, he said, was drafting a proposal to the government to make decisions on the local integration policy or procedure that would apply to those who wanted to legalise their stay in the country, while other GRB officials were currently counselling and collecting data from the refugees to help in easier and faster facilitation of the project.
Liberians, with a population of 11,301 registered with the UNHCR and the GRB as refugees as of the end of 2011, constitute the largest population affected by the cessation invocation in Ghana.
Mr Padi noted that the reasons given by most of the refugees who wanted to legalise their stay in the country were the fear of death when they went back to their country.
Others also said they did not have enough belongings or property to start a new life in their country, while some other refugees complained that they were born here in Ghana and had lived here for a very long time, thus, they would not know where to go to when they went back to their country of origin.
The invocation would be the legal end of the refugee status for Liberian, Angolan, and Burundian refugees on June 30, 2012, while that of the Rwandan refugees would end on June 30, 2013.
The international community deem it fit for the refugees to return to their countries, since the conditions that pertained in their countries at the time they left have changed.
In Liberia, for instance, there had been two successive elections and the war in the country has ceased.
Only 33 Rwandans and five Burundian refugees are currently registered with the GRB and UNHCR as refugees.
The UNHCR would only assist registered refugees to return home and any effort by those who did not register after cessation would be made without UNHCR assistance.
Faa Naa: A place where it is a taboo to die.
It is surprising to find people living happily and normal at places where there is no development.
What on earth will compel people to live at an under-developed place where there exist some dehumanising and weird taboos . Taboos which are even unfavourable to nature?
“My children and I have lived here for almost 27 years now, and we have nowhere to go to, because the cost of a room or house in the mainlands is very costly, we, therefore, have no option but to stay here although we always lose our property when the river or sea overflows its banks”, Efo Kofi explained.
“I had to pay a fine in addition to some items because my wife gave birth on this land and I had no option because if I did not pay I would have been sent out of the land and would not have anywhere to go to”, another man had also told me.
This is the plight of some people who live on a strange Island known as Faa Naa in Accra, where it is a taboo to give birth or die on that land.
This land lies between a sea and a river, located at Tsokomey in Bortianor, a suburb in the Ga West municipality in Accra.
While some of the inhabitants had wanted to move from the place to a better town, others had never dreamt of packing out since for them, they were born and bred there, and, therefore, did not know any family member elsewhere to whom they can go to.
You do not have the right as a pregnant woman on that land, to be delivered of a baby. In this superstitious area, it is a taboo to die. To do that is a sacrilege for which you will be charged a penalty, if you are delivered of a baby and your family will have to pay the price if you die. Anytime a person dies, the family or household from which the person comes from is fined a sum of money and asked to provide a goat, bottles of schnapps, and pipes to perform some ritual to appease the gods of the sea.
This is so serious! How on earth would I know I would die today or tomorrow to be able to plan my exit, if I happen to live there?
For giving birth on that land, it is weird and strange.
Unlike the mainland where when you are pregnant, you have the opportunity to go to the hospital and would be told your expected date of delivery, what is weird on this island is that, there is no hospital for ante-natal care.
The island, according to the custodians of the land, was initially given to fishermen from Anloga in the Volta Region, to use as a landing site to gather their catch and have some rest after fishing , because they could not go back to their hometowns in the Volta Region after long hours of fishing at night.
The trend has changed so significantly that this landing site has been turned into a township, where people have come from far and near to live as well as raise their children and grandchildren.
Some people have lived on this island for close to 30 years now without the hope of moving to any other settlement. This is because they find nothing wrong with where they live now.
Despite constant floods caused by the sea washing away many huts and mud houses on that land, the inhabitants have not been moved to relocate.
I was dumbfounded when I visited this place a few days after the floods that hit Accra last year. What my eyes saw was nothing good to write home about.
The huts and mud houses which serve as homes for families living on that island were washed away, taking away property and leaving debris scattered all over the shores of the sea and the river.
Children were sent to the houses of other fishermen who lived in nearby towns and villages.
The lives of the people living on this island is in great danger, since apart from the geographical location, they also lack the basic social amenities that make life worth living in this developing country of ours.
There is no school, hospital or clinic. Neither is there pipe-borne water nor electricity, yet, those living at Faa Naa, still find it a place worth living.
The few school children living on the island, always need to travel on a canoe to get to the shores of the river at Tsokomey putting the lives of the children at risk.
The Islanders, do not get easy access to health care yet it is a taboo to die on that land.
With neither electricity nor safe water to drink, it seems these people are very far away from the knowledge of civilisation. It is surprising that there is a place like this in the regional capital of Ghana.
Due to the non-existence of a hospital on this land, pregnant women deliver on canoes while they are being transported to the clinic at a nearby town and others also die on their way to the hospital.
This also contributes to the increasing rate of maternal mortality since the women do not get adequate health care when they are pregnant.
How do we achieve our Millennium Development Goals, especially (MDGs 4 and 5), when there is a situation like this in the country?
The authorities must turn their attention to this area and bring some relief to the inhabitants.
What on earth will compel people to live at an under-developed place where there exist some dehumanising and weird taboos . Taboos which are even unfavourable to nature?
“My children and I have lived here for almost 27 years now, and we have nowhere to go to, because the cost of a room or house in the mainlands is very costly, we, therefore, have no option but to stay here although we always lose our property when the river or sea overflows its banks”, Efo Kofi explained.
“I had to pay a fine in addition to some items because my wife gave birth on this land and I had no option because if I did not pay I would have been sent out of the land and would not have anywhere to go to”, another man had also told me.
This is the plight of some people who live on a strange Island known as Faa Naa in Accra, where it is a taboo to give birth or die on that land.
This land lies between a sea and a river, located at Tsokomey in Bortianor, a suburb in the Ga West municipality in Accra.
While some of the inhabitants had wanted to move from the place to a better town, others had never dreamt of packing out since for them, they were born and bred there, and, therefore, did not know any family member elsewhere to whom they can go to.
You do not have the right as a pregnant woman on that land, to be delivered of a baby. In this superstitious area, it is a taboo to die. To do that is a sacrilege for which you will be charged a penalty, if you are delivered of a baby and your family will have to pay the price if you die. Anytime a person dies, the family or household from which the person comes from is fined a sum of money and asked to provide a goat, bottles of schnapps, and pipes to perform some ritual to appease the gods of the sea.
This is so serious! How on earth would I know I would die today or tomorrow to be able to plan my exit, if I happen to live there?
For giving birth on that land, it is weird and strange.
Unlike the mainland where when you are pregnant, you have the opportunity to go to the hospital and would be told your expected date of delivery, what is weird on this island is that, there is no hospital for ante-natal care.
The island, according to the custodians of the land, was initially given to fishermen from Anloga in the Volta Region, to use as a landing site to gather their catch and have some rest after fishing , because they could not go back to their hometowns in the Volta Region after long hours of fishing at night.
The trend has changed so significantly that this landing site has been turned into a township, where people have come from far and near to live as well as raise their children and grandchildren.
Some people have lived on this island for close to 30 years now without the hope of moving to any other settlement. This is because they find nothing wrong with where they live now.
Despite constant floods caused by the sea washing away many huts and mud houses on that land, the inhabitants have not been moved to relocate.
I was dumbfounded when I visited this place a few days after the floods that hit Accra last year. What my eyes saw was nothing good to write home about.
The huts and mud houses which serve as homes for families living on that island were washed away, taking away property and leaving debris scattered all over the shores of the sea and the river.
Children were sent to the houses of other fishermen who lived in nearby towns and villages.
The lives of the people living on this island is in great danger, since apart from the geographical location, they also lack the basic social amenities that make life worth living in this developing country of ours.
There is no school, hospital or clinic. Neither is there pipe-borne water nor electricity, yet, those living at Faa Naa, still find it a place worth living.
The few school children living on the island, always need to travel on a canoe to get to the shores of the river at Tsokomey putting the lives of the children at risk.
The Islanders, do not get easy access to health care yet it is a taboo to die on that land.
With neither electricity nor safe water to drink, it seems these people are very far away from the knowledge of civilisation. It is surprising that there is a place like this in the regional capital of Ghana.
Due to the non-existence of a hospital on this land, pregnant women deliver on canoes while they are being transported to the clinic at a nearby town and others also die on their way to the hospital.
This also contributes to the increasing rate of maternal mortality since the women do not get adequate health care when they are pregnant.
How do we achieve our Millennium Development Goals, especially (MDGs 4 and 5), when there is a situation like this in the country?
The authorities must turn their attention to this area and bring some relief to the inhabitants.
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