They Want To Sleep With Me Before Giving Me Food –Blind Orphan

BY CAMI EZENWA

In a world of individualistic and selfish pursuits, to be blind is bad enough, but to be a blind orphan can only be described as double jeopardy.

That is summarily the lot of the lady in our story, simply identified as Ama. And worse is that even those she had thought were her friends and had frolicked together when she had her sight, are part of those seeking undue advantage of her at a time she needs their support most.

Her offence is that she has need of food in these hard times of global economic lock-down and asked them for some.

It will shock you what their response is literally: you have to allow us sleep with you first; as nothing goes for nothing.

For a blind young girl of stalled dreams and ambitions, now trapped home with a 70-year-old grandmother who sells sachet water in Accra, life indeed could be pain. She revealed these much in an interview, with Starr FM, based in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, with Francis Abban as anchor, the source material for this report.

Is it any surprise that she had in the past contemplated suicide?

”… as I said when you go to someone for the person to help you, that person wants to sleep with you before helping you.”

“Yes please, some too are my friends when I was sighted.”

“I always say I’ll not want my condition to be that people will help me because God has a purpose for everything. If God willing I’ll get it back, fine, so I don’t have to do anything like that.”

“When I think about it, I shed tears a lot,”

“It even came to a time I wanted to take my life. Because being in this situation and all these things are happening then it will be better for me to end my life. I know that will be okay for me. I will not be a burden to anybody, to my friends or granny.”

“I had a surgery and sometimes I do feel pains in the eyes and I don’t have money to buy drugs, eye drops to put in the eye.”

“I’m a woman, I may have my menses and all that. ‘I’ll need soap to bath. And also the food I’ll eat and all that. And some little money that I think ill need to take care of myself as well.”

Like other governments, there are also palliatives for COVID-19, as announced by Minister for Gender Children and Social Protection in her country, Cynthia Mamle but Ama’s condition does not allow her to move about to be able to access the palliative.