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General News of Friday, 31 July 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Rejected by family, turned down by employers: The sad story of a physically-challenged graduate

Agbosu is appealing for support play videoAgbosu is appealing for support

Watching her unpack her distressing story of how she developed her current condition and the misfortunes thereafter could easily bring tears to ones’ eyes.

It’s a story themed on rejection. From a doctor rejecting his or her responsibility, to her parents rejecting her to potential employers shutting doors on her, it is practically impossible to watch her and not feel any form of sympathy for her.

From what she was told by her parents, she was a bubbly, lovely kid with no medical condition until age four when an injection by a doctor got her in her current state.

Now stuck on all four limbs with her arms as fore legs, Agbosu Delali is forced to move around like a quadruped.

“I was told that I developed this condition at age four. My parent sent to the hospital because I was unwell and the injection is what caused this. Since then I haven’t been able to walk”.

Her mother is one of the first few people she says gave up on her. Unable to bear the ‘shame’ and responsibility of taking care of a physically challenged daughter, she abandoned her.

His father who was supportive unfortunately passed on.

“My father was in the Oti Region before he died. I was staying with an auntie at Ashaiman but I couldn’t bare the hardships so I had to leave. My mum is alive but I don’t know. After the thing happened, my parents divorced. My father was the one supporting me until he died but I’m not close with my mum. She abandoned me so I have no idea where she is”.

As difficult as the challenge was, Agbosu never surrendered but did well to see herself through school to the tertiary level.

The hope was that once a tertiary certificate is bagged, doors would be opened and jobs will come aplenty but unfortunately, her condition which was supposed to earn her an advantage in the eyes of potential employers, has rather become a curse for her.

Since bagging a diploma at the Accra Technical University in 2012, she has tried to a get job but it has ended fruitlessly with the basis for the turned downs not because she is not qualified but because of her condition.

“I finished Accra Poly in 2012 with a diploma in secretaryship and management. I have sent applications to a lot of places and they always tell me I will hear from them but they don’t get back to me. A big man in one of the companies I applied one day told me that I’m disturbing myself because I won’t get a job. He said secretary is not about sitting at one place and with my condition, it will be difficult for any boss to move around with me”.

Agbosu’s childhood dream has been to become a journalism and grace television station so after being confronted with the ‘truth’ about her failed job search, she went back to school to begin a journey towards journalism.

“I did a short course in broadcast journalism and after completion no radio or TV station employed me. So this is my current situation. My dream was to be a newscaster. I know its because of my condition that’s they turn me away but until you try someone you wouldn’t know how good he or she is”.

The pain of consistent rejects not from job employers hurts Agbosu and sometime give her suicidal thoughts.

“When I get home I cry. I cry because if they are doing that to me, how do they expect me to survive”.