Suicidal Ghanaian woman loses children to British Social Services in London

After weeks of intense cogitation, and being overwhelmed by emotions with the fear of forever being haunted by guilty conscience if something catastrophic happened to the woman in question, I have resolved to alert Ghanaian compatriots to her plight by putting out this publication in case someone out there could be of great help to her.

This woman is currently detained in a psychiatric wing of a hospital under the British Mental Health Act. She is deemed a danger to herself and her three children hence the Social Services compulsorily removing her three children from her. The first two children had long been taken away from her while the last one has recently been taken as well when she threatened to kill herself if the children were not returned to her.

She keeps telling the doctors she is not ill mentally or physically so they should allow her to go home. However, the doctors fear she will harm herself and her little child so they will neither let her go nor allow the child to be with her anymore following her threats to kill herself if they did not return her first two children to her.

On three occasions that I have overheard her telephone conversations, she sounds very normal. She calls from the hospital where she has been sectioned for the past several months.

I am not a doctor and have not met her personally but I have had the opportunity to speak to advise, and to give her words of encouragement over the phone on one occasion. I could conclude that her illness be whatever it is, is caused by heartbreak and neglect by those she expected to be the shoulders for her to cry on in times of her great need.

Her husband with whom she had the first two children, understandably a Ghanaian in the British Army in the UK, left her. She was married to a second husband and had her last child by him. This man has also abandoned her. I do not know the causes of her unfortunate marriages but they are not the issues for discussion today but how she could be helped to overcome her illness and then be reunited with her children.

To the psychologists and psychiatrists, could “broken heart” not cause stress and other ailments to the sufferer to finally culminate in her “disputed” mental illness? Again, could consolatory visits to such patients, emotional support and little financial assistance not help speed up the recovery or healing of such victims?

One thing I find heartrending is the total abandonment of the woman by her church members. The very church members she congregated and worshipped with have denied her visits, denied her phone calls, and denied her prayers, let alone financial support. Is it how we fellowship with others in God?

What I find quite weird about her church members, especially their Presiding Elder is their lack of comprehension of the very biblical tenets in which they hope to gain salvation to end up in Heaven one day. In the few months preceding her illness, the woman was said to have become rude towards some church members including the Presiding Elder. This was not her character as they knew her to be.

Someone was able to foresee that there was something not right about her and advised those who felt hurt by her action to bear with her, interrogate her to find out what was bothering her and to pray for her. They refused, but kept saying she was getting rude. The more the person kept saying the woman might be sick hence needed their assistance, the louder the others kept shouting she was simply becoming unbecoming. In less than no time, she was sectioned as reported above.

To her Church members who are Christians, regardless of being true or carnal-minded, the bible says in Matthew 18:21-22 – “21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!” and 1 John 4:20 -If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen”

I am neither condemning nor sanctioning their action but stating my views and disagreement with them on their strong unchristian line of action taken against her. Their Presiding Elder blatantly refuses to mention her to be prayed for during Church service.

How I wish the Ghana High Commissioner to the UK could himself, or delegate someone from the High Commission to pay her a visit at the hospital. Such a visit could make a great difference in her life by speeding up her recovery.

She is said to come from Kumawu-Bodomase although she had resided in Kumasi all her life until coming to Britain. I therefore have a duty to perform towards her recovery as well as getting her children back once she overcomes the problems causing her illness and making her feel suicidal.

This publication is my first step in the right direction to securing her help. Whoever is ready to help her with advice, visits, and emotional support is welcome. They should please contact me on email address rcksnadofo@yahoo.co.uk for her details. We should not let her lose her children. We should not let her become a mentally deranged person. It is only by the positive steps we take today that can make the huge transformational difference that we seek for in her life.

She says the Social Services are taking her children because they know she has nobody. This is because since she was sectioned, nobody has been visiting her. Yes we can, if we really want to save her life. We can start with visits to her.

I shall officially convey her plight to the attention of the Ghana High Commissioner in the UK as well as certain dignitaries whose phone calls to her could be a great inspiration to her. In the meantime, let all concerned Ghanaians remember her in their daily prayers to the Almighty God.