Features
When war affects us
About two weeks ago I watched the harrowing tale of a 16-year-old Ukrainian on one of the international television channels. According to the teenager, two Russian soldiers chanced into their home. One of them was either drunk or high on some substance. The drunk wanted to have sex with her, though she was heavily pregnant. She was threatened with death, so the soldier had his way with her.
That, this young girl had the courage to appear on television to tell her story almost moved me to tears. She is a war-affected child for the rest of her life. Whatever justification Czar Putin has to invade Ukraine, there are clear international rules of engagement being violated by the men he sent into battle.
The situation in Ukraine, as being reported, brings to my mind the situation we faced in our sub-region three decades or so ago, especially in Liberia. In 1999 I was a participant at a conference on war-affected children at the Accra International Conference Centre, organised by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), represented by Mr. Olara Otunu.
Deliberations at this conference centred on the effects of the Liberian situation on children who survived the war, but were traumatised by the things they witnessed and went through. How child-soldiers were victims themselves and what rehabilitation they needed. I had the opportunity to meet with Liberian politicians, including a one-time interim President, Dr. Amos Sawyer and Professor Togbah-NahTipoteh who stood for president on three occasions.
A friend who knew me as the Deputy Editor of The Accra Mail at the time asked that I interveiew a Liberian woman who had a rather bizarre tale to narrate. For the sake of this narrative, let me call her Ronda. By her side was a young lad whose voice sounded like just breaking out of puberty and she held a toddler by the hand. Let’s say he identified himself as Ted.
Speaking in the Americanised Liberian accent, Ronda said she was preparing a meal for her husband and son one afternoon in a remote part of Monrovia when rebel soldiers burst into their cottage demanding to search their abode for enemy soldiers. Her husband, on hearing the commotion, came out of the hut where he was taking a nap to ask what the matter was. For daring to ask, a slap from one of the rebels, numbering about a dozen, sent her husband sprawling on the ground.
The soldiers found nothing of value in the cottage, but they were not done yet. They beat up her husband and then called out to her teenage son, who was fanning the fire on which she was cooking and beckoned him over. She was ordered to strip naked, which she did out of fear, thinking they were going to gang-rape her. She was asked to lie down spread-eagled, which she did and the soldiers asked her husband to watch her own teenage son have sex with her.
Her son, Ted, could not but oblige while her husband wept like a child watching the unfolding scenario. After watching the act, the soldiers marched her husband out of the cottage, leaving her and Ted shivering from it all. A couple of 100 metres in the distance, they heard gunshots and she knew her husband was dead.
Ronda said it took them some time to get their wits about them. She and her son took a few clothes and fled into the bush, where they lived on raw cassava and its leaves, any edible fruits they knew and on riped palm fruits that were in abundance. She could not tell how long they were in the bush, but she realised later that she was pregnant, not for her late husband but for her son.
Somehow, according to her, intuition pushed her to follw the direction of the rising sun (East) and she was sure they might get to safety and help. They might have walked many days and slept wherever darkness fell and continued at sunup. Many days later, they crossed into the Ivory Coast and into a border town called Ganta where a family took them in till she gave birth to a baby girl, which was the toddler she was with.
As a journalist, I was minded not to put my emotions and sentiment into a story I was covering, but this was a chat I was having with a victim of war. While I was recording this narrative, I formed a mental picture of what was happening on that day. So, Ted’s daughter was his own sister and the little girl’s older brother was her father. How was Ronda dealing with that? Too many questions ran through my mind as I was listening.
She loved her two children to bits, she told me, because they were her only relatives left at the time. It was not Ted’s fault he sired his sister. Rather, it bonded them together, not in any sensual way, as a family. All she wanted was for her children to have education and for her to be there for them and support them. She was bitter at the loss of her husband, but there was nothing she could do about that.
Ronda was more composed narrating her ordeal than me listening to her. She was a comely young woman one could describe as an African beauty. In spite of her ordeal, she carried herself well. Later I got a Clinical Psychologist to attend to her for the duration of the conference. Ronda was a strong woman, according to the doctor. She wanted to go back to Liberia and put their lives back together. Fortunately, an NGO took her case up and got her back to her country, I was later informed.
When I was a UN Consultant to Liberia in 2005 and saw bullet marks on many buildings in the capital, Ronda and her children were on my mind for the period I stayed in the country. She might be lucky, but there were thousands whose trauma knew no bounds, whose future may have been ruined forever. I saw what happened in Rwanda.
Now it’s Ukraine. The whole country is being razed to the ground. Nothing is being spared by Czar Putin. This is like cleansing Ukraine from the map. Some snipets of information coming from Russia indicate that more than 90 per cent of Russians do not know what is happening next door except what is fed them by state media. And that the soldiers get to the war front before their commanders tell them their mission. It’s simple: orders from the Kremlin. No questions.
There will be children affected by Putin’s war on Ukraine plus more. Russia and Ukraine together produce more than half the world’s wheat demands and Russia alone supplies a huge chunk of Europe’s gas and oil. So, the war on Ukraine has a huge global dimension aside of the trauma the people of Ukraine are already dealing with.
Economies will take some time to heal but the emotional and psychological scars on the women and children of Ukraine will take far longer to heal. Not only that; returning Russian soldiers will, not be the same gain, if what we know about the aftermath of wars is anything to go by. Definitely the Rondas of Ukraine will have their tales to tell when the deal is done. This is very sad for a Twentieth Century world.
Writer’s email address:
akofa45@yahoo.com
Features
The Prophet part 4
Antobam woke up with a terrible headache. He checked the time on his mobile phone, 2:30 am. “What! Where is the money?” He asked aloud. “Where are those girls? Why did I drink so much of that whisky? What were those two girls up to?” He sat up on the bed and noticed a bulge close to the pillow.
He lifted the mattress and picked up the newspaper wrappers with the neatly arranged notes. He saw the neatly written record of the value of the notes. No, those girls are not thieves.
“It was my mistake. If I hadn’t drank myself to sleep they would be here in bed with me, giving me the time of my life. Pretty girls, those two. And so loyal and honest. Tomorrow will be different.”
“I will not drink any whisky, and I will show them that I am a real man. Just then he heard the whispers. Very soon it will be time, they seemed to be saying. This is an important day.”
The gold dealer will bring lots of money. Give him some of the liquid to drink, and we will prepare him. He will do very big business, and he will give you anything you ask for. There will be more miracles and testimonies today.
Antobam smiled to himself. “I am going to be a very rich man in only a few days man. Money, power, and women. Wow! Antobam got to the grounds at 5, but there were quite a number of people waiting.
Mr Kwame Dofu was among them. He greeted them all, and they came around to shake his hand. “My brothers and sisters, I assure you that whatever your problem is, you will not go home without a solution.” Shouts of “Amen” “thank” you Osofo and “you are a true man of God” responded.
“Please take your seats, and start talking to the great one about whatever bothers you. Before the service is over, there will be a solution.” He waved Mr Dofu over, and went with him to the wooden structure that serves as a temporary office.
“My brother, I have done quite a lot of work on the issue you came to see me about. I have prepared a special, powerful package for you. Take this, drink it, and go back to your business. I want to see you in two weeks.”
Beaming with smiles, Mr Dofu drank the foul smelling liquid in two gulps, said a big thank you to Antobam and took his leave. “I believe you, Papa Osofo. And I assure you that I will reward you, big time.”
Just when Osofo Antubam finished with Mr Dofu, Mary and Suzzie went over to him. “Good Morning ladies. I am very sorry about yesterday. I drank too much of the stuff you gave me. Today will be different, I assure you.”
“Don’t worry, Osofo. Since you are now setting things up, our main concern now is to help you to put things in place, and to make you comfortable. We are always there to serve you. This morning, Osofo, we want to go and clean up your place, and prepare something nice for you when you close.
And before coming to church, we will pass by the bank and collect the forms. After you have signed them, the account will be open. You can check the payments anytime and, of course, issue cheques whenever you need money.”
“Suzzie and Mary, I am happy I picked the two of you from the very start. Listen, I will take good care of you, okay? Here is some money. Buy whatever you need for the errands you have mentioned.
And here is the key. Please come back as early as you can. You know I need you here.” The service was very lively. The lively singing of praise songs was followed by one and a half hours of testimonies.
Most of them related to money – big sales, new jobs and overdue debts paid. But there were also testimonies about healing. Barren women had taken seed, and, of course, several men who had lost their bedroom authority had regained them, to the delight of their partners.
As he had promised, Antobam preached for only 30 minutes, exhorting the congregation to attend church regularly, pay their tithes and offerings, and strictly follow his ‘directions’ for securing solutions to their problems.
After another round of praises during which the congregation danced to the floor to drop their offering, he closed the service, grabbed the big bowl which was full to the brim with money, and moved to his desk. A long queue was quickly formed at the desk.
Meanwhile, Mary and Suzzie had gone to give Antobam’s place quite a decent look. A new bedsheet and pillows, a secondhand carpet and four plastic chairs placed in the verandah had done the trick.
They also prepared two fish and chicken stews. After all these, they rushed to the National Savings Bank and collected application forms for opening current and savings accounts.
They joined the service a few minutes before the main session closed. Antobam looked round and saw, to his relief, Mary and Suzzie moving towards him. “Hello ladies. What have you been up to?” “Quite a bit, Osofo. We’ve just collected your drink. Here you are. We’ve made a few changes at your place. I think you will like it. You will also have something nice to eat. Now, here are the forms for the savings and current accounts.
If you will sign them, the bank will open the account. From today, we can pay all monies direct into the account.” ‘How can I thank you, ladies?” “You don’t need to thank us,” Suzzie said. “It is our duty to help a man of God succeed.” “Okay, my ladies, please take the offerings and count them as you did yesterday.
You can add the payments made after the consultations. Will it be possible to pay them into the account today?” “Yes,” Mary said. “The bank closes at four. If we leave here at three, we would be there just in time.”
The two friends started counting, as Osofo Antobam gave his clients his directions for solving their problems. On quite a few occasions he closed his eyes as if he was receiving direction from above on what to do.
But as the fetish priest at the Nana Kofi Broni shrine and the dwarfs had assured him, the solutions would certainly be provided. Having heard the huge testimonies earlier in the day, the clients parted with substantial sums of money in expectation.
By Ekow de Heer
Features
The issue of spiritual father in our churches
A student was supposed to go to school as the natural cause of events should be when universities or schools in general opens but this was not the case in a certain young man’s life.
He decided to postpone his trip because apparently he could not get to meet his pastor, his spiritual father. The question is, should this spiritual father die, will the young man’s life come to an end?
Does it mean in such an instance, he is going to curtail his education? This is a worrying trend in a lot of churches where the pastors use this notion of spiritual father to manipulate members especially the youth.
Some unscrupulous pastors utilise this spiritual father concept to have affairs with gullible young ladies in their churches.
Now with homosexuality gradually making inroads into some of the churches, young men are becoming vulnerable to pastors who have hidden homosexual inclinations.
This spiritual father concept is a Biblical concept that runs through both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. We see it in 2 Kings 4:12 where Gehazi is serving Elisha and also in the New Testament we see Paul relating to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:2 as a Spiritual Father.
In fact, the concept of spiritual father is a good thing if executed according to the word of God since it helps in guiding the younger ones. However, it becomes problematic when it is being executed by unscrupulous wolves in sheepskins as described by Jesus in Mathew 7:15.
I see it as a way that these unscrupulous so-called men of God maintain their hold on the congregants so they do not question their unchristian actions.
One of the things I have observed since I got born again many years ago is that, any pastor who often insists that members recognise that he is their spiritual father is a warning sign that he is doing some wrong things or is about to indulge in some wrong things.
A parent complained about how his daughter was being influenced by a pastor of the church she attends and how worried he was. I am sure there are many parents out there with stories to tell about how their wards are being made to see their pastors almost like their Jesus.
These pastors have managed to make their congregants so loyal to them and to believe in them so much that it is terrifying, as a parent.
The way things are going, an immediate intervention is required otherwise I am not a prophet of doom but I forsee unfortunate instances where parents burst into church auditoriums and star shooting some Pastors out of frustration and anger.
We cannot look on unconcerned as a society and allow unscrupulous fraudsters using the name of God to create problems for families. My recommendation is for a certain amount of regulation in order to bring some sanity in religious practices.
I agree that ordinarily regulating religious practices makes it a bit restrictive in terms of freedom of worship as enshrined in our constitution but given the way things are going, a bit of regulation will not be out of place.
Disgusting stuff are being attributed to some men of God. There are cases of manipulation of young ladies and sometimes married women by so called men of God and it is bringing Christianity and therefore the name of the Lord into disrepute.
Christianity is gradually losing its attractiveness as a result of the negative reportage resulting from disgusting stuff happening in Christian circles. The way some pastors have been manipulating congregants to take money from them leaves much to be desired to the point where they are convincing some of the youth to give out their phones. May God help us.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
