News
Cancer Support Network Foundation (CSNF) commits funds to fighting cancer in Ghana
Dr Juliet Quansah (left) with one of the beneficiaries
of the Cancer Support Network Foundation (CSNF)
Within the past five years, the Cancer Support Network Foundation (CSNF) has financed various cancer related activities including the treatment of needy cancer patients across the country to a tune of more than GHC300,000.00.
This year alone, as of May 2023, the Foundation has so far spent GHC13,000.00 on individuals fighting various forms of cancers including breast and eye cancers.
Vice president of the CSNF, Mr Eric Brobbey who made the revelation indicated that financial support for needy cancer patients was very necessary as many of the patients lost their lives because they are unable to afford the complete recommended treatment for the disease.
He bemoaned that some sufferers of cancer found difficulty in raising money to commence treatment after diagnosis, causing the disease to progress.
Delay in treatment, he said, had cost the lives of many cancer patients who had chances of surviving the disease “and this is what we want to prevent at all cost. We are doing our best to support some patients, to increase their chances of surviving.”
According to Mr Brobbey, delay in diagnosis was also a cause for worry due to the fact that some patients are unable to afford the cost for further investigations, others too end up resorting to all forms of unapproved treatment methods because of financial constraints.
He reiterated that the CSNF would continue to give off its best in helping as many cancer patients as possible, beat cancer.
Mr Brobbey, who is also an oncology nurse said the Foundation does not only focus on financing the treatment of cancer patients who were in need but also focused on increasing awareness about the disease and how to prevent it.
He therefore called on individuals and organisations to support the CNFS achieve its objectives.
Dr Juliet Quansah, a medical oncologist practicing in the United States of America (USA) is the Founder and Board Chair of the CSNF.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
News
Swallowed by the Sea! …Keta’s coastal lines, landmarks, efforts to preserve heritage
The Atlantic Ocean is no longer a distant blue horizon for the people of Keta.
It now circles around their doorsteps, uninvited, unrelenting, pulling down walls and other structures, erasing memories, and threatening lives.
Hovering precariously between the restless sea and the Keta Lagoon, this once-thriving coastal town is slowly being obliterated.
Salt water has become both a physical and metaphorical threat, dissolving the town’s past as fast as it claims its future.
Madam Aku Atitso, 62, lives in a crumbling former Prisons Service quarters – one of the few structures still standing on the eroded stretch of Queen Street.
She sits quietly at the entrance, preparing a modest breakfast for herself and her granddaughter.
The air is thick with salt and silence. “The sea took everything,” she says softly. “My husband’s nets, our mattress, our memories all gone overnight.” Her voice trembles. “This place too is dying. But it’s the last place with a roof over my head.”
A few metres away, Aunty Esinam, 79, watches the sea from a low stool beside a wooden shelter. Her eyes do not blink. “That spot,” she points, “used to be someone’s living room, a whole family lived there”.
It’s not just homes that are vanishing. Landmarks that anchored Keta’s cultural identity are disappearing one after another. The once-imposing Fort Prinzenstein, a haunting relic of the transatlantic slave trade is now more of a ruin than a monument.
the encroaching waters along Keta’s
coast.
encroaching waters along Keta’s coast
The colonial-era Bremen factory, the old cinema where generations of children once laughed at flickering black-and-white films is also gone.
Queen Street, once the town’s bustling backbone, is now a watery corridor choked with debris.
Standing atop a section of the sea defence wall, 69-year-old retired teacher Efo Kwasi Agbeko surveys what remains.
“The first police station is mostly gone,” he says, gesturing part of the building stuck in the sea sand, only ruins and a few rooms remain.
“This town is fighting, but the sea is winning,” he said.
Even the Cape St. Paul Lighthouse, Keta’s historic sentinel, leans perilously toward the water, and fishermen say holes in the shore are opening more frequently, sometimes every week.
That leaves a thick cloud of uncertainty hanging around the historic town of Keta.
Once upon a time, it was a vibrant town noted for business but currently left with ruins with a few of the residents watching in awe the sea’s devastation.
From: Geoffrey Kwame Buta, Keta, Volta Region
News
Ghanaians climax Easter with fun-filled activities
Christians around the world and other faith based groups last Monday climaxed the Easter celebration with a number of fun-filled outdoor and indoor activities.
With streets empty, fun seekers stormed church premises where picnics were held while others partied in many ways.
Others spent the day at the various beaches and music and film shows occupying the others.
velleyball competition
at the Laboma Beach
Church in Tema Community 8 engaged
in a number of activities including the
popular draught competition
At the churches, participants engaged in bible reading, football, volleyball, playing cards, table tennis, horse racing, bouncing castles, swimming and oware.
one of the picnic venues
Others played ludo, tag of war, lime and spoon, draught, music competitions among others.
The Spectator captured some of the exciting scenes around Accra-Tema for the benefit of readers.
Story & pictures by Victor A. Buxton
