On August 15, a symbolic Olympic torch was lit at the Ecole Technique Officielle in Kicukiro, Kigali as Darfur advocates united to call for an end to all genocides.
Rwanda is the second stop for the ‘Olympic Dream for Darfur’ campaign, in a six-country tour, that began in Darfur on August 9, exactly one year before the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing. Due to China’s economic interests in Sudan, the organization argues that leaders in Beijing are in a unique position to persuade the Sudanese government to end the atrocities in Darfur and they hope their campaign will pursuade the Chinese to get involved.
American actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, Mia Farrow, was among the Darfur advocates in Kigali for the event and shared her thoughts about what genocide survivors can share with the international community in an interview with Contact FM.
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By Abena Amoah Gyamfi with files from Trish Estabrooks
Kwadwo is like many mentally ill people on the streets in Kumasi. His clothes are dark, his hair matted, his toenails overgrown. He talks to himself and asks people for money when they walk by.
Most people avoid him. He’s difficult to ignore though. He sits in a heap of clothes, paper, his own feces and urine. He says he’s a lawyer, writing about the world and is ready to issue licenses for a variety of services to anyone who needs an official letter or permission from a lawyer to rent a bike, join a club.
Ask anyone who lives or works in Adum, Kumasi and they’ll tell you about him. They won’t know his name or where he’s from or why he sits, sleeps and eats by the cement wall everyday, but rather that he’s there.
Kwadwo lives around the corner from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. If he yelled loud enough city officials sitting in their offices with the windows open could probably hear him. In many ways he couldn’t be farther away from city officials.
In preparation for the African Cup of Nations KMA is carrying out what they call “decongestion exercises” activities to rid the streets of clutter, trash and rubbish. In many people’s eyes Kwadwo is all of these.
In an effort to better understand some of Kumasi’s mentally ill and the causes of mental illness Luv/Nhyira news reporter, Abena Amoah Gyamfi, prepared this report.
Psychiatrists say mental patients are more decent on our street than sound people who litter them
Have you ever spotted a half or completely naked mentally ill person on the streets or at a corner? What was your initial reaction? Did you wonder what may have gone wrong with him or her?
Some people attribute madness to witchcraft, while others think it is punishment for wrongs committed by individuals or even their ancestors. Generally the public sees the mentally ill as trash.
In the following report Abena Amoah Gyamfi of Nhyira FM tells the real story behind the mentally ill on Ghanaian streets.
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By Nii Akrofi Smart Abbey (Producer: Darrell Harvey)
Some commercial drivers in Accra are angry with the new system of police checkpoints popping up around the city. Metal police barriers are giving way to what drivers call snap check points police who stand at the side of the road and randomly stop cars as they pass. The drivers say they are dangerous, especially at night… and are little more than another revenue collection point for dashes to the police. But officials of the police administration say the increased police presence is to check the recent upsurge in violent crime. Nii Akrofi Smart-Abbey has been touring the streets of Accra and files this report.
Air date: August 20 2007
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