Sixty-five-year-old Elizabeth
Asantewaa sits in her chair with an amputated limb and a decaying leg. She was
too young at the time to understand what had happened to her.
As time went on she grew to
understand her situation.
Elizabeth Asantewaa, suffered
injuries when a bomb exploded on 6th March 1964, as she was about presenting a
bouquet to Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, at an Independence
anniversary celebration.
“What I just saw was boom, it lifted me up and brought me back onto the ground. It was a big blast. All I saw was my leg burning,” she said.
Thankfully she survived, but 51
years on, she is a pauper, afraid her deteriorating health could kill her at
any moment. Elizabeth Asantewaa's leg was amputated to prevent the spread of
the impact of the bomb explosion so she could continue to live.
Her disfigured supporting leg is
equally decaying by the day. She usually walks with the support of crutches.
Today the case is different. Her
condition worsens daily due to lack of medical care. Elizabeth does not only
feel neglected but is hurt and upset.“I feel general weakness, I need constant
massage, I often feel dizzy. It’s tough for me.”
In her case, if her pain does not
kill her hunger might.
“Sometimes when I don’t have money,
I only drink water and sleep.”
If only Elizabeth, her parents or
whoever nominated her for that glorious moment to present a bouquet to Osagyefo
had known the aftermath, they would have turned down the opportunity.
The bomb exploded with her dreams.
Elizabeth tells me Dr. Kwame Nkrumah promised her needs will be provided for by
the government.
The support ended with his
overthrow.
Elizabeth has some hope but that
keeps fading with each passing day as she grapples with the reality of her
decaying leg and the help that may never come.
“I’m pleading with the president, he
knows my story, and I’m appealing to him and all Ghanaians to help me.”
Source: JoyNews
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