Volta Premier Fm
The Headmistress of the Abutia Teti E.P. Primary School in the Ho West District of the Volta Region is lamenting bitterly over the lack of a child weighing center for the Abutia Teti community, a situation that is affecting academic work in her school.
According to Miss Beatrice Klu, the current weighing space, which is a shade provided by a huge mahogany tree, is located on the school compound and anytime it rained, the health officials attending to the babies and their mothers had to relocate to one or more of their classrooms, making the continuation of the day’s academic work a challenge.
She was speaking in an interaction with GlobalNews at Abutia Teti on Wednesday February 21, when the NewsTeam visited the weighing session of children in the morning as school was in session.
“…normally, weighing is held here and this brings a lot of challenges both to the parents, the children and our pupils in this school. When they come, lessons are distracted in a way because their younger siblings will like to join them in the classrooms which is bad. When we try moving them away, babies as they are, they cry so distraction of lessons takes place over there”.
“…secondly when it starts to rain, they run helter-skelter and some of them get into our classrooms because this is the nearest point for them to seek shelter at so some of these things happen and it’s a worry to some of us all here. Distraction of attention goes on but the teacher still struggles to carry out the lesson. In my opinion, I’ll put it across that they are relocated and relocation means a lot… meaning a new structure should be constructed for them so that they’ll be accommodated there anytime there is rains”.
When the News Team arrived at the improvised weighing center, weighing was in session as nursing mothers, together with their babies, sat and waited for their turn.
Interestingly, the scale for weighing and subsequent recording of the child’s growth information can be clearly seen hanging and dangling dangerously on a smaller tree on the school compound.
Exactly two weeks ago on Wednesday February 7, 2018, at the maiden Interaction Durbar of Women of Abutia Teti, the Queenmother of Abutia Teti, Mama Dunenyo IV made a passionate appeal to the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo Addo, to assist the community with a child weighing center to improve the health of babies within the Abutia Teti community.
A community health nurse with the Abutia Agorve Health Center, Miss Magdalene Nukpetor for her part, stated that the current situation is exposing the babies and their mothers to the public since the improvised center is in the open.
“…Abutia Teti as a zone is not having the facility, so that would prevent mothers when they come, that joy, how they’ll feel comfortable weighing their kids, how they’ll feel free to tell you their problems for proper counseling to go on for no other person, third person to hear of their problems… the lack of the facility is preventing mothers to come to weighing as they have to come”, she said.
She bemoaned how the lack of a weighing center for the Abutia Teti community is affecting and demoralizing their quest to attend to and assist nursing mothers and their babies.
“…it is affecting so much because we have the zeal to do the work but when you come, let’s assume it is raining, you see mothers carrying their kids which make you uncomfortable as if you are punishing them, they need to come, the immunization we need to give to the child would not be given because the mother would not come, which will affect the child and affect our work as well, so that facility when it is provided for us, it will go a long way to help us and the community members as a whole”, she appealed.
Some of the nursing mothers who had to make do with the improvised weighing center have also expressed their frustrations while calling on government to support the community with a modern child weighing facility.
Source: Global105.1FM/Kofi Gamor
