Abiba Fuseini popularly known as Auntie Abiba, was once upon a time a street survivor who lived, worked and slept at bus terminals in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. Despite her personal challenges, she had a passion to take care of mentally challenged persons.
In 2004, still as a street survivor, Auntie Abiba started bathing, shaving and grooming mentally challenged persons who roamed the streets of Sekondi-Takoradi with the meagre resources she had. This continuous effort led to the establishment of the Kith Mental Home located at Apollo, a suburb of Takoradi, which was registered in 2010 as a Non-Profit Organization, to serve as home that caters for the mentally challenged in the metropolis.
The home was named after Mr. Kith, an expatriate who was living and working in the Western Region who upon seeing the amazing work Auntie Abiba was doing, offered his four bedroom house to be used as the home for the mentally challenged persons.
With little to no resources but with faith, passion and love to see the mentally challenged well taken care of and recovering, Auntie Abiba in the last almost seventeen years has braced the storms of stigmatization from family and society, recruitment difficulty because of staff who have had to quit the job due to societal perception and stigma and withstood threats to close down the facility from “competing” care giving homes who do same at a fee, to get donations and resources to take care of the inmates of the home and see many of them recover fully.
The Kith Mental Home has been immensely supported over the years by the Kwesimintsim Polyclinic Psychiatry Unit who do regular medical checkups for the inmates. Churches, NGOs, corporate organizations, market women and individuals have been supportive with donations to keep the Home running.
It is worth noting that, Auntie Abiba herself combed the streets of Sekondi-Takoradi to bring the mentally challenged to the home even though some are brought in by their families and friends. Moreover, even though most of the inmates were Ghanaians, there were a few who were brought from outside the country to be catered for. As of March 2021, the home had about 120 inmates being catered for.
According to Mrs. Ewurabena Pebi-Bonney, the Co-founder of LOVE IN THE BOX FOUNDATION who have been supporting the home for some time, many mentally challenged persons have fully recovered and are integrating well into society.
Auntie Abiba as a widow did not think of her personal comfort, she selfless laid down her life for this humanitarian cause that is so worthy of commendation and emulation. Although she has been hale and hearty most of her life, she fell ill recently and on Thursday, 11th March, 2021 passed on at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi at the age of sixty (60).
This piece was written by Daniel Victor Nartey with the help of Mrs. Ewurabena Pebi-Bonney and Dr. Mrs. Salome Essel of the LOVE IN THE BOX FOUNDATION (LITB) Photo credit: LITB
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