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Burning issues The lion and the sheep story: any lessons?

• The lion and the sheep

African culture is made up of many stories that are told to children to let them become mature and wise people as they grow up. These stories help them to grow and become useful citizens so that they will not only be wise when they grow up, but help prevent unwarranted mistakes that can occur in society.

One African story tells us about animals in the bush but with a focus on the lion and the sheep. We know that the lion is a very aggressive animal. On the other hand, the sheep is a very harmless animal that is only concerned about what it seeks to find and eat without causing harm to any other animal.

A LION

There was a lion that was going around the bush looking for animals to eat to satisfy its hunger. In the process of killing animals and feeding on them to satisfy its hunger it became tired and decided to rest. It woke up from sleep and decided to continue its journey. This time it was in a great hurry and, for this reason, overlooked a big hole that was in front of it.

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The animal, therefore, fell into this deep hole and started looking around for help. Help came from nowhere and that made it very sad. It started to cry and hoped that help would come very soon. After a short while, the sheep was passing by and the lion called it and passionately appealed to it for help.

The sheep, knowing how ferocious and wicked the lion could be, told it that it would have been willing to help but for the fact that if the lion was able to come out of the hole, it would devour the sheep. Immediately, the lion started crying and looking so miserable, promising the sheep that nothing like that would ever happen.

MANY APPEALS

After incessant appeals to the sheep, the humble animal decided to help the ferocious lion. It asked the lion to promise it once again that it would cause no harm to it when it brought it out of the hole. Once again, the lion promised not to attack or harm the sheep, swearing that it was never a bad person and would always remember it for bringing it out of the deep hole.

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Based on this promise the innocent sheep, humble as it is and has always been, decided to find a rope and let it down the hole. It then asked the lion to hold the rope tight and start climbing up. Within a few minutes, the lion was able to use the rope to come out of the deep hole.

On coming out, the lion started smiling and expressing gratitude to the sheep. The sheep smiled back, thinking that the lion would, indeed, go by its promise of ensuring that it would never be attacked.

The lion, ungrateful as it was, decided to catch the sheep, contrary to the promise, and eat it up. Laugh. The sheep started crying and within a few minutes many animals in the bush heard of the cry and became attracted to where the incident was taking place.

HOW WAS THE LION REMOVED?

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The animals wanted to know what was happening so they asked the sheep to narrate what has happened and after that they also asked the lion to tell them about its version of the story. All the animals, upon hearing the story from each of them, knew that the lion was wrong, but they were all afraid to say so.

After some time, the rabbit, being a very wise animal, politely told the lion that it did not believe that the sheep was the one who actually brought it out of the hole, and that if, indeed, it was the sheep that brought it out, then the lion should get back into the deep hole for all of them to see how the sheep was able to rescue it.

On hearing this, the lion quickly jumped into the hole and asked the sheep to bring it out again, so that all the animals would know that it was the sheep which really brought it out. After it had jumped into the hole, the rabbit quickly pulled out the long rope and asked the lion to continue to stay in the deep hole.

WICKEDNESS

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This story tells us how wicked some people we deal with in this world can be. Some of the people we encounter in life, whether in the marketplace, in organisations, in hospitals, as managers or chief executive officers are so wicked that much fear is put into their subordinates.

The lion was feared by all the animals in the bush, so even though they knew what it did was unfair none of the animals was able to stand up boldly to tell the truth that it was being unfair to the sheep. They knew the truth but were afraid to speak it out.

There are many chief executives and managers who are operating very well in this country. Unfortunately, there are many others who are so wicked that their subordinates, like the ferocious lion, find it very difficult to come out with the truth about the issues.

There are many lessons we all need to learn from this simple story. In the first place, there are many wicked people who have been appointed to positions of authority and who are using dubious means to cover their misdeeds. These wicked people ought to be uncovered and put to shame.

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INVESTIGATION

There have even been cases where some of them have been investigated for the truth to come out but the appointing authorities, for some reason, find it difficult to stand by the truth and put such wicked people to shame. When things happen this way, it discourages the majority of the people who serve as subordinates around these wicked people to stand for what the truth is, knowing that at any point in time they may be sacrificed or victimised in a very unfair manner.

For fear of being unfairly sacrificed or being victimised, many of these subordinates keep quiet over the atrocities that are encountered in many workplaces. If these things continue, people will keep quiet and the appointing authority will always be unpopular.

One other lesson from this story is that any appointing authority must pay attention to the story and go for the truth at all times. While going for the truth the appointing authority must exhibit boldness, no matter what, to be fair to all and sundry by ensuring that Freedom and Justice is meted out to all. If Freedom and Justice is meted out to all people there will be happiness, and speedy advancement or progress at all times in society.

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BY DR. KOFI AMPONSAH-BEDIAKO

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Attempts to kill natural therapy?

Sikaman Palava

Anyone who has the devil’s bene­diction of getting sick of diabetes and jaundice at the same time would surely blame an experienced witch for his or her palaver. Fact is, the combination is a dreaded one with the form and visage of an obituary.

The bio-chemical analysis of the unholy combination is, however, within arm’s reach. Diabetes doesn’t tolerate sugar and jaundice can’t get cured with­out glucose (sugar). The two diseases are therefore irreconcilable under any medical condition. They are just not of the same womb!

So the terrified patient has to choose between two styles of dying: either curing the diabetes or dying of jaundice or curing the jaundice and falling into a diabetic coma en route to a cold room transit. The next available plane is destined for the cemetery, meaning the world no longer has any business to do with you.

Now, forgetting about pathological combinations and narrowing the focus on diabetes, one can still crumble in fear. The reason is that diabetes as a disease is not a benevolent ailment. We can understand this because it has nev­er been philanthropic in any sense of the word. It demands its pound of flesh, and that is often worth a human life.

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The problem is that, if you have too much sugar in your blood (hyperglyce­mia), you risk falling into coma. If your sugar level is also too low, a terrible coma awaits you. You just can’t un­derstand the malevolence associated with the disease so you have to keep a balance.

TREACHERY

I am writing this piece because of the sundry sinister attempts of treach­ery, overt and covert, being subtly perpetrated to kill Natural Therapy which claims a cure for diabetes. The claim is completely at variance with the assertion of orthodox practitioners who believe that diabetes can only be man­aged, but can never be cured.

Basically, diabetes occurs when the pancreas is not producing enough insulin to cope with blood sugar, or is not producing insulin at all. The result is a debilitating disease with several compli­cations that can lead to death.

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To combat the disease, one has to be put on diaonil or daily insulin injections supposedly to manage the disease, not to cure it because according to medical gurus, it cannot be cured.

Natural therapists have a different and more progresso-radical view. They say diabetes can be cured and they are proving it every day of the week. Happi­ly, medical doctors who develop diabe­tes are now coming for natural therapy, albeit under the cover of darkness. Today, there are many living testimonies of a natural therapy cure for the deadly ailment.

I was really sad about a silly attempt to frustrate the efforts of a well-known Texas-trained naturopathic physician who has toned down the orthodox medi­cal chorus that diabetes is not cur-able. Many of his patients who had been on insulin for years before seeing him are off it.

The medical crusade is a veritable one, and the good news is being propa­gated by those who have seen the light. Dr Kwesi Ofei-Agyemang’s success story is one that needs to be told from the roof-tops. But ask me, how is he being frustrated?

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On October 28, 1996, a diabetic patient of Dr Ofei-Agyemang had her sugar level checked. It was 6.1 mmo1/1. After treatment using naturopathic methods, she became well and was asked to check her sugar level again at a laboratory (name withheld) on 6-11- 96. Surprisingly, the lab recorded 13.3 mmol/l; meaning that her situation had worsened by far.

When she brought the report, Dr Ofei-Agyemang was sceptical about it. The patient was supposed to have recovered, or at least was recovering. The level could, therefore, not be 13.3. He rushed to the laboratory to demand an explanation.

When Dr Ofei-Agymang queried the report, the technician said he was sorry and added that he’d investigate the error.

Meanwhile at another laboratory where he sent the patient for another test to cross-check the earlier result, the patient’s sugar level recorded a low 2.9 mmo1/1, a correct reflection of her improved state of health.

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The doctor was furious for a very good reason. If he had taken the earlier lab report seriously and continued treat­ment to further reduce the patient’s sugar level, the patient would have sunk into coma and possibly died.

“This is not the first time this is happening,” Dr Ofei-Agyemang told me in an interview last week Friday. When I send my patients for tests, some lab technicians deliberately don’t return the correct results just because they know the patient is attending a natural therapy clinic.

“I see it as a subtle attempt to kill naturopathy in this country aside other hidden strategies that are being adopted to sabotage it. They are all out to create a wrong impression in the minds of pa­tients that they are going to the wrong place for treatment when in fact they are at the right place.”

Other attempts include doctors warning their patients never to submit themselves to natural therapy whenever the patients suggest they want to try it, knowing well that orthodox medicine isn’t helping them.

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Look at something else like this one. After Dr Ofei-Agyemang had cured one patient of a disease and placed him on a diet of fruits and vegetables, the patient’s brother (a doctor) advised him to quit the natural diet regimen and to eat plenty of meat and all that has to do with balanced diet.

So the patient quit the natural diet and ate meat to his fill. Before long boils broke out all over his body. Apparently, the body was rejecting the unnatural diet which had become toxic to the body following the spell of natural dieting.

FAILURE

I have been thinking about this diabetic cure controversy for some time now. I was compelled to ask the natural therapist to explain how naturopathy could possibly tread where orthodox medicine has woefully failed as far as a cure to diabetes was concerned.

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He explained that a defective pan­creas only needs to be revived through selective manipulation, diet and urine therapy to make it function again. If de­fects in other organs of the body can be corrected, there should be no medical reason why the pancreas should be an exception, he said.

“What other doctors must know is that once our methods are different, our results will naturally be different,” he said. “What they are supposed to be saying in fact is that ‘according to orthodox medicine, there is no cure for diabetes.’ They should stop saying there is no cure for diabetes because we are curing it. If they doubt it they should come here and see things for them­selves.

“Our methods are natural and include colon irrigation, deep tissue massage which is more effective than physiotherapy, diet, some fast and manipulation, and urine therapy. There is no way any disease can survive a combination of these methods.

Cancerous sores and all kinds of chronic ailments have been cured, dia­betes inclusive.

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“We just rejuvenate the dormant pancreas and it starts producing insulin. Unless the pancreas is cut out through surgery as a result of cancer, we have ways of making it work.”

I spoke to one of his patients, Jamison Ocansey. He was sick of diabe­tes and has been on herbs of all kinds, insulin and dioanil for more than a year. His sugar level fluctuated between 9 to 17 mmo1/c. After treatment, his sugar level is between 5.0 and 5.9 mmol/c.

“People don’t like this method because of the urine that is included in the method of cure,” he said.”I used to feel the same way but as I’m now cured, I’ve an entirely different opinion. Let me also thank your paper Weekly Spectator. It was an article in it that made me come here, so keep spreading the message.

“I used to be very weak and couldn’t walk. Look, now I am as strong as a bull. I eat well and I’m happy.”

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The doctor has cured various types of diseases at his clinic which is 100 metres north of Holy Gardens or Lido, Circle, Accra. What I believe would help us all is that the medical authorities should investigate these cures and come out openly to claim or disclaim them.

Those who are off insulin would also give testimony. That way, natural therapy can become more acceptable and there would be no point in anybody trying to frustrate efforts at entrench­ing it as the better substitute that has no side effects. It should in fact be the ideal complement to orthodox medicine and not an adversary as people want to portray it.

This article was first publish on Satur­day, November 16, 1996

Merari Alomele’s

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The problem is that, if you have too much sugar in your blood (hyperglycemia), you risk falling into coma. If your sugar level is also too low, a terrible coma awaits you. You just can’t un­derstand the malevolence associated with the disease so you have to keep a balance.

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 It is great to be young

 If I had the power, I believe I may be tempted to remain a child forever. We used to hear statements it is great to be young when growing up.

I did not really comprehend one anybody would wish to be like me, a small boy and not wish to be an adult like my Dad. Those were the days that the family did not sit around a dining table and your Dad’s meal was set up on a small table at a particular spot in the hall.

When I observed the amount of meat that were given to my Dad and what was given to me, l definitely wanted to grow up quickly to also become an adult. Therefore to hear some adults occasionally declare that it is great to be young, was some­thing I could not understand.

My reasoning was that, adults were enjoying a lot of benefits and so for any adult to even consider the possi­bility

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When I grew up however, I have come to appreciate that saying that indeed, it is great to be young. Growing up as a child, all l looked up to was the next day to come as I go to bed. When I woke up, l had no worries about what I would eat before going to school.

Where the next meal was going to come from was not my concern. All l had to do was to make sure that I go to school, study hard and pass my ex­ams and ensure that I am within the first three, in my class. There was no worrying about school fees, chang­ing of school uniforms or clothes in general, something I cannot run from now as an adult.

I now have to provide for some people now and I can now fully un­derstand my Dad’s comment that it is great to be young.

Christmas time was a very inter­esting and exciting time as a child because new clothes were provided for me and my siblings. I recall one Christmas period when I was provid­ed with a suit. It was a memorable occasion in my life as it was the first time I wore a suit.

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I felt very proud wearing the suit and with my new shoes to match, I felt great walking with my friends as we moved from place to place. When a new academic term begins I always looked forward to having a new school uniform. How much it was going to cost or how it was going to be provided was not my concern at all. It was taken for granted that I will get a new uniform at all cost.

I always had a good night’s sleep with the exception of those days that I was suffering from malaria and I had quite a number of such malaria attacks.

Recently my last born jokingly said “Daddy, do not think that I am not going to take money from you when I grow up oh. Even when I get mar­ried and have children, do not think you will be free. I will still collect money from you because you are my father”.

I burst into laughter and said “It is great to be young”. At the moment, her needs are provided by me and until she completes school and starts working, I will continue to provide for her needs. There have been mo­ments that I wish I were a child once again.

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I recall an incident involving my little girlie as I affectionately call my last born, when she pushed a piece of chalk into her nostril and we had to take her to the hospital, and wondering how it was going to come out. While her mother and I were worried at the hospital, she did not seem bothered and in that moment I wished I was a child. When the nurses finally got it out, I was so relieved and she was just smiling, obviously not worried as I was. Indeed, it is great to be young.

NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNA­TIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’

By Laud Kissi-Mensah

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