Combing streets, ghettos for emotionally traumatised boys …the story of the ‘Woman King’ and Boy Child Supportive Care Foundation

In a society where conversations about the safety and wellbeing of people have always tilted to the side of women and the girl child, one often wonder who cares about the state of the young boys at the same age as the girls.

Boys have been usually considered emotionally and physically stronger vessels, able to go through tough and difficult challenges without the support often enjoyed by girls who go through less or similar trials.

Some of these boys have grown up knowing of a popular Ghanaian par­lance ‘barima nsu’, which is literally translated to ‘men don’t cry.’

So, sometimes people don’t real­ise that behind this show of strength and swagger, lies a soft, emotionally traumatised boy that fears losing his masculinity by bringing out the other part of him.

This was what led to the establish­ment of the Boy Child Supportive Care Foundation, a little over a year ago, to provide that comforting shoulder for boys to share their concerns.

Even that thought to care for boys came from a woman, Edna Korama Yamoah, popularly known as ‘Woman King’ who stands for the plight of boys and men.

The story behind the Boy Child Sup­portive Care Foundation is quite fas­cinating, especially when both boys and men have failed to realise and accept their predicament.

But for the Woman King, boys and men must not see themselves in such strug­gles as a normal thing.

“You see, boys have been neglected for a long time. We always hear about the girl child. Everything in this society is about the girl child. We think the girls are vulnerable, but boys are more vulnerable.

In fact, most boys are more vulnerable than the girls. Boys get so emotional but they hide it because we always know them to be men and not expected to cry,” She explained.

After establishing the foundation, a lot of such boys have been brought to­gether, especially those that are going through emotional problems.

Within this short space of time, the foundation has man­aged to put about 16 boys in basic school, almost 200 in technical and vocation through scholarship, and has over 150 engaged in sports activities, specifically football and basketball.

Without support from organisa­tions, the foundation has struggled to send these boys to Senior High School (SHS) due to financial chal­lenges, although the SHS is free but without some needed logistics.

According to the Woman King, the work of the foundation requires oc­casional visits to schools where they talk about issues on mental health and wellbeing.

“We also do charity works. We also do feeding on the streets and ghettos.

“The foundation currently don’t have a hub to house them. That is even not a major concern now since most of them have places to sleep. It’s just that they are poor. They don’t have what to eat, they don’t have what to wear.”

“They are not necessarily street children. These are boys with their fami­lies aged between 10-21 years. They are with the fami­lies but we see clearly they are going wayward.

“So, we help them with counsel­ling. We do one-on-one counselling. We do interactive counselling. We do that a lot in secondary schools, espe­cially in five schools.

The foundation’s operations are not always smooth as expected because of their backgrounds.

“They are from poor homes. Some are very stubborn as well, and proud. Sometimes you want to help a boy child and he’s like, I’m comfortable where I am. I want quick money. I want to carry goods to get money.

But I have a way of facing them. So, I’m always in kick; every day, I’m in kick. You hardly see me in flashy clothing.

“I go to the gated houses where people cannot go, where the police won’t go. Me, I go there. I go to the ghettos to speak to them.

“I make them feel I’m not against them. Rather, I want to understand them, so they should also understand me.

“Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I just get out of my car and walk along the streets just to look at these boys, how they behave, and their mannerisms,” she narrated.

Woman King has currently written proposals to churches, organisations and philanthropists to find ways to fund these activities that she believes will help a lot of boys realise their dreams.

“I didn’t have any grant. I didn’t even have the idea of writing to do this because we were not even a year old. So we contacted a few people and they started adopting some of the cases.

“So we have people who have ad­opted the education project. We have only individuals who are taking care of individual boys. They pay their school fees and most of them are in the pri­vate schools. Because they want the boys to be in the private schools.

“But after a year, we are collaborat­ing with this big school with the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

We are also endorsed by the Minis­try of Arts and Culture. We have the endorsement because there is this upcoming project; Arts and Craft. We wanted to do it in the secondary schools, but we realised that Ghana Education Service may delay us,” she stated.

At the sports level, the foundation requires training and remuneration for their coaches in charge of their 14, 16 and 18 football teams.

Woman King is a mother of two girls and believes it is for a purpose that she did not give birth to a boy because her passion has led her to take care of so many of them.

“I feel so good and proud when I see something good coming from my boys. When I see them so happy, it makes me so happy, it makes me feel I am on top of the world.

“I feel good that I have made an impact in somebody’s life, because I see progress. All these boys are trans­formed.

“And at the end of the day, they all come saying thank you. So it makes me very proud and emotional.”

Womans King’s next agenda is to have a “Books and Stationary Support Festival coming up in the first week of January when schools reopen. We are doing this because I went to some schools, about two or three schools in some villages and the teachers ap­pealed to me to bring them books.”

In this regard, the foundation is call­ing for support to support these needy school children.

It is the belief of Woman King that the foundation would one day gain international recognition for the good works it is rendering to society.

By Cecelia Yada Lagba