SUNYANI: Teacher plants over 12,000 trees

The Man behind the trees

Mr. Isaac Yaw Brenya

He is famed across the length and breadth of Sunyani and the Brong Ahafo Region at large.

Mr. Isaac Yaw Brenya is neither an actor, a Member of Parliament nor a retired footballer. The fifty-five (55) year old professional teacher teaches Ghanaian Language (Asante Twi) at the Sunyani Senior High School (SUSEC) and is a long-serving assembly man at the Area II electoral area, in Sunyani.

Spotted on his campus or in town, the old but active man would respond to his cherished nickname, Koo Zee. Beyond teaching and working as an assembly man, however, Mr. Brenya bestows on himself a task the world pays and encourages others to do. He voluntarily plants trees!

 “I have planted over 12, 000 trees in and around the Sunyani municipality now,” he said as he wiped beads of sweat that dotted his face.

Mr. Brenya recounts that he started planting trees in early 1982. “[But] my first and major point of tree planting was the Sunyani Anglican Cluster of Schools in the Brong Ahafo Region.”

He says that he taught here [Anglican Schools] as a classroom teacher in the late 1990s. With plant seedlings then supplied to schools by the Forestry Division, he took it upon himself to help green Ghana as a way of fighting against the depletion of the ozone layer.

Mr. Boakye Dankwah, Deputy Regional Manager of the Anglican Schools said: “Brenya has given Anglican Schools a serene environment with his trees.”

The tour

Clad in a spotty cap with his Lacoste that kissed the waist-line of his trouser, Mr. Yaw Brenya hurriedly led me on a tour through the various spots he has planted [his] trees.

Our first point of visit was the Odumaseman Senior High School, Brong Ahafo Region. This [School] was his second point of tree planting. As our vehicle screeched to a stop near the school, he hopped out and walked straight up to the school’s entrance.

He kicked his right leg against a dwarf pillar and shot a finger signaling me to follow him.

“In 1996, a teacher at the Odumaseman Senior High school called on me to plant some trees around the school field. She called me to help… and I responded to her call positively,” he said.

As of the time of this visit to the Odumaseman Senior High School, team members of the football club Ku­mapem Stars were taking respite under Brenya’s trees before the start of their training. Their hearts were full of gratitude for his selfless effort.

At the Sunyani Senior High School where Brenya teaches, he has planted over two thousand trees on the compound to offer a beautiful landscape and serve as wind breakers.

Upon entering the school’s compound, the acacia trees that flank the shoulders of the walkway seem to hymn a warm ‘welcome’ to visitors with a fresh, soothing air. Straight ahead is the administration block with a greenery scene of trees at its forecourt. At a branch on your right, one is met with the Tano House. Behind it are a number of Brenya’s trees.

Walking onward from the road behind the Tano House, one gets to the girls’ dormitory where the trees have formed a canopy on the walkway.

The Assistant Headmaster (Academics) of the school, Mr. Sie Kwasi said that, “The Sunyani Senior High School’s football field, classroom blocks, dormitories, among others are all ornamented with Mr. Brenya’s trees. The school for many years now has not recorded a rip-off of its roofs due to the presence of the trees.”

The trees: overview

Mr. Brenya has so far planted trees in 18 senior high schools in and around the Sunyani municipality. He has also planted trees in almost all the basic schools in there.

He hasn’t stopped there. Brenya has planted trees along all the principal streets in Sunyani including the Eusbett Hotel road, a portion of the Kumasi-Sunyani road and the Sunyani-Techiman road.

He has planted around the Sunyani Children’s Park and in front of the Sunyani Police Station.

Interesting enough, he says he goes on a visitation to all the spots he has his trees to count and prune them.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), global emissions of carbon dioxide have increased by more than 46 per cent since 1990 hence the need for afforestation and reforestation.

“Mr. Yaw Brenya’s contribution towards the reduction of the emissions of carbon dioxide is spectacular. Not only does he plant the trees but cares for them. I am a former student of the Sunyani Senior High School and I know how dear the trees are to him,” a resident said.

His Award

After our tree tour, he took me to his house.

Mr. Brenya creaked open his door, went inside the room and returned with a laminated certificate of citation.

In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded him with a citation for his great role in society. The citation, among other things, describes him as a ‘born environmentalist.’

This seems to be the only award he has received for his contribution towards the betterment of the society. But he is not deterred nor motivated by awards.

“Tree planting has now become part and parcel of my life. I believe that whenever I plant a tree, I save life and it gives a reason why man should live,” Brenya said.

He expressed his profound gratitude to all his students in all the schools he has planted trees for assisting him plant and water the trees.

In fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goal 7 which seeks to ensure environmental sustainability, Brenya has successfully contributed his quota. 

Whenever you breathe [in fresh air], remember that a tree somewhere produced for your breathing that oxygen.

If you cannot plant trees yourself, do not [help] cut down trees illicitly.

By Solomon Mensah

Writer’s email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com 

Twitter: @Aniwaba

#AccraDisaster: Media Announces Deaths, Family & Friends Call, Search For Loved Ones

 

By Solomon Mensah

Searching for loved ones

A Dead Baby Being Cuddled

Dawn it was. My phone rang. I could not pick. It was too early a Thursday morning, June 4, 2015. I heard the phone ring far away in my slumber land.

Then… another call came through at 6:22am. It was my sister. When I checked the missed calls, they were all from my family members in Sunyani.

“What might have happened back home?” I asked myself.   

I first called back my sister. While I held the phone close to my left ear, I shivered and quivered. My voice slivered in wait for the unknown news. Ironically, my family was also in a state of shock… dying to hear my voice to ‘resuscitate’ them to normalcy.

“Boafour [Helper],” I called my sister’s name.

“Kofi, how are you [she spoke in Twi]?”

I responded in the affirmative that I was well and that her call woke me up.

“I heard on news few minutes ago that a lot of people have died in Accra due to last night’s rains and a fire outbreak. Are you safe?” she asked.

“I am,” I replied.   

We spoke about other family-related issues briefly and hang up the call. But I had to call back my brothers, too. I would call one of them so he tells the others that I was safe.

“I heard on Peace FM news [at 6am] that Accra was mourning many deaths …” my brother said.

I told him I was fine. He prayed this never happened anywhere in the world again and we ended the call.

On Wednesday, June 3, 2015 when I left the house, my phone, power bank and other electrical gadgets were all off. I had no power at home the previous day. I went to work and there was no power, too. Hence, I could not listen to news in the evening.

This made the breaking news of the flood and fire elude me since I would shave listened to radio till about 10pm before I retired to bed. So, it was my family who broke the news to me!

I must say that the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Ground Zero area is one of my normal routes in Accra, however, on that day I was nowhere near that spot.

My landlord had returned from the United Kingdom barely a week to the incident. When I woke up in a pair of boxer shorts with my phone glued to my ear, he was also answering a number of calls. He wore a grey pajamas with a big white towel around his neck. 

“Oh I am fine. We thank God for our lives but my heart goes out to the lost souls,” he said to the other person on the phone.

From Berekum, in the Brong Ahafo Region, a friend called me: “News just in is that the death toll now stands at 63, 70, 84, 100 …,” the friend recounted an information he had heard on a radio station. It was as if the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) was announcing the results of its Saturday National.

Per the death toll announcement, the fears compounded as family and friends got worried deepening the calling and searching for their loved ones.

On social media like Facebook, family and friends recounted how they called and searched for their loved ones or vice versa.

Isaac Promzy Opoku wrote: “A friend called from South Korea asking ‘Promzy I hope you are not in Accra.’”

“I called my brother and asked ‘How is the family? Are you safe?’ I was very uncomfortable because my brother always drove home late passing through Circle, too,” wrote Zadok Kwame Gyesi.

“I sent a simple message: ‘Are you safe?’ on WhatsApp and Facebook to all my people in Accra,” Kojo Kaps posted.

Missing persons, charred bodies

“I have seen not less than thirty bodies all who have lost their lives,” Agya Kwabena –a reporter with United Television (UTV) said. “Look on my left, a man has totally burnt into ashes. He is not alone. There are a lot of people burnt.”

The UTV report went viral on social media. The cameras showed human beings reduced to ashes. So sad!

Again, the calls were made and the search for loved ones was intensified. On radio stations like Joy FM and Citi FM, worried callers needed help to trace their family and friends. But, whereas some families could reach and hear from their family and friends, at last, some are still in limbo asking whether their loved ones are among the dead or the living.

For those who got drowned by the floods, identifying them after their retrieval was not really an issue. The problem, however, lied in identifying one’s friend or family member who suffered the havoc caused by the Goil Fuel Station explosion.

In one of the sprinter buses [Trotro] that had stopped at the fuel station, to wait till the flood level reduced so it could continue its journey, the driver, mate [conductor] and the passengers onboard were all burnt.

In another bus’ front seat, a body resembling that of a man sat but charred. Many others laid beside the buses in either prostrate or on the supine… dead in an indescribable burns.

Agya Kwabena slowly shook his head, mentioned his name to sign off his report, heaved a deep sigh and bent his head towards his microphone [which his right hand held to his chest]. He had been devastated seeing his fellow human beings bidding the world a goodbye in an agonizing pain; the pain which has rendered them (victims) missing from their families.

A DNA test to find missing persons?

After that dreadful Wednesday’s twin disaster, there have been discussions upon discussions in the media, offices, public transport, chop bars and drinking spots. In all these discussions, putting the ritual political blame game aside, one pressing issue stands out.

The issue as in the bereaved families identifying their charred relatives. Some experts suggest that the way to go is to perhaps run a DNA test on all the victims of the explosion. 

A DNA test? Well, some skeptics say it would be cumbersome since getting only the DNA of the dead without testing for their living relatives will make the pairing process difficult.

However, as President John Dramani Mahama said at the closing ceremony of the three-day national mourning for the dead, a DNA test would be run on the charred bodies. I guess their living would be tested, too.

This will be but a form of consolation to the bereaved families to at least get their dead relatives for a final salute.

 But what caused the twin disaster?

First was the floods which every discerning Ghanaian knows that it has become an annual ritual that claims both lives and properties. We build in water ways, throw rubbish in gutters, and successive governments fail to take the needed steps to curb the ‘rain curse.’

Preliminary investigations say that the Wednesday’s twin disaster, the Goil Fuel Station’s fire explosion, was caused by a faulty underground fuel tank…   situation that Goil could have for long repaired to save the dear lives of the over 150 lives lost.

The way forward

“I say to you publicly and frankly: The burden of suffering that must be borne,” wrote Richard Wright-author of Black Power- to Kwame Nkrumah, “impose it upon one generation!”

Wright was not an inch from the truth. His advice to Kwame Nkrumah was simple. He believed that for a country like Ghana to succeed, sacrifices must be made to forestall a better living for the unborn generation.

As we stand as Ghanaians, we must sacrifice our selfish interest of building in water ways and throwing rubbish in gutters. This will not only keep Ghana clean but say goodbye to the annual floods.

This is where our leaders must be bold to impose the burden of suffering (fine and imprisonment for disregarding the laws) on us.

President John Mahama in his speech at the Nkrumah Circle disaster scene said that “we [Ghanaians] shouldn’t continue to be like the vulture.”

If we will not be like vultures, then he (President Mahama) must “be merciful by being stern,” as Wright wrote to Kwame Nkrumah.

Non-performing ministers among others must be shown the exit or imprisoned without holding on to them in the name of politics to the detriment of the public.

I cannot conclude this piece without reiterating what Richard Wright said to Nkrumah: “If I lived under your regime, I'd ask for this hardness, this coldness.”

Long live Ghana and may the departed souls rest in perfect peace.

 

The writer is a freelance journalist

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/Otiberekese

Twitter: @Aniwaba

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode I: Annoying the Gods

 

By Solomon Mensah & Ralph Dinko

Shot & directed by Fahd Mahama

Day was inching closer to night. Not long after the sun had bid the night farewell, those who had gone to their farms were about returning. By now, most farmers were almost done with either clearing portions of weeds under their cocoa farms or stocking their baskets with foodstuffs.

The people of Kaedabi make their village as busy as the anthill. Probably, it is just to while away the boredom. The typical village that it is, Kaedabi is under the Sunyani Municipality; miles away from modern infrastructure; as far from modern infrastructure as it’s from Sunyani. One has to board as many as two buses from Sunyani to Kaedabi!

Whenever the sun crawls from the east to the west, fireflies become the source of light in the village. However, children of Kaedabi don’t worry their heads over being exempted from enjoying even the crumbles of the national cake. When households have finished eating their evening meals, those from nearby cottages including; Wonterefo, Kurosua, Nsagobesa, Kyaase Kurom and Tieku Nkwanta throng the market square of Kaedabi to play; to enjoy their own definition of national cake.

Yaw Anane is a student-journalist at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Accra. Should he be on vacation at Kaedabi, the euphoria at the market square intensifies. It very much does. He would tell the children stories (with varying lengths) about big cities. The most exciting of all such city stories has been that of city dwellers occasionally going to have fun at the beaches with loved ones.

Today under the mango tree at Kaedabi, the village’s stammerer has temporarily abandoned his table-top call center to hurl stones at a he-goat.

”You-you-you come here again and you will see,” he warned.

It was not the goat he was chasing. A group of three young women stood chatting at the well, which sits few meters away from his call center, and he would do everything to eavesdrop on their conversation.

One of the women, a dark skinned maiden with curvy shapes, accidentally turned to scratch her back only to see him spying on them with his jaw dropped! Impulsively, Gyasiwaa hurled her plastic bucket at him but it missed him narrowly causing him to fall in the grips of the other two women.  

“Wofa Amponsah, please do not plead for him. Let us beat him up till he drops dead today,” the women on fire angrily said to a man who tried interceding for the nosy stammerer.

“This has gradually become his character and they must teach him a lesson today in front of all the people of Kaedabi,” a mud-complexioned woman observing from afar shouted on top of her voice.

It was after Wofa Amponsah had convinced them that he needed his services at the call center that they spared his life. He was panting profusely but wished he was never let go anyway. At least, he had found heaven between the sizeable breasts of Gyasiwaa where his equally sizeable head had comfortably being seized. 

“Ha..ha..halooo Sah, my name is Pa..Pa..Paa Kwasi but you can call me PK, a space-to-space vendor. Your Uncle wants to speak with you.”

“My Uncle? Which of them and from where are you calling me from?”

PK corked his right thumb on the mouthpiece of his phone and murmured to Wofa Amponsah, ‘Wo..wo..Wofa. This is the reason why I hes..hesi..hesitated placing your call for you! Aa aa aaba! I said it. Should he always ask who I am?”

Amponsah sat in a chair and cocked his head for his right temple to firmly press against his huge radio set. He tried mounting it on his right shoulder but it fell on the ground. He picked it up from the ground, blew air to clear off the dust on the radio set and he whisked the phone from PK with his left hand.

“Who or what might have done the world such a great harm? Eh? I wonder why these unfledged birdlings whom we begot now trample on their elders with the feet of arrogance. You better watch your tongue next time, my son!”

“So..so..sorry Wofa, I … I didn’t mean to disrespect you. I was just com.. commenting on lawyers and their long talk of ques-tionings. He had already started asking me many questions.”

On the rock that lies close to the mango tree that shelters PK, Amponsah goes to stand and flings the phone in all directions for a stable mobile network.

“Woo.. wofa, from where you are sta..stan..standing, I should think there is network signal on the phone.”  

When PK drew near to where Amponsah stood, he realized he had turned the phone upside down with the receiving end of it glued to his mouth.

PK gently stretched Amponsah’s arm, opened his palm for the phone to lie prostrate in it and directed him on how to talk on phone; that which has become a ritual whenever he comes to PK’s call centre. When the call to Lawyer Gyamfi was finally restored, Wofa Amponsah broke the news to him.

At Kaedabi, the lawyer’s hometown, his senior brother who served as the chief priest of the land’s shrine had passed on. Per tradition, Gyamfi was to succeed his brother and take over the seat as the new chief priest of the village.

The elders of Gyamfi’s house after appointing him as the successor to his brother and heir to the throne of the shrine, have had their decisions approved by the gods of Kaedabi.

“What? A whole me a chief priest? The lawyer and flagbearer whose fame is felt across the length and breadth of Ghana to be the new mouthpiece of the gods and the people of Kaedabi? Where will be the place of my Bible after ascending that fetish throne not to even talk of my hard earned professions? Never! Wofa Amponsah, you know I have every right to reject such an offer?”

”Reject, you say?”

“Please… please, you are my uncle, Amponsah. I don’t want to engage you in any legal tussle for threatening my peace and freedom of association. It is either the gods are mad and confused or you elders of Kaedabi still go for meetings and conclude matters in words spoken in honor of palm wine. I had nothing against my deceased brother but I am sorry I can’t succeed him.”

“Gyamfi! You dare not speak evil of the gods and elders of Kaedabi.”

Gyamfi hangs up the phone. Minutes later, he tries calling back Amponsah but he is repeatedly told, “The mobile number you are calling is either switched off or out of coverage area.”

The lawyer’s bereaved mother would need some amount of money to serve her visitors who keep pouring condolences on her. He had, therefore, wanted to tell Wofa Amponsah he would be sending him some amount of money to be delivered to the woman gripped with sorrow. 

Few months ago, before the funeral of the chief priest, Gyamfi had sent home GHC2, 000 but when the money got to Kaedabi, Amponsah who usually took the parcel from the Kaedabi bus drivers did the unthinkable. He was supposed to take his portion of GHc300 but gave Awo Yaa only GHC1, 200 while the remainder found its way into his pocket.

That day, he bought a calabash of palm wine for everyone who happened to have been present at Ataa Adwoa’s Palm wine Bar. It was rumored at Kaedabi that he even left an amount with Ataa Adwoa for those drunkards who would come to the bar after he had left.

Later on, when Gyamfi found out, he threatened Amponsah on phone. He would let the police arrest him for his deceitful ways. Amponsah apologized.

Gyamfi’s money had to go through a series of transits of bus drivers before eventually getting to Amponsah. “Awo Yaa has come of age,” Gyamfi groaned. “Even walking to the bathroom is a headache to her. If she were active on her feet, Amponsah would have never touched my money, again, at first hand.”

Just when Gyamfi was about inserting his phone into his pocket, Amponsah called back. “… Gyamfi, it is not that I betrayed you as you say. I tried telling the elders that your professions won’t allow you become the chief priest. But …’”

“But what? And you say the elders have summoned me home? Right? Hmmm! Little did I know that rushing back to Accra after the funeral worried the elders that much. Emm … I will be traveling to Ohio …”

“Oha … what?” Amponsah sought to find out where that was.

“You always make me laugh even when anger dawns on me. Ohio is in the States; I mean in the Whiteman’s land.”

“Ah yoo!”

“Wofa, do well to tell the elders I will be coming to Kaedabi on the second Saturday of next month on my return to Ghana. Extend my warmest greetings to Awo Yaa.”

“I will,” Amponsah chipped in.

“Assure her that when I come, I will return to Accra with her as she has always wished.”

The call ended. Amponsah smiled. Money had been made mention of. He would obviously have his share in the amount of money he would be receiving from the lawyer. 

 

Email: annoyingthegods@gmail.com

 

 

The story continues in episode II. Watch out!

 

 

 

 

News Commentary (Aired on Radio Gh)

 

NEWS COMMENTARY DISCUSSES THE CHARLIE HEBDO MASSACRE, THE MEDIA’S ABUSE OF FREE SPEECH, AND THE LESSONS THE GHANAIAN MEDIA COULD LEARN FROM IT.

BY SOLOMON MENSAH, A FREELANCE JOURNALIST.



On the 7th of January, 2015, France and the world as a whole was thrown into a state of shock and dismay when gunmen stormed the offices of France’s satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and opened fire at the publication's staff, for repeatedly publishing irreverent cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The gunmen’s shooting spree saw dozens of people, including the editor of the weekly magazine and two police officers, losing their lives to the bullets of their attackers.

This barbaric incident perpetrated by the yet-to-be arrested gunmen, sparked anger and fury in France and across the world. Following this deadly attack, the news media has been flooded with messages of condolence and a call on the general public to give the media its right to ‘free speech’ in order to operate effectively.

Joining the White House, Francois Hollander, David Cameron, Angela Merkel, and Vladimir Putin among some other world leaders to condemn the Hebdo attack is our own first gentleman of the land, President John Dramani Mahama.

According to myjoyonline.com, the President at the 83rd annual congress of the Ahmadiya Muslim Mission, is quoted to have said, “Terrorist action in Paris led to the condemnable loss of 12 lives … all this is done in the name of religion, justified by theology.”

Indeed, every discerning mind must see how distasteful the Hebdo massacre is and speak in plain words against the attackers and would-be-attackers in the near future. The world has had enough of their bitter pills.

But, while we all lambast the nefarious acts of such religious extremists, we must, however, not forget to also throw a word of caution to the media. Indeed, he who condemns the attacks by extremists must equally condemn the works of the journalists who throw such caution to the wind.

A magazine's irreverent depictions of one’s sacred object of worship such as Prophet Mohammed is in a bad taste. No matter how much Islam abhors violence, such barbaric attacks on those who make ridicule of its object of worship are predictable. Does satire means dragging one’s image to the mud? Certainly not. Are there not a number of ways Charlie Hebdo could have satirically reached out to its audience without necessarily stepping on toes?

Freedom of speech has in many ways been abused by many media houses across the world. Here in Ghana, the media, especially the broadcast media, with specific reference to the Akan newsreaders trample on people’s dignity with the feet of ignorance all in the name of free speech. The press, undoubtedly, needs freedom of speech to operate but free speech to the press does not mean that every single word should leak out of the mouth of the Akan newsreader as freely as drops of milk leaves a mother’s breasts. It is about time the Akan newsreader realized that a loud-mouth is not synonymous to good journalism.

Another lesson the Ghanaian media could learn from the Charlie Hebdo attack is the tightening of security at their various entrances to their newsrooms. The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, of all the media houses that I have personally visited in the country, has the best of security check points at its entrance. Media owners must emulate the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s security example and invest heavily in providing proper security at their respective media houses’ entrances, for the safety of their workers, in order to prevent such an attack as witnessed in France.

The Charlie Hebdo disaster, whether we like it or not, has happened and we must as Ghanaians learn our lessons well. What every journalist must realize is that being given the freedom of speech to operate does not make you a cut-above but rather a cut-at-par.

The Seventh-Day Adventists of Loma Linda

 

 -Faith & Fast Food

By Solomon Mensah

The Aged of Loma Linda Excercising

Looking through the rear window of my room somewhere in Accra, the self-angered sea lies billowing furiously. Its billowing sound, like that of a thunder, uncomfortably forces me to get up from my slumber and prepare for school every weekend. Ouch!

But today, 7th December, 2014, while the sea roared, I fluttered left and right on my bed and shuddered under the thick yards of ‘Efie-abosea’- a cloth we used back in Sunyani Secondary School. No school today! So … I can sleep.  But I would listen to the BBC, almost all day, when I finally wake up as I always do on Sundays whenever I have the time to.

The BBC Report

On their (BBC’s) ‘Heart and Soul’ this morning, Peter Bowes takes his listeners all the way from London to Loma Linda, a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States of America.

Loma Linda, which translates as Beautiful Hill, has a population of about 23, 261, according to its 2010 census. Out of this, a large proportion of the city’s residents are Seventh-Day Adventists who, by practice, are vegetarians.

“I’m Peter Bowes and I have come to Loma Linda to learn more about the Seventh-Day Adventists, who make up about half of the population here. What is it about the way of life of this evangelical Christian denomination that helps its followers live to a ripe old age; up to a decade longer than the average American?’ the story rolled.

In the report titled “Living Longer in Lovely Hill,” Bowes visits a retirement home where a daily ritual of an exercise class for the elderly was ongoing. They sat straight up on chairs holding sizeable metal bars.

What!? “Up, down, up, down,” the teacher instructed while they (elderly) lifted and lowered their arms pointing to the ceiling and the floor of the classroom, respectively.

“What is the average age, roughly, of this class?’ the awed Bowes asked the teacher. “Maybe around 93 or something but our eldest was 101 [years].”

Loma Linda- the Mecca of longevity

Here, at the Californian City, the Seventh-Day Adventists say they live basically on the teachings of the Bible and on the principles of their church. They practice vegetarianism and do more of exercises even at old age.

This lifestyle of the Seventh-Day Adventists makes them grow older and older. Dan Buettner is an American researcher. He labels Loma Linda as a blue zone; a concept used to identify a demographic and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives.

The City including Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy) and Nicoya (Costa Rica) are all marked by researchers as blue zones. In Peter Bowes’ words, Loma Linda is the Mecca of longevity. 

Faith & Fast food

Somewhere in 2012, a great debate ensued in Loma Linda; the debate as to whether the City should allow the influx of fast food eateries such as that of McDonald’s.

“Without a single liquor store, and legally smoke-free for nearly three decades, the tiny hillside town of Loma Linda brims with pride about its devotion to health and spiritual well-being.

So... news that McDonald's was coming to town, with its special-sauce-slathered Big Macs and 500-calorie sheaves of large fries, has triggered enough political reflux to put City Hall on the defensive,” writes Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times.

In ABC News’ item uploaded on YouTube, January 24, 2012, titled ‘Faith Matters,’ the debate got much more intensified. McDonald’s said to the ABC News that “Our line of premium salads can be ordered without meat. We also have other offerings including apple slices and oatmeal. We believe the new restaurant will help fuel economic growth.”

Reacting to matters, Dr. Wayne Dysinger, head of preventive medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center said: “McDonald’s does not fit the Loma Linda brand of health and wellness. Compare it to smoking laws: There’s no question that smoking is harmful to people’s health. Exposing people to fast food also is harmful to their health.

Cutting a long story short, McDonald’s after the legal tussle with Loma Linda has established its restaurant in the City. But for the ardent vegetarians of the Loma Linda who prefer living longer to enjoying fleeting and transient pleasures, they have adopted the fish-in-the-salty-sea principle of not letting itself taste salty.

“You may not believe this … I have never touched tobacco in any form. I have never touched alcohol, never touched coffee,” Henry Nelson, 91, said.

Any lesson to the Ghanaian?

Indeed, there are lessons the Ghanaian could learn from the Adventists of Loma Linda. Here, in Ghana, food poses a great threat to a number of people. Many are those who are digging their graves with their teeth.

Like the spillage of the Bagri Dam, fast food eateries, that which Dr. Dysinger deems dangerous to one’s health, flood almost every corner of our country. We buy it, and hold it firmly on the tips of our fingers like the terminal report card in the hand of a pupil. Show off!

This aside, many of us buying food from chop bars would shoot a finger directing the chop bar operator the sort of meat she should serve us. Ironically, we brand the taxi/trotro driver as the meat addict who points to the soup with his car key to tell the meat he would prefer. We hardly exercise after these food intake and the list is endless.

But all is not lost. Inasmuch as we breathe, we have the chance to critically consider what we consume. Perhaps, for those of us who have never physically seen a 'flying-coffin' on the tarmac of an airport, except for those that fly above our heads, Loma Linda and its healthy principles might seem far away and impossible to learn from. Very!

However, the Valley View University (VVU), Oyibi-Accra, presents to us an epitome of Loma Linda’s example. The Adventist University pays particular attention to what its students eat. “Meat is not served at the campus’ cafeteria. They produce their own drinking water and yogurt, bake their own bread, cultivate vegetables … I mean the school promotes a healthy lifestyle,” Kyereh-Yeboah Victor, an immediate past student of the School told me in an interview.

He says if he had his way, he would always eat from the VVU campus. But that should not be the case. Wherever we find ourselves, whatever faith we profess (Adventism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islamic and what have you), we must take a cue from the healthy lifestyle of the citizens of Loma Linda and try practicing.

I do not in any way suggest to you to refrain from eating meat or fast food. I eat it myself. However, I think it is about time we ate it in moderation. Christmas is here and in our various homes meat, alcohol and others will ‘flow.’ While we wine and dine, remember that somewhere in America where happiness abound, citizens there eat with their minds.

 

The writer is a freelance journalist.

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