For the Tetteh Ocloo family at Klagon in the Greater Accra region like many other families, 2020 is certainly a year full of many painful memories.

The misery of this family started in the very first month of the year when their first child, 15-year-old son, Benjamin Tetteh Ocloo, went missing.

Since January 31, members of the family are yet to set eyes on him.

His mother, Emma Bosompra once bubbly and often wearing broad smiles, now looks emaciated having starved herself, walked several kilometers and struggling to catch some sleep weeks after Ben’s disappearance.

She breaks into uncontrollable tears anytime her son’s name comes up.

Search teams made up of the family and neighbours, have combed several communities including Ashaiman, La, Kpone among other places but all to a naught.

Aside the search, radio announcements and a few media engagements since the incident, have brought the family’s issue to the fore.

The family was dealt another blow last month when some parts of the country including Tema and Ashaiman, had to be put under lockdown over the Covid-19 pandemic.

This has somewhat restricted movements except for those for those classified as essential service workers.

By this directive, hopes of finding Ben are chipped away as the days pass by.

Emma Bosompra recounts one unforgettable experience where a soldier eventually had to find himself in her shoes.

“As I approached one of the barriers, a soldier stopped and asked where I was going. I told him about my missing child but shouted at me to return home. There, I broke into tears.

“ The soldier was sorry when he saw me in tears but later pleaded with me to return home since it was in my own interest,” she said.

The occasion of Easter has added to the sorrow of the family.

She remembers how exactly a year ago during Easter, Ben and his siblings visited their grandma at Ashaiman where they had so much fun but is nowhere to be found this time.

Her husband, Mensah Tetteh Ocloo, who is supposed to be stronger of the two is emotionally drained and shedding tears at this point having bottled up so much pain.

“The pain, stress, pressure to find Ben seem to have a toll on us. We even intend crossing to Togo to look for him due to information received but for the lockdown,” he said.

Though the family is working closely with the police in Tema Community 18 District Command to find the missing child, desperation has set in.

There will be no better gift for Ben’s parents than to find their son whether dead or alive.