Comfort Adwubi Kete, 24, is trying to connect with her family again after recovering from a mental illness that caused her to wander off from Accra to Sandema in the Upper East Region. 

Comfort was rescued by Alhassan Ayanu Seinu, 37, a mental health nurse at Sandema who spends his own resources, treating and trying to rehabilitate persons with mild forms of mental illnesses, in his bid to contribute to making his community a better place.  

Mr Ayanu Seinu is a practicing mental health nurse working with the Chuchuliga Health Centre in the Builsa North District of the Upper East Region.  

Mr Ayanu Seinu's duty post is at least eight miles away from Sandema where he resides, but every morning, he spends some time with some mentally challenged persons he believes can be rehabilitated.  

He does not have a place to keep these mentally challenged persons so he rides his motorcycle to the places where they can be located.  

He feeds and caters for their medication, using his own resources and also interacts with them as a way to monitor their progress.  

“It’s my passion. I see it as part of me to help these people because I sometimes ask myself how I would expect society to treat me if I found myself in their situation”, Ayanu Seinu says.  

Mr Ayanu Seinu has now endeared himself to community members who often come up to him with what they can offer; words of encouragement.  

Joy News checks confirm Mr Ayanu Seinu is indeed, a mental health nurse whose work has been recognised by the Builsa North District Assembly even though the assembly has not financially supported his endeavours. 

Pictures of some of his patients before and after he met them show some good progress. Mr Ayanu Seinu's patients before and after he met them show some good progress. 

Kete suffered a mental condition that caused her to wander off from Accra and about a month later, found herself in Sandema in the Upper East Region.  

Mr Ayanu Seinu recalls, Comfort was still unwell and “not in touch with reality”. He described her condition at the time as “schizophrenic”.  

This photo shows the state in which Comfort was when she was first sighted in Sandema.  

After weeks of treatment by Mr Ayanu Seinu, Comfort’s condition has now improved. She has regained her memory and with the help of Alhassan and some of his friends, has found a job at a canteen in Sandema. 

Mr Ayanu Seinu, Comfort’s condition has now improved. She has regained her memory and with the help of Alhassan and some of his friends, has found a job at a canteen in Sandema.  

Speaking to Joy News, Comfort said she remembers being taken by her father from their hometown in the Eastern Region to a pastor in Accra, who was supposed to treat her. She was left in the care of this pastor.  

Comfort

According to Comfort, the Pastor started to maltreat her so one day, she decided to run away with the intention to go to her aunt at Tema in the Greater Accra Region.  

When she got to the lorry park, she heard the conductor of a bus calling for passengers who wanted to go Tema and so, she joined the bus.  

Unknown to her, the conductor was rather calling for passengers who were going to Tamale in the Northern Region and not Tema as she had assumed. 

Eventually, she found herself in Tamale and kept wandering about and eating from dust bins until she ended up in Sandema where she was rescued by Mr Ayanu Seinu.  

Comfort remembers every member of her family and wants to reunite with them. “My father stays in the Eastern Region – Kyebi. He is called Richard Osafo Kojo Ampini. My brothers are Eric and Michael Angelo Ampini. I need them to look for me and take me back home”, a confident but distraught Comfort told Joy News.   

For Mr Ayanu Seinu, with the needed support, he could do more for these mentally challenged persons with the help of their families.  

He is appealing to Comfort’s family where they may be, to get in touch and take her back home and help her settle back into normal life.