Trauma in Crashes: Pain families of road accident victims endure

I had to rush through what I was doing because I couldn’t control the pain of seeing someone who was chubby as him.”

Unlike the late Joel, Bervelyn Sefah Akoto was fortunate to have survived a road accident on the Winneba-Cape Coast highway, but she had her right hip dislocated.

I even had to stop my job to care for her”, she added.

Left, Agartha Duruye, mother right, Bervelyn Sefah Akoto, accident victim

Bervelyn is still hunted by the accident and covers her face with a handkerchief when she is in a car because of past trauma.

“When I had the accident, I used to question myself sometimes that why should something like this happen to me?

“I felt very shy when I went for social gatherings because people passed distasteful comments about my appearance hence, I didn’t want to attend such gatherings.”

Bervelyn Sefah Akoto, accident victim

Aside the emotional pain families of accident victims endure, they have to bear the financial burden alone.

“We had to bear majority of the cost and the insurance claim they gave us was woefully inadequate”, Margaret Gyimah revealed.

Some relatives who cannot bear the cost rely on benevolent individuals and Non-governmental organisations such as the Accident Victims Support Ghana.

Cyril Crabbe, the president of this NGO disclosed that they mostly assist victims with finances.

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Cyril Crabbe, President Accident Victims Support Ghana

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Father Anthony Afriyie Amponsah, Clinical Psychologist at the University of Ghana urges families who have lost loved ones through road accidents to seek professional help.

“Because it is an accident, sometimes they least expected it and the whole story is so shocking to them and so they are not grieving, which is terrible.