MTN Heroes of Change: Annobil Takes Support for Mentally Challenged People to the Streets

Emmanuel Annobil

Accra, April 16, 2018//-Emmanuel Annobil has been in the forefront of providing support for mentally challenged people on the streets of Accra, Ghana’s capital city, before the world turned its attention to their plight.

 For instance,in April 2016, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation held a high level meeting in Washington DC titled ‘Out of the Shadows: Making Mental Health a global development priority’. This led to these two global bodies committing to the WHO global Mental Health Action Plan (2013-2020) and the World Bank’s recently established Mind, Behaviour and Development Unit.

His mental health NGO- Brothers Keeper Refining Home which has been operating in the Accra metropolis for about 18 years, bathes, cleans, clothes and feeds mentally challenged people on the streets.

In Ghana, mental healthcare is one of the worst on the Africa continent, with few facilities for mental health challenged people. These facilities are  Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Ankaful and the Pantang hospitals which are also the only referral hospitals, thereby leaving a huge gap to be filled.

This treatment gap for people with mental disorders exceeds 50% in the all countries of the world, approaching astonishingly high rates of 90% in the least resourced countries, according to World Psychiatry, an official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA).

Watching Mr Annobil from TV set when his humanitarian activities were aired,  revealed a man who is bent on using his limited resources to support mental health challenged people in Accra metropolis and the country at large.

His mental NGO project was featured prominently on the third episode of the  ongoing season III of the MTN Heroes of Change which is  MTN Ghana Foundation flagship project.

It was initiated in July 2013 to recognise and reward persons who have provided significant humanitarian services to their communities through personal sacrifices. 

The MTN Ghana Foundation is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of MTN Ghana, the leading telecoms service provider in the country.

Mr Annobil was nominated by his people to participate in this year’s MTN Heroes of Change which

is currently aired on GTV every Sunday at 5:00pm; TV3 on Saturdays at 4:00pm;UTV on Sundays at 3:00pm;  Adom TV on Saturdays at 7:30pm; Max TV on Fridays at 7:00pm; and Home Base TV on Saturdays at 3:30pm to highlight the humanitarian activities of the Mr Annobil and the other nine nominees for the ultimate cash prize of GH¢100,000.

The ultimate Hero of Change winner will receive GH¢100,000 to support his/her community project. Three selected winners for the various categories will receive GH¢20,000 each, while the remaining six finalists will also take home GH¢5,000 each.

Every day, Mr Annobil and his team go round in a van to find, clean and bath mentally challenged people  on the streets in the full glare of the public.

After the cleaning and bathing, they change them into fresh clothes and feed them in addition at the expense of the project.

Explaining his project, Mr Annobil  said: ” I had a revelation from God through a dream to embark on this project. The same revelations were revealed to my ex-wife. We both saw ourselves in our dream bathing of mentally ill people on the streets. So we both decided embark on this God-directed mission. I have not relented ever since”.

He continued: “My Mental Health NGO is a God-given project where I go to streets to bathe the mentally challenged. I do this after receiving divine direction. I sometimes go with a team of volunteers to bath them, feed them and cloth them. I offer prayers to them as well”.

My ex-wife and I started this project with the little we had before we started receiving help mainly in form of food and clothes from individuals and some corporate bodies, Mr Annobil stated.

Mr Annobil and his men bathing, cleaning, clothing and feeding mentally challenged people on the street

Impacts of the project

Since the inception of the project about 18 years, over 2,000 mental challenged people have benefitted across the country.

Mr Annobil added: “One case I am very proud of was being able to help a mentally challenged lady to deliver and fully recover. She now sells sachet water to make a living”.

The 52-year-old devoted social worker wants to do more but his efforts are being hampered by resource constraints.

He therefore needs  more  resources to enable him see his vision through. So, Mr Annobile needs your votes to enable him win the ultimate prize. You can do so by texting his short code name (Emmanuel) to 1406.

By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report

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