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07.06.2016 Headlines

The Sad Story Of Lydia Botchey, The Mampong Widow

By Ghanaian Chronicle
The Sad Story Of Lydia Botchey, The Mampong Widow
07.06.2016 LISTEN

From IssahAlhassan, Kumasi
DEATH, as it is known, is an inevitable journey every living soul will embark upon, but for Lydia Botchey, losing your mother, husband, brother-in law and your four lovely kids is not something she bargained for.

But so it happened that on a fateful Friday, June 3, 2016, Mrs. Botchey was greeted with the horrendous news of the demise of perhaps the six most important persons in her life. With June 3 gradually gaining notoriety as ‘Ghana’s Black Memorable Day’, a strange fire, cause of which remains contentious, gutted a residence at Asante Mampong, sweeping away with it an entire family and saving only a mother to brood.

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Rev. Isaac Adu Botchey and his younger brother, Jonathan Adu Botchey, as well as their four children, namely Eben Adu Botchey, Lovia Adu Botchey, Isaac Adu Botchey and Princess Adu Botchey, got perished in the inferno. Sad, but interestingly, the unfortunate incident occurred at dawn when the country was preparing to celebrate One Year Anniversary of the biggest national tragedy, in which over 150 persons lost their lives in a twin fire and flood disaster.

But for mourners who thronged Asante Mampong to commiserate with the family of the victims, the decision not to allow the widow, Madam Lydia Botchey, to venture onto the funeral grounds, was a wise one. Dreading the fact that the worst could happen if she should be allowed to set eyes on the six coffins displayed at the burial grounds for public viewing before final internment, the family kept poor Lydia far away from the solemn occaision.

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It is not clear whether one can describe it as a divine escape, but the widow perhaps was saved from the agony Godly because she was somewhere attending a burial service of her late mother. Only God knows what would have happened had she been home on that fateful day.

But today, she is now left with the hard choice of having to mourn for the rest of her life, the absence of her husband and their four children, as well as her brother-in law. It was a scene of sorrow and agony at the Asante Mampong Township as mourners, clad in black, cried in anguish during the burial service for the victims.

 School children were also there to mourn their late classmates in an emotionally-filled occasion, which also saw in attendance the Chief of Suhum in the Eastern Region, where Rev. Isaac Adu Botchey hails from. Also present was the Member of Parliament for the area, Addai Nimoh.

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