It is afternoon by the time we arrive. The sun blazes high above a sandy road that leads into the fishing village. Kweku and I had received a text message saying, “Hi – here’s the number” from a contact. But nothing was firmed up. We find Rose at her inlaws’ house. She is wearing a purple jacket. Her dark eyes are bold, determined. A cross dangles from her neck. She agrees to speak with us.

Rose with her students before the attack.

“Last year, the story of a young woman brutally attacked with a machete hit the media, bringing about a national outcry. The First Lady personally paid the victim, Rose Amina Abdulai, a visit at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital…;” Kweku and I write these words. We’re making a television documentary about Rose’s path to recovery.

“And like every 26 year old, Rose was looking forward to a bright future“, Kweku narrates.

There was a lot for Rose’s parents to be proud of. She had just started teaching at a district primary school. In a school photo, Rose sits on a wooden bench with her students at Tikobo Number 1 DC Primary. They are clad in brown uniforms and she’s very much looking the part: a teacher-in-charge. Her hands are clasped, resting calmly in her lap.

It started at about 2 o’clock, Rose recalls. She looks directly at the camera. Her brow furrows as she remembers.

It was June 2005. She was residing at the teacher’s quarters. There was a knock at the door to her room and she recognized the voice outside. It was her boyfriend Clement Andwi-Aka, whose baby she was carrying. “He posed me some questions” Rose says, “Why did I involve myself in loving somebody else?”

Andwi-Aka accused Rose of being in a relationship with a man named Innocent Kebir, a national serviceman posted to the district. Rose said Innocent was simply teaching her computer skills at the teacher’s quarters.

Rose shows her hand.

“He held my shirt.”

Andwi-Aka had a machete.

Rose tried to get away.

“He started butchering me.”

A female colleague rushed in. Rose, unconscious and bleeding profusely, was rushed to a hospital in Half Assini, and was later transferred to the regional hospital.

Kweku asks, “Can you point out the cuts that you had?” Rose takes her jacket off. She shows her left hand. Her fingers and thumb are missing. Her right arm ends in a stump at the elbow. She has scars above her eye, on her cheek and at the top of her head.

Andwi-Aka attacked Rose. Then, he went looking for Innocent. Innocent didn’t survive.

Teachers and friends mobilized to help Rose. The Jomoro District Assembly set up an emergency fund. She moved back home. From now on, without the use of her limbs, she would need constant support. Her teaching career was over and she felt confined to home. She had lost her baby. Rose’s father, Abdulai Mohammed, sputters, “I was entirely shocked.”

Kweku Interviews Rose

“Whenever I want to do something, and I can’t do it, I have to shed tears“, Rose confides. “I want my limbs to be fixed for me.”

Rose shows us how she makes do on her own. She struggles to open a CD player. The CD falls to the floor. She bends over to pick it up, balancing it on what remains of her hand. “I want you to help me. But, I have to do it myself“, she says “I’m doing all these things, but I’m not happy.” The imagery speaks for itself.

The documentary is aired on AGOO, the morning show at Skyy Television. Kweku tells me that viewers who called in were deeply moved. Outrage. Tears. Calls for Andwi-Aka to face the death penalty. Rose is struggling for a good quality of life. “I don’t want to be this way at all“, she says.

Kweku and I had brought Rose’s story back into the public eye.

Today, Rose is teaching at a school in Jomoro District. She has been fitted with prosthetic limbs, thanks to the support of womens’ organizations. She is no longer confined to life at home. Rose tells Kweku it’s as if her life has been given back to her.

The Sekondi Court found Clement Andwi-Aka guilty. He was sentenced to death.

The brutal murder of 21-year-old proudly and openly gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard on the night of Oct. 6, 1998 sparked a national-wide outcry and marked the first time an anti-gay attach received extensive media coverage. A light was shone on homophobia and hate-crimes, bringing the rights of the gay and lesbian community into discussion. Below is an article from the CBC website, originally published on Oct. 13, 1998.

Matthew Shepard

Mourners gathered in cities nationwide Wednesday night at candlelight vigils remembering Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was pistol-whipped and chained to a fence in Laramie, Wyoming.

In Albany, New York, more than 250 people outside the governor’s mansion called for stiffer penalties for hate crimes.

In Chicago, 500 people joined hands at a makeshift memorial. A letter asked “Dear Lord, take care of our Matt.”

And in Washington, celebrities and politicians gathered outside the Capitol with a message of hope for the nation.

“I can’t stop crying,” said actress Ellen Degeneres, who became the first person to portray a gay lead character on a prime-time sitcom after announcing that she was gay last year. “It just hit me why I am so devastated by it. It’s because this is what I was trying to stop. This is exactly why I did what I did.”

Joining Degeneres were her partner Ann Heche, actress Kristin Johnson from Third Rock From The Sun, and Frazier’s Dan Butler who told the crowd of more than 1,000, “I’m proud to be American. I’m proud to be a gay man.”

Senator Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., told mourners that Shepard’s death has “shocked the conscience of the country. A powerful response is clearly required.”

At a gathering of more than 500 people in Madison, Wisconsin, speakers recalled stories of anti-gay violence closer to home. “One of my best friends was beaten,” Michael Bender said. “I’m sick of it. I want it to stop.”

Shepard, a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student, died Monday after he was pistol-whipped and left tied to a fence outside Laramie last week.

Police say robbery was the main motive for the attack, but Shepard was singled out in part because he was gay. Four people have been charged in the slaying, two of them with first-degree murder.

The slaying has been condemned by people across the country, including President Clinton, and has renewed calls for anti-hate legislation to protect homosexuals. It also has sparked some outbursts of anti-gay hatred.

Shepard told friends he had been beaten twice in recent months, attacks he attributed to his homosexuality. One of those attacks occurred Aug. 18, The Cody Enterprise reported Wednesday.

A funeral service for Shepard will be held Friday in his hometown of Casper, 150 miles north of Laramie.

Links:

• Matthew Shepard Wikipedia
• CBS: A Message of Hope
• The Matthew Shepard Foundation