my son has spent over four years now in prison in Ghana.
He was given two 20 year sentences in 2004..to run concurrently..or is that consecutively..i never know which is which.
How can i write down how im feeling..how he is feeling.
its terrible.
i cry at the drop of a hat.my life is on hold,my last years given my age in prison too.
There is some hope but hope is slow process. everyday is another day of waiting of being patient of saying dont worry be positive this will be over soon.
Alan went to see my brother in Ghana ..and he too is in prison...its a double whammy.. Alan was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We'd had a great xmas 2003 and afterwards he was going to see Kevin. Kevin was recovering from having treatment for prostate cancer.
so he went to Tema in Ghana to Kevins house..bearing xmas gifts and medication as Kevin was having a bad time peeing.
ok i will safe the arrest the trial the shocks for later and get on with the prison.
On remand Alan was twice in hospital with blood poising and malaria..still when he was ok he tried to help the kids who were also remanded to show them some football skills and he got a little team together..he wasn't depressed by his situation..thinking he hadn't done anything,it was a mistake and he would be released at the end of the trial.ever the optimist.
When the verdicts came in..there six on trial for the same thing...and he and they were all sent down, the shock the distress disbelieve all these emotions and at the same time he was taken in the middle of the night to a far away prison..in central Ghana .i had a brief call from him he was choked with anguish,i was the mother who could always kiss it better and i was as helpless as he was...he may have been 45 but to me and to me..and any mother will say the same..he was still the little child in need of my care.
This is a man from a small village, a carpenter, and here he was and all of us with him...in a nightmare. He was frightened, his situation was now hitting him for real. and he was helpless in the hands of strangers with no common ground no comprehension of what he was going through.
Still once we had calmed down and the initial shock had somewhat subsided...we looked ahead to an appeal.
This was a minefield where we were to discover dishonesty and treachery on a major scale, where chance and delivery were trashed by two men in prison with him on the same charge and the devious unscrupulous lawyer that was handling the appeal for the three of them...who he thought were ok..''don't worry Mam they are good guys''' he said when i had told him not to trust anybody. My fault for bringing him up to see the good in people! He believed everything he was told...and so he didnt see the pitfalls when the lawyer said he would appeal for the other two first..and then put in Alan's appeal...no no no i said..but Alan believed him it would be ok.
The appeal for the other two went ahead..and they won..they walked..the two who had masterminded the whole affair.they even had the nerve to txt me as they walked from the court and say'we are out,Alan will be next'..and all the time they knew full well that there was not going to be an appeal submitted for Alan..as they were paying the lawyers bills..200,000 dollars....and went off into the blue yonder with never a backward glance....well aware that Alan hadnt money for lawyers fees.
Promising Alan that he was making an appeal but knowing all along he wasnt going to. İ rang him to be told this news..we had no money...he was sypathetic...but!!..by now Alan was in the prison hospital suffering from spinal arthritis...he is still there..been there a year this month.
My brother had a different lawyer..although he hasn't a chance in hell of getting out or winning an appeal...as i see it. ...But his lawyer was honest..is honest and is now trying to unravel the harm done to my sons case....i asked him if he would help us...he visited Alan in the hospital and was shocked at how frail he had become.
so yes he struggled to get an appeal heard out of time..dubious that he would be able to as in law the time allowed to submit an appeal had lapsed...but he got the right.
So now its a waiting game.
the prison is dreadful...thats another part of this story....maybe i will get down to it in a few days..if anybody wants to know...

Gosh its cathartic writing that