A student at the IBN University in Basaksehir , Instabul ,Mohammed Muntaka Abdul Rahman has disclosed that Ghanaian students living in areas affected by the earthquake in Turkey have not received any assistance from the Ghanaian Embassy.
According to him, the Embassy only sent information on it’s website asking affected students to call if they needed help which is he thinks,”it’s woefully inadequate because I remember some time ago forms were given out to Ghanaian students to fill their details in and send them to the embassy.”
“So far officially I have not seen or heard any circular or message from the Ghanaian embassy to anybody and I have not heard any Ghanaian student saying they’ve heard any message from the embassy” he expounded.
He believes the best resolution that could have been done was for students to rather receive messages and calls from the Embassy than the opposite.
“I think the best that could have been done was to receive a text message from the embassy asking us about how you are doing or try to find out what is wrong with you ,but it’s like if you don’t go to their website you don’t get any information that is the sad reality we are seeing here” he stated.
“As at the 2021/2022 academic we have a total of 452 Ghanaians in turkey , 3385 males and 67 are females , 13 of these students are doing vocational education 253 undergraduate students 123 are masters and 63 are PHD so this is the total of students in the Ghanaian community in turkey at the moment” he mentioned.
“I can bet my life on it, no Ghanaian student has received any message or call from the embassy asking ‘how are you doing?’ or ‘what are you are going through?’ which is really appalling and very sad.”
He revealed that the only assistance they received was from the Emergency Response Organization in Turkey that offers help to anybody no matter your race or origin,”once you have been affected they try as much as possible to help and there are also other NGOs and organizations but from the embassy, no” he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.
On Monday, February 6, a pair of massive earthquakes struck parts of Turkey and Syria, leaving unimaginable death and destruction in their aftermath. Dozens of aftershocks caused even more damage, leading to a death and injury count in the thousands.
For the roughly 148 Turkish and Syrian students enrolled at Boston University, watching the tragedy unfold from afar has been devastating. Internet and cell service have been inconsistent since the quakes hit, making it difficult to contact loved ones in some regions.
By: Miriam Akuetteh
