Town that abhors childbirth gets clinic

For centuries, women at Mafi-Dove in the North Tongu District in the Volta Region have endured the tortuous predicament of giving birth and accessing health care outside the town.

This is because there is a long-held traditional belief that children who are born on the land, even by mistake, will either die at birth or suffer from some mysterious diseases.

It is believed that the founder of the town, Gbesi Akiti, a hunter, declared the land ‘holy’ centuries ago and as such banned its occupants in all generations from engaging in any procreation activities, including child delivery and rearing of animals.

They are also not to bury the dead, as those activities would “bring filth onto the land.”

— Daily Graphic, Saturday, Januaery 12, 2019. Page 3.