Ghanaians dying prematurely in Hamburg

This article was first published in 2014! 
The rate at which Ghanaians are dying prematurely in Hamburg -Germany is alarming and it is time authorities begin to ask questions and provide answers. Life expectancy has improved tremendously in Germany over the years.

In 2012 the life expectancy in Germany increased to about 81.00 years. That for women was at 83.30 years and for men 78.60 years. If statistics available to TopAfric is correct, the Ghana community buried over 30 people 2014, burried 46 people in 2016. As at Nov 2018, more than 30 Ghanaians have been burried. The average age was just around 45 years.                                                                   

The irony is that Ghanaians are dying more than all other Black -/Africans in Hamburg put together. Yes the wages of life is death, but when Ghanaians find themselves in a country with better health infrastructures then they should live longer.

Ghanaians in Hamburg are definitely doing something wrong because even in Ghana, where the rate of avoidable death (drinking and driving, bad roads, no road signs, poor medication, bribery at hospitals or unavailability of medical care) is high the folks are living longer.

Life expectancy in Ghana as at 2012 is about 61 years, so why this high rate of death in Germany.Why the community awaits the results from the authorities to guide the people as to what is wrong and what can be done better. The following unscientific assumptions are making the air waves.

There is this weird speculation that the “Alster River” dislikes this black clothing’s of Ghanaians, the people are therefore disregarding the gods of the river. “The gods are not to blame”.

Ghanaians in Hamburg love burials and funerals above everything; they are seen every week organizing funerals of relatives that have passed away far in Ghana. First the “One Week” and then the “Funerals”.

What you love most is what shall kill you!
There are times the cemetery worker asked if a prominent person or a star is dead. One jokingly said this is a confirmation of the high rate of unemployment amongst the Ghana community.

It would be in the interest of the community to discourage all imported funerals and mobilize the people only when one of the inhabitants dies in Hamburg. The traumatic lifestyle; high divorce rate,  inability to cope with the structured German routine, the bureaucracy, the bad eating habits –eating heavy “fufu” at mid nights, disregard for good health, could be a contributing factor...

Husbands and wives building separate mansions through their menial job, to impress family members back home. Unfortunately 90% do not even sleep in these homes before the lucky ones join the colleagues at “Hamburg -Friedhof Ohlsdorf (Kapelle 10) “the biggest cemetery in the World.

One insanity is changing trains and busses on weekends from funerals and parties to another, sadly incorrectly dressed during the winter season. It is time the Ghana Union and opinion leaders stamp their authority, coordinate all social activities, ban one week funerals and imported funerals.

Whilst we all undertake weekly sporting activities, we encourage the Ghana Embassy in Berlin and the Ghana Union in Hamburg to seek from the German authorities the causes of these premature deaths and make public the findings, -names anonymous.

With all things being equal Ghanaians in Germany can live to be 81 years.

God Bless Ghana! 
God Bless Germany
Desmond John Beddy