On 13 January 2025, Helena Amuzu lost two of her three children in a road crash.
Francis and Kekeli were struck by a truck on a dual carriageway while walking home. Their brother Frank witnessed it. Helena found out by chance, passing the scene on a motorcycle taxi that same evening.
Videographer Maurizio Montesi filmed Helena’s account: “From both a human and professional perspective, I had never faced a situation with such emotional intensity. Helena’s story immediately affected the entire crew. I already knew her story; many members of the crew did not. They understood the language, while I did not. A moment of shared emotion and tears brought us all together and made us fully aware of the strength of the message Helena was conveying through her words: the lives of loved ones can be lost in an instant when proper attention to road safety and prevention is missing.”
The film also features Dr Nkechi Dike, an emergency physician and senior lecturer at the University of Cape Coast School of Medical Sciences, who has spent more than 15 years working in trauma care in Ghana. In her words: “Behind every injury, every statistic, there is a human life, a family, a community affected.” Watch the full story on YouTube.
In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 90% of children walk to school. A child in the region is twice as likely to die in a road crash as a child anywhere else in the world. Non-functioning traffic signals, dangerous road design, and unsafe driving practices are not inevitable. Tackling them – and the many other preventable causes of road deaths across sub-Saharan Africa – is what Amend exists to do.
