Helping torture victims rebuild their lives

The scarred back of a torture victim

Torture victims are being helped to recover from their experiences by a special centre in Ghana.

The African Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Accra specialises in helping people whose lives have been turned upside down by war and repression.

Dr Edmund Delle, director of the unit, told the BBC that torture was the biggest source of mental health problems in Africa.

Asylum seekers come from all over West Africa including Nigeria, Cote D'Ivoire and Sierra Leone.

Many have been beaten, whipped or even raped.

Where we have the problem is the psychological or mental torture

Dr Edmund Delle.

However, Dr Delle said many had suffered more extreme forms of torture - such as one man who was skinned alive.

He said: "What has really made me very sad is that these are scars that you see.

"But where we have the problem is the psychological or mental torture."

Empathy

Victims of torture can find it hard to trust to trust medical staff. Often their torturers may have been doctors.

Dr Delle says he has found that that the way to gain their confidence is through patience.

It has helped make us put our lives together

Torture victim

"You see a victim of torture. He is not an ordinary patient. He needs empathy, so I go there as a friend.

"Then, when I am able to gain their confidence then I listen to their stories."

He said that although these patients had escaped, many had fears for their families left behind.

"They are imagining - they have managed to escape to Ghana, but wonder what is happening to their wives.

"Sometimes they cry in the night: 'what do we do?'."

Confidence

Dr Delle said torture victims needed to be cared for not just with compassion for its own sake, but because the rest of society needed to be protected from their anger and desire for vengeance.

He said:"Its like venom. They see for them, all is lost, so what do I care what harm is done to society."

One of the patients at the centre said: "It has helped make us put our lives together, to build our confidence and help us push ahead."

This story is featured in the radio programme Health Matters on the BBC World Service.

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