Meet Emmanuel Annabil, the man who cares for ‘mad’ persons on the streets

A job which requires much but produces no monetary reward is what Emmanuel Annabil has taken up to do for the rest of his life.

Shaving, bathing, and clothing the mentally challenged on the streets of Accra, is what he has been doing for 15 years of his life and he looks for no reward except the gratification that comes with seeing the smiles of his beneficiaries.

He roams the streets of Accra on a daily basis, giving help with so much passion to these persons most of whom have been deserted by their families, guardians and or loved ones.

Narrating how this voluntary service began, Mr. Annabil, speaking to GHOne TV said, he began ‘sprucing’ as he calls it, in 2002 after his supernatural encounter with ‘a voice’ that instructed him to do this.

“I started way back in the year 2000, this we call sprucing. In other words, I provide the daily needs of the mentally ill people on the streets because they are our brothers and we have to help them on the streets.”

“I had a dream and a voice mentioned my name thrice and I asked the good Lord, ‘what do you want me to do?’ and he said, ‘I’m going to give you a task to perform, and that is, go out there and stretch your hand to reach the mentally ill persons on the streets. I asked the good Lord, ‘why me’? and he said, I’ve looked into your heart and I know your heart is good, I know your heart tells you ‘you can do this’, and I know you can do it, so go and do it”, he recounted.

From that day he stepped out with his ex-wife and they both embarked on the journey of ‘samaritanism’ he explained, they have catered for over 1000 people on the streets of the capital. The rationale he said is to make mentally persons clean and dignified in society.

Mr. Annabil however, touching on the challenges involved in his work mentioned, that access to water sometimes poses difficulty for him in places where water is unavailable.

A double cabin pickup to carry a poly tank containing water is one of the major things he mentioned will help facilitate this work and help touch a lot more lives.

“I need a double-cabin pickup on which I’ll mount a water tank because I go places where I don’t get water. So if someone will be touched and he can offer me a double cabin pick up, God will lift him up and he will never believe it,” he said.



Story by Wonder Ami Hagan