Tears flow for girl who died during 6th March parade practice

A 14-year-old JHS one pupil of Ho Fiave Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) School, Etornam Gorni, has finally been laid to rest at Gorni Korpe in the Akatsi District after a sorrowful but historic burial ceremony in Ho.

The park of the Volta Regional Police Training School, popularly called Police Depot, where her funeral was held, was packed as students, teachers, police officers, officials of the education directorate, the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) family members and the general public converged on the place to mourn Etornam who died during rehearsals for this year’s Independence Day parade.

Local radio stations within the municipality also mourned Etornam and held discussions on her death.

At the burial grounds, a display by the SDA female football team brought tears to the eyes of mourners. The sketch was to ‘pull’ Etornam out of the team that she once played for as a defensive midfielder. After a brief ‘training session’ near the casket of Etornam, which was covered with the national flag, the players, one after the other, gave a pass to Etornam who obviously could not return the pass.

At the end of the ‘training session’, the coach of the team, John Kafui Akana, mentioned the first 11 without Etornam as the team bid her farewell. According to the coach, Etornam had convinced him and facilitated the relocation of the team’s training sessions to the Police Depot Park, the place she was laid in state.

Tributes were read by the family, siblings, parents, Apostles Revelation Church, Municipal and Regional Director of Ghana Education Service, the Deputy Regional Minister, Henry Ametefe and her school.

Henry Ametefe described Etornam as national heroine and linked her to Corporal Attipoe, one of the veteran soldiers who died at the crossroads of the Christiansburg Castel Osu many years ago. He noted that Etornam was a great, great, great grandchild of the national hero. He commiserated with the bereaved family on behalf of the President and the government.

He donated an undisclosed amount of money to the family on behalf of the state and announced that the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, had donated GH¢1,000 to the family.

The family, in its tribute, dismissed claims in some sections of the media that Etornam was a sickle cell patient and that she had not eaten that fateful morning. “Etornam is not a sickler and she was not sick on Monday 27th, February, 2012, when serving mother Ghana.”

They noted that although she might have weaknesses as human, she was loved by almost everyone who interacted with her.

Preaching the sermon, Pastor G.Y. Agboado-Dijt of the Ho SDA Church urged all not to be depressed by Etornam’s death but rather take solace in the fact that “God knows best…and that he is doing a new thing”.

He advised all to follow the ways of God in order to gain eternal life.

Etornam was born on 30th September 1998 at Hohoe in the Volta Region to Corporal Atsu Gorni and Charity Gorni, both from Gorni Korpe in the Akatsi District. She started her basic school in Hohoe. In 2006, she joined the Ho Fiave SDA School after her father was transferred to the regional training school.

Etornam was described as God-fearing, sociable, hardworking and respectful.

According to her biography, on Sunday 26th February 2012, a day before her death, she sang Jim Reeves’ ‘This World Is Not My Home’ when she worshiped with police recruits at the training school. She also had the inscription ‘He Lives In Me’ on all her books.