A midwife in the Upper East region has advised men to suck the breasts of their partners regularly to help women keep breast cancer at bay.

“The lump in the breast is painless. It’s so small that if you don’t examine it well, you would not know. We have breast tissues; but when the lump is there and you don’t examine it well, you won’t know. It’s painless. It can be there for years. When it’s advanced, that’s when you start getting the signs and symptoms. You’ll feel some tingling, like some pins [spiking] the breasts.

You are not breastfeeding but when you squeeze the nipple you would see some discharge, either yellow or [bloody]. By the time you start feeling some pain, it means you have reached the advanced stage.

“And the best way to prevent breast cancer is to encourage breastfeeding. The baby can be sucking, your husband can also enjoy it. The men can examine their wives’ and their girlfriends’ breasts. The men should also suckle the women’s breasts. Don’t allow your wife to get breast cancer. Sucking of the breast is also good,” the celebrated midwife Madam Mary Azika said at a seminar organised at the weekend by the Upper East Regional Chapter of the Distance Education Students Association of Ghana (DESAG) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

Held at the Francisca Yizura Hall of the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School (BOGISS) and sponsored by AQUABOLG Natural Mineral Water, the event brought together members of the association from four campuses in the region under the theme: “10 years of distance education and its impact on socio-economic growth and development of the Upper East Region: A transformational force.”

More banks coming; grab the opportunities- Residents advised

The audience also took home some tips on how one can be a good employee and a good employer.

“Be ready to learn and master your craft. No employer wants to waste his or her money. If you learn day by day to master your work, your employer will like you and will not hesitate to increase your income and keep you working as long as you want to work. No employer will throw away a good worker. Only a wicked employer would see a good worker, working so hard, sacrificing his or her life, time and skills and yet will not reward the person accordingly. For an employer, time is money. Be time-conscious. The best way out of every difficult situation is the way forward. For every ambition you have- once you can dream it and you can imagine it- you can achieve it.

“I have been in Bolga since 2008 and I’ve realised that every day Bolga is changing. Now, the banks are rushing to town. And the little knowledge I have about [these banks] is that they don’t go until they have done their research. So, it tells you that they have done their research and they have seen that Bolga has potential. There are a lot of opportunities in Bolga; so, they are coming in. We as youths need to position ourselves. If we don’t take time, the jobs will come and they will tell you we do not have serious people, so they are bringing people from elsewhere to come and do the job and I don’t think it would be good for us,” Mr. Bruce-Quansah recommended.

And for those who are employers and those who hope to create jobs one day, he had these words at the seminar: “Employees are very important part of your business. Keep them in a situation where they will enjoy working. Even if they earn a [fixed] salary or wage, introduce to them a system where they will be rewarded if they do extra work or exhibit extreme commitment to the business. Treat them well; they will work hard and you will make the money you want. Be passionate about your job and the employees will emulate same. Train yourself regularly to be abreast of the new trend and to build your confidence level. If you are not ahead of your employees, some of them would try to outshine you and would not follow your direction. Respect your employees and be fair to them. Some employees don’t even say ‘thank you’ to their employees. Learn to appreciate your employees.”

Telenovela Obsession ruins DESAG’s Academic Performance

The event had also in attendance the Upper East Regional Resident Tutor of the UCC’s College of Distance Education, Eric Gonu, and the college’s Administrator for the Upper East region, Nicholas Nkrumah, who spoke on career development and factors that determine the results students acquire respectively.

When the DESAG’s Upper East Regional President, Jonathan Alataaba Adanigna, took the floor, he was unhappy about how some popular telenovelas had gotten in the way of some of the students on the distance learning programme.

“I have been to all the study centres in the region- from Zebilla to Notre Dame, from Notre Dame to BOGISS and BOGISS to ZAMSTECH- and it is not better.

The story is the same. Most of our students do not know much about the structures and activities of DESAG and this is what is sending us backwards. If we don’t change our attitude, we are going nowhere.

“The failure of students, poor performance, has characterised my [entire] stay in this university. It boils down to the fact that we are lazy and busy with jammed office duties, political activities coupled with such social events as funerals, wake-keepings, out-doorings and weddings. Entertainment will not also permit us to perform well. Examples of telenovelas like Kumkum Bhagya, Jodha Akbar, Passion and Power, Simply Maria and many more are programmes designed to impact knowledge but poor planning [on our part] has turned them into a monster that is consuming us, leading to poor academic performance,” the Regional President remarked with emphasis.