By Deborah Apetorgbor, GNA
Accra, April 18, GNA – The youth and children of the Tabora Community in Accra, on Easter Monday were treated to a football gala and Easter party organised by Ohemaa Foundation, a charitable organisation concerned with child welfare and youth empowerment.
The event was held to demonstrate the love of Christ to the community, motivate the youth through the avenue of soccer and also instil into them, the timeless principles of discipline, time management and hard work.
Mr Francis Owusu Mensah, the Director for the NGO, in an interview with the media, said the event was organised to commemorate Nana Afia Hemaa (Ohemaa), the grandmother, in whose honour the Foundation was established.
He said the discipline their grandmother instilled in them had culminated in their present status as respected people in society, although they had emerged from a humble background and a poor environment.
“In this regard, we feel a responsibility toward the youth, especially those who find themselves in hopeless situation, to encourage them that all hope is not lost.
“We want to extend the hope and inspiration our grandmother gave us to those despaired youth, that if we have been able to become people of good standing in society, there is hope for them too. The only thing is for them to be disciplined, God-fearing and hard working,” he added.
Mr Owusu Mensah said plans were advanced to establish a reading club for the children from the ages of 8 to 21, saying the Foundation had realised that one of the key issues hampering the development of the educational capacities of children in the country was reading.
“We at the Ohemaa Foundation believe that if, at a tender age we inculcate the habit of reading into the children, it would enable them to get far in the future,” he said.
The Director entreated individuals to treat all children fairly and implored parents to make time for their children and invest in their development, adding that, if everyone “would commit to caring for one child that was not their biological child, a lot of social issues could be prevented”.
He believed that social problems such as the menace of street children stemmed from traditional and cultural root causes, as such, these ‘root causes’ must be addressed with everyone taking up an individual responsibility to get involved in the fight.
Mr Mensah pleaded with the government and other NGOs to step up their efforts in the bid to seek a brighter hopeful future for the next generation.
He further disclosed the Foundation’s intention to build a computer laboratory for the community.
Mr Noah Amofa, the Assemblyman for the area, said the Tabora Assembly identified with the vision of the Ohemaa Foundation to assist the youth and the children in the community, for which cause he and other members of the Assembly had been making efforts.
“We therefore decided that for this year’s Easter festivity, we will liaise with the Ohemaa Foundation to bring the youth and children together in a competition, speak to them, motivate them and inspire them to desist from any social vices and live a life worthy of Christ,” he explained.
The Assemblyman noted that there were a lot of skilled players in the various community club teams, “what we want is to build a singular consolidated community team out of the seven teams that would be strong enough to compete with the best football clubs in the country”.
The soccer competition rounded off with the Tabora City Club emerging victors in the football gala.
Meanwhile, many of the children could not hide their excitement as they expressed joy, sang and danced, and appreciated the organisers for the celebration.
The Nana Afia Hemaa Memorial Foundation, founded by Mrs Patience Antonio and in its second year is based on four pillars: advocacy, training of children, youth and women, capacity building and institutional strengthening, development of child and youth development facilities.
GNA
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