In an each-one-for-himself-God-for-us-all-generation where the actions of men, women are influenced more by what they will get than the legacy they will leave for society, I dare say there are still stories of hope, acts of grace, philanthropy and selflessness, even if such are a tiny drop in the ocean.
But when these tiny drops of kindness is sustained with godly perseverance a bigger, greater ocean of humanity is created in a desert for many.
For 34 years and counting, one woman, Sister Victoria Agyarkwa, now a Reverend Minister has created a river of hope, a future of promise to over 8000 children who otherwise would have lived a life without Christ and in a desert of pain, poverty, humiliation and lack of education. They are now born again, living committed, dedicated and responsible lives all to the glory of God.
What started in 1983 as a Good News Club called the Tranquile Nest Outreach with five children who were fed with the Gospel of Christ, has now become a cathedral- Convenant Rest Mission- with several hundreds of children, men and women.
The hunger and poverty of the period notwithstanding, Sister Vic, as she was affectionately called, moved from house-to-house and gathered children for bible classes on Sunday afternoons.
With her holy hunger and an insatiable thirst to grab them young and feed them with the word of Christ, an army of children besieged the compound of the Good News club.
Soon it was evident that the over 300 children who came to hear the gospel had one challenge or another with school. Some were in school but couldn't afford school fees and uniforms and printing fees; others were at best school dropouts and at worse never stepped foot in the classroom before.
Their chorus was pretty much the same. Their parents did not have money either to take them to school or to keep them there.
Such stories were all too familiar to Sister Vic. Growing up, her father, the bread winner, died so early. As a result, she had many embarrassing episodes of being sacked from school for non-payment of school fees.
As if it was a well rehearsed strategy of humiliation, Victoria Agyarkwa had her name mentioned by headmasters of various High Schools in a roll-call of shame, describing her as one of the students with a notorious history of failing to pay her school fees.
Rev Victoria Agyarkwa with one of her prodigies
With that chain of humiliation she hopped from Aggrey Memorial School in Cape Coast, then to Labone in Accra and eventually ended up at the Trinity School in Mataheko also in Accra where she sat for her GCE and passed successfully.
She then attended the Holy Child Teacher Training College as part of her post secondary education and became a professional teacher where she discovered the skill to train, the patience to accommodate and a divine direction to bring up children in the Lord.
With the school fees debacle still fresh on her mind, Sister Vic vowed to, with every fibre of her being, support children through school and hopefully protect them from going through the same embarrassing events she went through.
So the vision to train the children in the Lord was transformed by a commitment to secure the future of these children with sound education as well.
Without money but with a heart of a platinum, and a commitment to make life a little easier for the kids, Sister Vic, together with the assistance of Mr Kofi Frimpong and others, began the selfless crusade to get these kids into school.
She signed a pact with the parents of the children to allow her sponsor these kids through school, but in return give her rights to train them in the Lord. They agreed. From the basic, through to secondary, vocational and to the tertiary level Sister Vic raised the necessary funding to sponsor the kids.
Yaa Badu a beneficiary is now caterer
"So I paid their school fees but they had to be committed to the things of Christ. They had to come to church every Sunday and week day services," she said.
As at 1995, over 3,000 children were sponsored through the elementary schools in Accra. It was at the same time, Sister Vic moved into her new residence at Tesano near the police station. There, the Tranquille Rest Mission, the Good News Club grew even bigger and became the Emmanuel Pentecostal Mission which is sited close to the Santana market at Tesano.
As the mission expanded, it became apparent that paying the children's school fees alone was not the panacea to the school dropouts syndrome.
Even though the school fees were paid, some of the children still skipped school because their parents still couldn't afford three square meals, buying school uniforms and other attendant costs that came with taking care of the education of children.
With the little money she brought from abroad and the massive support of donors Sister Vic said some of the parents had to be set up to do petty trading and small businesses in order to be able to make some money and support their children and family as a whole. The parents then joined their children to serve the Lord.
Grace Tetteh is also a caterer a staunch believer in Christ
It was a little seed planted in the lives of these families but the harvest has been overwhelming.
With her believe in God and passion to help the poor and vulnerable, Sister Vic has shepherded a mighty flock of willing and dedicated children some of whom are now chartered accountants, head pastors, teachers, etc.
They came with nothing but had a vision to be somewhere in future. They were ready to stay and serve the Lord and follow the strict principled leadership of Sister Vic.
Today, Pastor Richard Amakwaa Fosu is a Chartered Accountant, So too is Simon Yamoah Owusu and Pastor Dennis Ansu.
On the left is Pastor Yamoah Owusu and on the right is Pastor Richard Amankwa both of whom are beneficiaries of the Good News.
Depending on their interests and competencies these children were guided to achieve their dreams and are now contributing positively towards the development of the country. Linda Morkeh is now a banker, Eliezera Ofori is also a Customer Service Manager, Grace Tetteh a caterer, Richard Amanor, a pastor and Arnold Kporha an electrician. Sister Vic never discrimminated between her biological children and kids she mentored and raised in Christ. The same training she gave to all and one of her biological kids, Connie Agyarkwa is also a Reverend and a doctor as well.
Having benefitted immensely from the streams of grace and providence from the Covenant Rest Mission, many of these, now successful professionals have also taken it upon themselves to sponsor other children to be like them.
As Hebrews 6:10 says "God is not unjust, he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."
Connie Agyarkwa second from left with Pastor Ansu on extreme right
Today the Good News Club is now the Covenant Rest Mission with five branches in Accra and several outreach areas which is a big testimony of what the Grace of God can do with Rev Victoria Agyarkwa and other men, women who have dreams and pursue those dreams with hard work, and selfless commitment to the Lord and humanity.
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