By: Isaac Amoah/tntnewspapergh.com
There was great joy when a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Akosua Ba Yaw Foundation, organised Christmas party for 52 orphans at Onipa Hia Mmoa Foundation in the Bekwai municipality.
The kids enjoying their meals
The party, which was held at Kwamang-Abesewa Methodist Church near Asante Bekwai, was solely organised by Akosua Aba Yaw Foundation, an organisation purposely set up to provide help to less-privileged learners in various communities.
Group photograph after the Christmas party
Before the dinner, the children were entertained with a variety of activities including pick & act, dancing competition, tag of peace, etc. led by the team members of the foundation.
The executives & members of the foundation, including the chiefs and elders in the area, dined with the orphans to put smiles on their faces in line with the motto of the foundation – Put a smile on a child’s face.
The team members of Akosua Ba Yaw Foundation in a group photograph
There was much to eat and drink by both the children and their caregivers, as well as community leaders, who were present to grace the event.
Besides, the Founder of Akosua Ba Yaw Foundation,Mr. Isaac Aning aka Akosua Ba Yaw, donated some cash amount for 20 bags of cement to support a project initiated by Onipa Hia Mmoa Foundation aimed at providing accommodation for orphans.
Through brother Kay, the Church of Pentecost
Columbus North, Ohio, US, also donated boxes of clothes to the orphans.
Through Winnifred Boateng,
Principle community health nurse (AACMH), the team also donated mosquito nets as well as earlier donation of 20 bags of cement by Prophetess Josephine Badu, Founder of Heaven Ministry.
The official presentation was done by Prophetess Josephine Badu, the Founder of Heaven Ministry, on behalf of Akosua Aba Yaw, who is currently outside the country.
All the children were also given Christmas hats by Akosua Ba Yaw Foundation to have real feelings for the Christmas celebration.
Prophetess Josephine Badu making presentation to Mr.Emmanuel Adade,the founder of Onipa Hia Mmoa Foundation
The Founder of Onipa Hia Mmoa Foundation, Mr. Adade Emmanuel, Nana Bobbie II Bekwai-Bremang, as well as Nana Kwaku Bonsu, the Kontihene of the area, highly praised Akosua Ba Yaw Foundation for the kind gesture.
They prayed for long life with good health for the foundation’s founder and his team members.
Mr. Adade said the Onipa Hia Mmoa Foundation, as the name depicts, was established about six years ago to help take away children, especially orphans from the streets and support them. Two years ago, Akosua Ba Yaw visited them and realised that their living conditions had improved.
In his statement, Mr Isaac Aning aka Akosua Ba Yaw, a teacher and philanthropist, recounted that during his
teaching journey at Nkwantapon community in the Bosome Freho district, specifically at
Nkwantapong DA primary, Asiwa, he identified the problems the pupils in the area were going through.
Mr.Isaac Aning aka Akosua Ba Yaw Foundation
According to him, most of the pupils were coming to school with an empty
stomach which impaired their concentration during contact hours.
This, he noted, affected their academic performance.
“What was happening was that, during break time, some of these kids would go home and cook, and they never came back to school; we couldn’t punish them the next day,” he added.
He continued, “It was worrisome so I tried to find out why? I realised that most of these kids lived with their old age grandmothers.”
The community was/is a galamsey community where strangers from different parts of the country came and slept with the women, got some pregnant, but the next day they were no where to be found. Also, a number of the kids had lost their fathers through galamsey activities, whilst their mothers had abandoned them to seek greener pastures.
“So I asked myself, what can I do to assist them?
“I decided to speak to some people to assist me to feed these kids. Mr. John Adu Poku, CEO of John Adu Poku Foundation, accepted the proposal and we began feeding the kids. This gesture resulted in massive improvement in school attendance and studies,” he recounted.
Some scenes from the Christmas party
Mr. Isaac Aning, who named the foundation after his late mother, said he identified illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, hunger and lack of school uniforms as the major causes of the low attendance of the pupils to school.
And to help address the issues, he decided to launch and adopt the following interventions:
1.” Yoghurt day”
I was buying them Yoghurt every Friday for them in order to influence them to come to school from Monday to Friday.
- “Let’s clothe them” was also launched. I decided to give them school uniforms from my own pocket…
Some scenes from the event
Through that, I got help to give them house wears. I was giving house dress too.
I then realised they were coming to school.. but hungry. I gave them money for food.
When I was teaching in class the next day, I threw a question to a girl in class and she was behaving in a weird manner. She told me she ate nothing before coming to school.
So I spoke to a friend and dad (Mr John Adu Poku) to help me feed these kids…
3.”LET’S FEED THEM ”
Then we employed a woman to cook for them and we paid her every month…
- ” NO more Kyale” was launched when I realised they came to school with “kyale wate ” and shoes in a bad state, and it reminded me of my school days.
Then I planned buying them some affordable shoes…every week when I came on weekends..so by the end of the term each of them would have something decent to wear
Motivation:
In my junior high school days when we were about to complete school in 2005 ..We took a group picture and I was rejected and embarrassed because of the state of my shoes ..
So I had to borrow my junior’s shoe to wear and snap the picture and give it back..
Yearly programme
“From 2018, we decided to climax everything we are doing for humanity with parties, health screening, community engagement, etc. The 2024 edition is our visit to an orphanage in Bekwai on 27th December 2024,” he concluded.
