Awudome-Avenui in the Ho West District of the Volta Region is to get an ultra-modern Multipurpose Children’s Home and School on a 12-acre tract of land.
The facility, to be constructed by Pope Francis Non-Governmental Organization based in the traditional area in collaboration with the Ho Dioceses of the Catholic Church, is expected to house vulnerable children, especially children afflicted with HIV/AIDS.
An initial tranche of over $300,000 has been procured for works to begin.
The project would be executed through funding raised from donors abroad and coordinated by Mr Michael Barry, Founder of the project with support from Reverend Father Jeremiah-Ankutsitsia, a co-founder.
The multipurpose facility, which would come with a children’s home, kitchen, dining hall, clinic, boys and girls dormitory, would start with the 36 children with HIV/AIDS status currently being housed in the Margaret Marquart Catholic Hospital, Kpando, would be transferred to occupy the facility on completion.
At a sod-cutting ceremony, Bishop of Ho Dioceses, Most Rev. Emmanuel Fianu SVD in a speech read on his behalf said the Dioceses was collaborating to give moral and spiritual support to actualize the project on time.
“Human needs will never cease as the population of people continues to grow as there must be an intervention”, he said.
Bishop Fianu said the facility would go a long way to give meaning to the lives of distressed children and would help unearth talents for the socio-economic growth of Ghana.
Ms Stella Agbezuhlor, Acting Volta Regional Director of Social Welfare, said it was imperative for the country to maintain its strong family value system, which served as social protection mechanism.
“In our culture everyone belongs to an extended family. We want to cling to our own, and I want to encourage all of us to go back to our strong family value system which greatly served as a social protection mechanism for us all,” she stated.
She said “we are gradually losing sight of these social protection systems and are becoming more individualistic, hence our tendency to think of orphanages when a child actually needs care and protection.”
Togbe Adzesi Dzaga VI, Acting President, Awudome Traditional Area commended Pope Francis NGO and the Ho Diocese for their commitment to actualize this initiative.
He said what would be more reviving news to the people of Awudome was to have a Catholic Hospital and appeal to Pope Francis NGO and Ho Diocese to gift a hospital to the area.
Togbe Dzaga said the population of Awudome of over 45, 000 people only have clinics to contend with but residents would have to travel to Ho before assessing critical Healthcare.
“We are ready to donate land that would be needed for the hospital project,” he said.
He called on stakeholders including community members to support the project to become a reality targeted at training the critical mass of the population and control rural-urban migration.
