By Elorm Yao Aryee
A group of youths from the Volta and Oti Regions, Volta My Pride Association has provided educational materials and personal effects to pupils in Lawoshime, a community in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region.
The gesture worth thousands of Cedis was aimed at motivating the school children in the community to excel on the education ladder.
The items include large quantities of books, pens, mathematical sets, school uniforms and cloths. The group also provided the school’s authority with bags of cement to rehabilitate parts of the classroom blocks which are in a dilapidated state.
A canoe was also presented to the community to aid the pupils in their movements to and from the town which is an island community.
Lawoshime is surrounded by water bodies hence hard to reach because there is no bridge for vehicular movements or accessible roads. The community also lacks electricity, potable water and decent toilet facilities and a health center. A classroom block project which is being constructed by the Coastal Development Authority (CODA) has stalled for almost three years. A project to connect to area to the national grid which started a year ago has been stalled leaving idle electric poles dotted in the community.
Residents who are mainly distillers and farmers say the lack of amenities and socio-economic infrastructure has made their living conditions miserable. For instance, lack of accessible roads puts members of the community in a difficult situation when they are in need of urgent medical care since they have to travel for nearly an hour on a stream to health facilities on the mainland.
An opinion leader in the community, Powel Adisenu disclosed that there have been instances of accidents on the stream when residents including a pregnant woman nearly lost their lives. “Travelling on the stream becomes dangerous at nights because there are no lights to guide the path. Once a pregnant woman in labour nearly drown when the canoe on which she was traveling to the hospital capsized”, he said.
Mr Powell appealed to government to develop their roads and connect them to the national grid to enhance their living conditions.
Touched by their plight, members of the Volta My Pride Association, resolved to assist the community, especially in the area of education through its annual humanitarian services in deprived communities in the Volta and Oti Regions.
At a brief ceremony to donate the items to the community, members the group pledged to provide additional support to the community in future to alleviate their plight. The Public Relations Officer of the Association, Joseph Tsidi said the group decided to support the Lawoshime M/A Basic School, to boost the morale of the pupils to study hard to become meaningful citizens for the area and country’s development in future.
He said what members of the Association seek is to contribute their quota in their own small way for the development of the Volta and Oti Regions. Mr Tsidi therefore urged philanthropists and corporate organizations to assist to enable the Association to embark on bigger projects. “These items were purchased with funds that we contributed as members to put smiles on the faces of the underprivileged in our regions. Our hope is to embark on bigger projects like building schools, and health facilities among others if we are able to raise enough funds from philanthropists and corporate organisations”, he said.
The Head Teacher of Lawoshime M/A Basic School, Noah Agor who received the items on behalf of the community thanked the Association for the gesture. He called for more support to alleviate the numerous challenges faced by the school.
Volta My Pride Association is a group of young professionals from the Volta and Oti Regions whose aim is to embark on humanitarian activities in deprived communities in the Volta and Oti Regions. The group has over the past five years undertaken such activities in some deprived communities in the two regions.