Accra, Dec. 23, GNA – More than 150 street children in Accra, on Wednesday, received packed hot meals, some toiletries and clothing as Christmas gifts from the ‘Enhancing Youth Education and Health (EYEH)Soup Kitchen’, a Non-governmental Organisation.
Ms Adjoa Amana, a Director, EYEH Soup Kitchen, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the Organisation extended its benevolence each year, to street children in Kantamanto, Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Kaneshie, but COVID-19 restrictions had limited the outreach this year.
“We are this year, limiting our gifting to those around the Tema Station who have gathered at the Efua Sutherland’s Children’s Park and others at the Opaebea slums,” Ms Amana said.
She said EYEH Soup Kitchen, was an NGO run by a group of retired career women, who, every Wednesday gather between 60 and 80 street children at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park, where they feed and counsel them.
She said the children who came from different parts of the streets in Accra were also taken through medical screening, spiritual up-liftment, career and educational guidance and recreational activities.
Ms Amana said the Organisation worked closely with the Department of Children, under the Ministry Gender, Children and Social Protection, and other stakeholders, including; the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in addressing streetism.
Mr Mohammed Gamado, a 19-year old former street boy from Wa in the Upper West Region, told the GNA, that he was introduced to the EYEH Soup Kitchen’s weekly programme by a friend, and after serious commitment to the course, he was housed at the Medina shelter, and was currently enrolled under a three-year auto mechanic apprenticeship programme at the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI).
He said he would be spending the Christmas festivities with his family for the first time in many years as a changed person.
Gomado thanked his benefactors for the support and opportunity to ‘revive’ his life, and indicated his desire to join the Army in future to offer his expertise as an auto mechanic.
Mr Seth Appeagyei, a Social Worker and Psyco-Social Analyst, who is also in-charge of Streetism at the Department of Gender, stated that, his outfit, worked with Civil Society Organisations, NGOs and Development Partners, with diverse efforts to address streetism.
He explained that since the inception of the EYEH project last year, about 21 street children had reunited with their families, while some were also enrolled under various apprenticeship programmes.
The target, he said, was to get as many children as possible out of the streets by 2030, and encouraged parents and guardians, to contact the Gender Ministry for appropriate guidance and referrals to CSO and NGOs, who were trained to offer such social services.
GNA