By Gideon Peprah
Ejisu- Krapa (Ash.), Oct. 26, GNA- Ahead of its Annual General Meeting in Kumasi, members of the Micro Credit Association-Ghana have engaged in humanitarian activities to give back to society.
The Association has organised free health screening for market women at Bantama and residents of Santasi to provide the traders with the opportunity to check their health status.
Members also provided financial literacy for the women by encouraging them to cultivate the habit of savings and bookkeeping.
The Association donated assorted items worth thousands of Cedis to the Living-Way Foundation Rehab Center at Ejisu-Krapa in the Ejisu Municipality.
The items, which included different kinds of provisions and toiletries and an undisclosed amount of money, were presented by the board, management and staff of the Association.
Mr Ebenezer Quartey, Executive Director of Micro Credit Association-Ghana, who presented the items on behalf of the Association, said Rehab Center faced a lot of challenges that needed to be addressed not only by the government but also by well-meaning Ghanaians.
He said such facilities did not receive much attention and called on the state, philanthropists and non-governmental organisations to join hands to support the managers of the facilities to reform inmates.
Managing persons with mental issues, according to him, was a huge task which required adequate resources and urged the public to show love to citizens being taken care of in rehabilitation centres.
Mr. Quartey disclosed that the Association had plans to work with Rehab Centers to support the rehabilitation of people under their care as a corporate social responsibility.
Mrs Lydia Abenaa Manu, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, thanked the Association for the kind gesture, saying that people were reluctant to donate to the centre due to their negative perception of mentally challenged persons.
She entreated Ghanaians to stop the stigmatisation of these people and start showing some love for them.
She advised parents to take a keen interest in the lifestyles of their children to be able to guide them when going astray to prevent them from ending up in rehabilitation centres.
The CEO expressed grave concern about the rate at which families neglected patients after sending them to the facility, reminding them that such people needed the support and love of their families as part of the healing process.
“We cannot keep them here without feeding or giving them medications.
Besides, there are some of them who may be released and still struggle to buy medicines since they cannot work to make money, and all of these become a problem,” she bemoaned.
GNA