By Michael Kofi Kenetey
The Chairman of the National Planning Committee of the 50th Anniversary of the SOS Children’s Villages Ghana, Godknows Kwaku Kporha has called on philanthropists, corporate donors, NGOs and benevolent organizations among others to come on board to support the SOS Children’s Villages Ghana so they can get enough financial muscle to impact many more lives in Ghana.
He made the call in an interview with GBC News at Asiakwa in the Abuakwa South Municipality of the Eastern Region during a Sports Festival organized by the Asiakwa SOS Children’s Villages as part of activities of celebrating the 50th Anniversary Celebration of SOS Children’s Villages Ghana.
The SOS Children’s Villages Ghana since its presence in Ghana in 1974 has been supporting the lives of children and young people without parental care, or at the risk of losing it. They also ensure that children grow with the care, protection, and relationships they need to become their strongest selves and self-resilient and reliant.
As part of activities to mark their presence in Ghana and the impact they have made in the lives of children and the youth for the past 50 years, the Asiakwa SOS Children’s Villages organized a Sports Festival for four schools in the Abuakwa South Municipality which include their school, Asiakwa SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, Akim Adukrom MA Basic School, Asiakwa Presby Junior High School and Adasawase Presby Basic School. Some of the activities they participated in include football, table tennis, and netball.
In an interview with GBC News, the Chairman of the National Planning Committee of the 50th Anniversary of the SOS Children’s Villages Ghana, Godknows Kwaku Kporha noted that they are committed to providing care and support for children in Ghana, adding that in providing care they need to ensure that the beneficiary children are safe and provided with the conducive environment to develop to become responsible people in the future.
He explained the conducive environment includes the right to quality education, care, and entertainment, right to healthcare, among others. Mr. Kporha reiterated that they are committed to reaching out to millions of children out there that need their care and called on corporate organizations to come on board to support them in that course.
The Programmes Director of Asiakwa SOS Children’s Villages, Josephine Afrawuah urged society and parents to recognize that children are the future of society and the families. She encouraged families to support in bringing up children who in one way or the other have lost their parents, adding that the best place to groom a child is the biological setting.
Madam Afrawuah reiterated that most of the negative activities in society are mostly perpetrated by young people who grew up from neglected families without having responsible upbringing. She spoke on why they organized the sports activities.
Activities for the 50th Anniversary Celebration began with the unveiling of the 50th Anniversary logo some months ago, float, sports festival which was organized and replicated across all the four programmes locations in Ghana namely SOS Asiakwa, Tema, Kumasi and Tamale.
There will also be an open day programmes to educate people about the activities of SOS, coding for kids, a national alternative care conference with the climax being the awards and dinner night for their corporate partners in July this year.