NGO goes to the aid of rural residents in Akuapem North

A non-governmental organisation, As I Grow, has gone to the aid of five deprived communities in the Akuapem North Municipality as part of its objectives of helping residents in rural communities deal with challenges facing their areas.

The residents were taken through free medical screening while the NGO donated learning materials to basic school pupils in the area. It also made donation of other things such as farm equipment like spraying machines, clothes, among others, to the residents.

About 600 beneficiaries benefited from the items, which cost about GHC 130,000. The beneficiaries were drawn from localities such as Yaw Laga, Kwaku Kre, Kwaku Afum, Aboagyena and Behinase, all in the municipality.

Worrying

The Chief Executive Officer of the organization, Debrah Bekoe Isaac, speaking to the media, bemoaned the numerous challenges facing rural communities in Ghana. He described the seeming neglect of the concerns of rural communities as worrying.

He stated that surveys conducted by his outfit had shown that people in rural Ghana are faced with challenges of education, good drinking water, sanitation, access to good health care, teenage pregnancy, prevalence of communicable and other diseases among others.

He disclosed that his outfit is, however, committed to providing support for people in rural communities.

“As I Grow aims at providing lifeline support for almost eighty percent (80%) of deprived communities in Ghana by the year 2030,” he said.

Mr Debrah Bekoe used the opportunity to call on other well-meaning Ghanaians, the government, NGOs, individuals, among others, to prioritise the needs of people in deprived areas.

Advice

An advisory board member of the NGO, Clarissa Osei-Bonsie, also addressed the youth of the community on the effects of teenage pregnancy. She admonished parents to take care of their daughters and not allow them to take up some adult roles which expose them to being trapped in early sex.

She said teenage pregnancy has the tendency to increase poverty, school dropouts, social vices, illiteracy, and child mortality rates, among others.

uliana Agyei Obeng, a member of the NGO, also took the residents through various strategies of accumulating wealth. She urged the residents, who are into farming and small-scale businesses, to stay focused on their activities and eschew unnecessary expenditures that do not add value to their lives and those of their children.

As I Grow is a non-profit organization in Ghana with the development of deprived communities as its major focus.

The organization has seven main priority areas of intervention, which fall under the Sustainable Development Goals 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9 and 11.

It is focused on eradicating poverty in deprived rural communities, advocacy geared towards girl-child education, reducing teenage pregnancy, women empowerment and livelihood, children education and support, environmental health, water and sanitation support, poverty reduction and youth development in the deprived communities.