Foundation to cater for welfare of aged, widows and widowers in Ghana launched
A social group
that seeks to cater for the welfare of the aged, the widows and widowers on
earth till their departure back to their creator arrives has
been launched in Accra on Wednesday December 26, 2018.
Dubbed: “Empty
Nest Foundation” (ENF) is the brainchild of Pastor Mrs Christina Mante, Head
Pastor of the Mallam Branch of the International Central Gospel Church(ICGC) which
seeks to care, bring life and hope to old, widows and widowers in the society;
ensuring they live a life of dignity on earth till their time of demise.
Speaking at
the launch which coincided with the Anniversary and Fund Raising Dinner on
Wednesday December 26, 2018 at her Mallam residence in Accra, Rev. Mrs.
Christina Mante averred that the support system for the aged, the widows and
widowers in Ghanaian society has been very weak and ought to be strengthened at
all cost to enable them live a normal life.
She believes this
can be achieved through membership of the Empty Nest Foundation where old
people in Ghana at the age of 60 years and above including widows and widowers
can come under one umbrella and socialize ‘meaningfully’ for the rest of their lives
on earth.
“Our mission
is to spend with the aged, more especially the widows and the widowers to study
the word of God with them in order to reduce the effects of loneliness, to help
provide counselling, to organize periodical recreational activities and get-together
for them”.
According to
her, the passion to cater for the aged in the society dated back in her youth
ages when she deliberately saved little of any cedi that comes into her hand
and later used the accumulated sums each year on her birthday which is falls on
Christmas day to purchase gifts for the aged in her community.
This, she kept
doing year after year until in January 2015 when she was moved to accentuate
her benevolence by registering the Empty Nest Foundation as a Non-Governmental
Organization(NGO).
Benefactress
cum Minister of the gospel, Mrs. Christina Mante is calling on all well-meaning
individuals, philanthropists, corporate organizations and government to support
the foundation in both cash and kind to implement its agenda of expanding its
wings to cover more aged in the communities in 2019.
“We are
looking forward to extending our services to those who will not be able to join
us at home. We will visit them as how we used to do but this time I want to
intensify it a little bit and if not the same Thursday, get another free day to
visit those who are not able to come here but are members and also try to
organize more activities like arts and crafts, scrabbles, ‘Oware’ including
other games just after sharing the word of exaltation”.
Expressing her
views on the initiative, Mrs. Kate
Otoo, HR Director, Cedar Integrated Security who chaired the occasion hinted
that the move was a laudable idea since it’s geared towards the welfare of the
aged, widows and widowers in our society in the absence of such initiatives in
the country.
While
lamenting on the lack of such support systems in the country for the aged, she
said: “It is unfortunate to note that in our part of the world (sub-Saharan
Africa) we cannot boast of such care giving systems for the elderly people
unlike in abroad where you see numerous of them”.
“Now times are
hard, people just look at their own immediate family so there’s no extra left
for old people. Even our own parents, by the time they finish paying their
children school fees, there’s nothing left for the upkeep of their parents so
this foundation is a very laudable idea since It’ll take care of all these old
people and they will have support system to enjoy life on earth”, Mrs. Kate
Otoo stressed.
She therefore pledged
her allegiance to support and equally urged all and sundry to do same to the
foundation in both cash and kind to achieve its objective.
For his part,
Chairman of the Empty Nest Foundation, Mr. Anthony Fletcher observed that there
are many elderly men and women out there who are really looking for a place to
go fix their boredom and loneliness and appealed to all aged, widows and
widowers in the society to quickly get enrolled unto the foundation to enjoy
those rights and privileges being denied them.
“I hope that
they’ll all take this opportunity and come in and it’s a very good organization
which is specifically designed for those who are old, I mean the elderly in the
society and also I believe as we continue to help with their social activities,
they will live long”, he concluded.
Click the link below for more stories:
http://ghananewsone.com/2018/12/foundation-to-cater-for-welfare-of-aged-widows-and-widowers-in-ghana-launched/
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Foundation-to-cater-for-welfare-of-aged-widows-and-widowers-in-Ghana-launched-712119
https://awakenewsonline.com/foundation-to-cater-for-welfare-of-aged-widows-and-widowers-in-ghana-launched/
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Foundation-to-cater-for-welfare-of-aged-widows-and-widowers-in-Ghana-launched-712119
https://awakenewsonline.com/foundation-to-cater-for-welfare-of-aged-widows-and-widowers-in-ghana-launched/
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