NEW APLAKU BETHEL METHODIST DONATES TO TWO CENTRES

Story: Augustina Tawiah, Accra

Bethel Methodist Church in the New Aplaku Circuit, has made a donation of various food items, detergents and learning materials to the Methodist Rehabilitation Centre and Hope for Teens Skills Training Centre in Accra.

The donation formed part of the Bethel Month celebration of the Church which is observed in September every year by the Society to enable them socialize and show love to the needy, the poor and vulnerable in society.

Making the presentation on behalf of the Church on September 24, 2022, the Superintendent Minister of the New Aplaku Circuit of The Methodist Church Ghana, Very Rev Emmanuel Evans Essien, said it was a great joy for the Society to share their joy with the children of both centres.

He said the Society decided to set aside the month of September as an occasion to share their faith with people and it was their target to visit the needy, the poor and the vulnerable during that period to take care of them.

Later in an interview, he advised parents to take care of the children they gave birth to. He explained that failure to do so could lead to the children becoming deviants and a burden to society.

“When you give birth and you are trying to raise the child or being responsible then somebody could come in to support but don’t expect society to take that full responsibility of taking care of your children,” he pointed out.

Very Rev Essien said the current situation in society was not good for any child to live their lives without the supervision of their parents or guardians explaining that, it was for that reason that it was necessary for parents not to abandon their children.

“So we are begging parents and anyone who has given birth to a child please, try to take care of your own children. If you are not ready to cater for your children then, you should as well not go into child birth,” he advised.

To the children at the Methodist Rehabilitation Centre, he urged them to be obedient to their teachers and adhere to rules.

The Society Steward of the Bethel Methodist Church, New Aplaku, Bro Derick Agyei Gyamfi, said the Bible teaches mankind not to stop caring for the needy and it was for that reason that the Church had set aside September of every year as an occasion to socialize and show love to the needy, the poor and vulnerable in society.

Receiving the items, both the Director of the Methodist Rehabilitation Centre, Sister Christiana Odoi and the Accra Diocesan Coordinator of Gender and Family Life Issues, Sister Rebecca Nettey, thanked the Church for the donation and appealed for more support for the children there.

Recounting the history of the Rehabilitation Centre, Ms Odoi said it is a social intervention project of the Accra Diocese of The Methodist Church Ghana, adding that, the children were picked from the Adabraka market, Agbogbloshie market and Kaneshie market during an evangelism programme by the Church.

She said while some of the children were school dropouts, others did not even know their parents so the Church decided to take care of them by providing them with education and skills training. She said the Centre was started in 2010 with 41 children but currently they have 18 children.

On her part, Ms Nettey said the skills training Centre was established in 1985 to offer skills training to teenage school drop-outs, teenage mothers and unskilled house wives.

She appealed to Gender Coordinators in the Accra Diocese to encourage more girls in their Societies to enroll at the Centre to receive training.