Mr. Richard Sasu, a tutor at the Maame Krobo Community Day School in the Kwahu Afram Plains South in the Eastern Region, has recently entreated Pupils and parents of St. Joseph School of the St. Joseph the Worker Parish, Maame Krobo, in the Donkorkrom Apostolic Vicariate to take good care of the environment for the survival of humanity.
He made this known during the 2026 edition of the School’s Career Day Celebration on the theme: “Together, let us Protect the Environment”.
Speaking on the theme of the celebration as the Guest Speaker, he indicated that caring for the world around us is a shared responsibility. “ In fact, God has given us this beautiful Earth as our home, and it is our duty to take good care of it”, he posited.
Mr. Sasu bemoaned the situation where human activities such as illegal mining (galamsey), deforestation, bush burning, poor sanitation, and sand mining are destroying the very place that is supposed to be our home.
Touching on illegal mining, he acknowledged the fact of rivers being polluted and destroyed, as well as forests and farmland, saying that “No wonder some children are born with deformities in galamsey- prone communities.” He lamented that “Simply because our rivers and water bodies in such areas have been polluted with chemicals.”
He stressed the fact that this is a threat to our very human existence. Therefore, it is a collective effort to arrest this existential threat to the nation of Ghana and the world at large.
Speaking about charcoal burning, which has become the version of galamsey for the people of Afram Plains, he pleaded with the gathering to put a stop to it. And always make sure to plant new trees after cutting already existing ones.
He indicated that he is not surprised that the rainfall pattern in the Afram Plains has changed drastically, affecting farming activities. “We have become the source of our own problems”, he says.
He elaborated on how the various professions, and for that matter, professionals such as teachers, engineers, doctors, military, police, and pilots, help in protecting the environment.
Therefore, the tutor mentioned that it was a shared responsibility, and not that of the government alone or those in charge directly, in protecting the environment.
He continued that all these professionals and many others help protect nature by reducing pollution, enforcing laws, and educating people on how to care for the environment. As the students aspire to become one of those professionals in the future, there is a lot they can do today to protect the environment before attaining such professions.
He advised them not to think they have to grow old before taking up such responsibilities. He reminded them of the saying “What is learnt in the cradle, lasts to the Tomb”. Especially in the area of sanitation, they should avoid indiscriminate littering of the environment, which ends up choking our gutters, leading to flooding in the rainy seasons.
He also indicated that they shouldn’t wait for the National Day of Tree Planting and National Sanitation Day before they take action to protect the environment. It should be a daily affair. They must also take it upon themselves to educate others to protect the environment. The earth, he says, is our only home. When we protect it, we protect ourselves.
By Rev. Fr. Matthew Akakpo (AVD-DEPSOCOM)
