A Trustee of the International Help of Missionaries (IHM), an American based humanitarian organisation, has stated that the institution is poised in helping to alleviate the sufferings of people living in deprived communities in Ghana.
In an exclusive interview with newswatchgh.com, at a presentation ceremony at Ashaiman to selected Catholic Churches recently, Rev. Fr. Cletus M. Forson, noted that IHM’s humanitarian support is a widow’s mite that cannot completely eradicate the sufferings of people but only help to reduce their plight.
He said the decision to reach out to the vulnerable and the needy was a suggestion from the President of IHM, Mr. Donald Magnotta, before Easter this year.
Fr. Forson, who is the Priest- in- charge of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Adenta, Accra revealed that IHM responds to requests of the needy and there were plans in the offing to support other regions of the country whenever such request come.
He explained that “Accra became the first focus because the lockdown affected Accra and Kumasi,” noting that “it is also because the greater majority of the poor folks- kayayei (Head Porters), people sleeping in kiosk and many artisans are in Accra.”
He further stated that “some people might think that residents in Accra do not need any support but as a matter of fact, we have to look at the point of functional needs, and Accra is heavily in need”.
With the sufferings of people in Accra, Fr. Forson hinted that majority of his parishioners at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Adenta were students and artisans with difficulties in feeding since the ban of “restricted movement of persons” was imposed.
IHM is a non-governmental organization with its headquarters in New York City, that provides assistance to missionaries and the religious in deprived communities across the globe.
IHM, since its formation in 2008 has contributed greatly to developments in the rural areas of Ghana. Through the drilling of bore-holes, building of a clinic renovation of dilapidated classroom blocks in the Volta, Ashanti and Eastern Regions.
As part of its humanitarian gesture, the International Help of Missionaries (IHM), through the charity department of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Caritas, recently reached out to the vulnerable and the needy in Accra amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
Through the support of IHM, Caritas Accra purchased food items such as bags of rice, oil, tin tomatoes and mackerel, which has been distributed to about 24 selected communities so far within the Accra Metropolis and Tema-Battor communities. They include Tema New Town, Dawhenya, Prampram, Koluedor, Afienya, Kordiabe among others.
The Archbishop of Accra, the Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, CSSp, who recently commissioned the distribution of the items at separate functions at Osu and Ashaiman respectively, encouraged Priests of the beneficiary Parishes to distribute the foods items to both Catholics and non-Catholics living within their various catchment areas.
Source: Newswatchgh.com // Kelvin Aboagye-Yeboah
