The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has cut the sod for the construction of a two-storey facility to provide holistic care for street children in the capital.
The “Mother Teresa Soup Kitchen” (MTSK)will serve at least one nourishing meal a day for the destitute and homeless children on the streets of Accra, while offering counselling and skill training to them.
Initiated in 2016 as a philanthropic gesture by the Reverend Father Andrew Campbell, a retired Parish Priest of the Christ the King Catholic Church, the MTSK expected to be replicated in other parts of the country, ultimately aims at reduce streetism in Ghana.
Performing the sod-cutting at the Sempe Cluster of Schools in Mamprobi, Accra, Dr Bawumia lauded the intervention which he said dovetails into the government policies to improve social protection and advance the welfare of children.
“This project hopes to take children off the street starting from this very community and propel it nationwide. This is in line with government policy on Gender, Children and Social Protection where major interventions have been made under our administration and we hope to do even more come next year when I form a new government by the grace of God.
We can notably mention Christ the King Soup Kitchen as a bold move to end streetism in Ghana and when this project takes off, MTSK will be the biggest action by
a private individual and an NGO against the menace of street children in Ghana,” he stated.
The Vice President expressed the government commitment to improving the livelihoods of the marginalised in society.
He further challenged members of the public to, in their respective right, be of help to such persons.
“As a government, we are committed to facilitate the provisions of the foundation. We can be certain that help to Father Campbell is help to Ghanaians. He represents the very least down trodden in our society, and they have hope in him and we cannot let him down on this mission.
We can all take this as a challenge to help develop our country. We can help everyone out of poverty and other challenging situations by taking up a project like Father Campbell,” he urged.
The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum, announced plans to transform the Sempe Cluster of Schools and its structures, while making it one of the Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) schools in the country.
He said the government was focused on making education attractive and impactful, and won’t relent on that vision.
Rev. Fr Campbell highlighted the vision of the MTSK to feed about 1,000 children a day when it comes into operation while working to restore the dignity of underprivileged children.
He said after his retirement from Christ the King, he had harboured the vision of starting another soup kitchen in honour of Mother Teresa, and was excited the vision was being realised.
Rev. Fr Campbell said he could have ended up as a street child but for the benevolence of others, and therefore encouraged all street children not to lose hope as they could still pursue their dreams.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH
