Residents of five communities in the Okere District have benefited from As I Grow (AIG), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with its headquarters at Larter-Akuapem in the Eastern Region.
The five communities, which are Asaase Korkoo, Gbemumu, Bekoe, Nyawosor, and Bewasi, benefited from the financial and intellectual empowerment drive of the NGO, through durbars it organised for them
The residents were taken through topics such as the importance of education, savings, and financial management, causes and prevention of teenage pregnancy, and family planning.
On the matter of education, members of the five communities, at the hugely participated durbars, were tasked to be responsible and contribute to the welfare of their wards’ education.
The speaker, Mr. Emmanuel Larbi, noted that despite the mandatory responsibility of the central government to ensure and provide education and its corresponding infrastructure and logistics, the role of parents and teachers in ensuring quality education could not be underestimated.
He, therefore, encouraged the residents to shift their attention from investing hugely in funeral and naming ceremonies to the education of their wards, which was one key assurance of a better future.
On savings and financial management, the gathering was made to purge their minds off the myth that they were incapable of living a meaningful life, because they were disadvantaged by virtue of their geographical location.
Mr. Agyei Obeng, a Resource Person, who is also a Manager at absa Bank, encouraged members of the communities to cultivate the habit of savings, which was arguably the first step to living a meaningful life.
On teenage pregnancy and family planning, the parents were motivated to monitor and guide their children, particularly the girl-child.
Apart from the advocacy drive, residents of the five communities were treated to a well-crafted and rehearsed drama on teenage pregnancy, as well as free health screening.
The Asaase Korkoo Primary School park, which was the durbar ground, was reduced to a jamboree when the Master of Ceremony (MC) announced the presentation of slightly used clothing, shoes, and bags among others to them.
Every member of the five communities, from children to the elderly, men, and women, benefited from the items, which had taken the NGO almost two years to gather.
Speaking to the paper, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of As I Grow, Mr. Debrah Bekoe Isaac, stated that “the achievement of our chosen values, in line with rational self-interest, is the pre-condition for reaching happiness as a state of consciousness.”
“I am fulfilled and significantly happy when I see smiles and sense of happiness on the faces of these important individuals in deprived communities and are disadvantaged of major social amenities through no means of their fault,” he stated.
According to him, As I Grow was a non-profit organisation with the main aim of finding ways to alleviate poverty in deprived communities through education, health, and empowerment among others.
“Our mission here is to equip our people in rural communities so that they can gain skills economically, and socially. So that we can help them concerning their living and their plans so they can survive.”
Quoting the Russian-born American writer and public philosopher, Ayn Rand, he said: “The achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.”
According to him, the above statement was synonymous with his life as a young tutor at Benkum Senior High School (SHS) in the Akuapem North Municipality of the Eastern Region, because of his devotion to serving mankind through community services.
He stressed that, since its inception on March 12, 2012, he had championed the mandate of the NGO to alleviate poverty in deprived communities through his personal financial and logistical resources.
The CEO of As I Grow said, like a brilliant child who goes to school in tattered clothes unnoticed by the parents, his widow’s mite towards these deprived communities was relatively not appreciated.
He acknowledged he was not mandated and forced in any way to support these deprived communities, but it was also worthy to acknowledge that, human behaviour was driven by what the person hoped to receive at the end of performing that act.
To him, the joy and happiness towards improving the socio-economic situation of these deprived communities, and contributing to the overall individual development, had been the major fuel that moves him and by far As I Grow.
The CEO admitted that funding the activities had stretched his small pocket to its limit, since his relatively insignificant salary as a teacher could not meet the core mandates of the NGO.
