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Ghana Flood Relief Project Helping Those Who Need It Most
by Ruby Mikulencak, Ghana
12 May 2008
The Ghana Flood Relief Project is helping people rebuild after the devastating floods in the north of the country in August 2007. In the village settings in northern Ghana, there is hardly a person who does not need some kind of assistance. I have been hearing stories of people working and living in the south who have returned to assess the situation in their home area for themselves: “Sister Ruby, they just don’t have anything. They do not even have one single groundnut (peanut) and you know that groundnuts are our main crop. They are just empty; they have nothing.” Getting Aid to the People Who Need it MostThe devastation is enormous, and an untold number of people need help. Thankfully, a lot of aid has been brought into the area from local and foreign agencies. We thank God for the wonderful response to the needs within the country as well as from the outside, but do those relief items really get to the neediest people?
It appears that in a particular village, food was distributed to people who had jobs or had means of supporting themselves. The head master of a school was given three bags of corn; another man who worked for the agricultural extension program was also given three bags, but a widow with three children received nothing. We are grateful that the SIM Ghana relief project helped her. The relief committee formed by SIM and its partner church, the Bible Church of Africa, is working to help people who probably will not receive help from other organizations—people who have been overlooked because they don’t belong to the right ethnic group, organization, or political party. The committee began with a seminar for those who were chosen to help distribute the relief items. The President of BCA told them that a baseline survey needed to done before distributing relief. He told them how to assess the situation by giving a personal example. He said that his own mother’s two rooms had fallen. He could say because he is the President of the Church that his mother should receive project help. However, he said, "if you look into her situation you will find that she has sons and daughters who have jobs who can help her. It would be wrong to give her assistance when there are so many others who do not have that kind of help." We trust that the committee will be known for doing things justly and fairly and not according to who knows who! Showing Christ's Compassion
The project has provided food aid in the form of maize and is in the process of trying to provide one complete room for about 100 people. At present 80 of these rooms have been roofed. The rains are threatening, so we hope that the other rooms will be able to be completed before the heavy rains set in. When I was recently up north, I met an elderly man and his wife who lost everything in the flooding. They had been living in a tent donated by the Salvation Army. It was thrilling to see the smiles on their faces as they showed me the new room they received through our project. There was no way this couple could have built a room on their own—they are old and feeble and have nothing to offer to people to come and help them build. We anticipate providing more food in the months of May and July as well as providing some seed for planting. Many people did not get much harvest last year, and they have nothing to plant for the next one. GiveYour partnership will enable SIM and BCA to continue to provide help to people struggling to rebuild after last year's floods. Please designate your gift for project #94839. Give online now |
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