“Uncle please help me, my husband has deserted me. I am now left alone to cater for our six children aged between 14 years and less than a year.”
“Dear brother, I am experiencing excruciating arthritis pain to my knees. I can hardly walk. I have already spent the little I have on my medical bills. You are my last hope.”
“Dear sir, I have been sent home to collect my school fees; I will not be permitted to write my final examination unless I make payment. Since my father, Moses, your boyhood friend passed away, I have no one but yourself to turn to!”
These and several other pleas – yes heartbreaking cries for help – reach me on a regular basis. Please do not regard those requesting my assistance as opportunists, yes individuals feigning their medical conditions or other financial problems facing them to take advantage of me.
Their needs are genuine, real, yes unfeigned. Whereas the governments of many countries of the developing world, including my native Ghana, find it expedient to spend millions, if not billions of their resources on weapons, hardly any of them has developed a state funded welfare system to cater for the needy—the handicapped, the orphaned, the dejected – yes those who for whatever reasons, cannot fend for themselves.
In Ghana for example, it is usually the extended family, that provide a kind of safety net for their needy members. Whereas in former times, the system, though imperfect, performed fairly well, today owing mainly to rising living costs, societal behaviour is tending towards
what can be described as “everyone for him/herself and God for us all!”
The fact, however that the writer of these lines , through the mysterious workings of the Divine managed to make it all the way from his deprived little village in rural Ghana all the way to medical school in Germany and after cracking and cracking his brain at the Hanover
Medical School, qualified as a doctor, has raised the expectations of some of his kinsmen and kinswomen beyond the ordinary. What has aggravated the matter is the fact that he is currently resident in Europe, also known as Aburokyire in his native Twi language , an area
in the world generally regarded by the vast majority of residents there as a kind of heaven on earth.
After years of doing my very best to help alleviate all kinds of financial challenges presented to me by my people, it has finally dawned on me that I cannot on my own master the challenge indefinitely. This is especially in view of the fact that I have of late noticed the gradual weakening of my physical strength, making it hardly possible for me to work as many hours as I used to previously.
What should I do? Leave my people alone to their fate? If only I can! But no I cannot. I could as well leave the niece I referred to earlier on alone. What about her children- one, two, three, four, five, six poor little ones! For God’s sake, something has to be done for them!
So I have decided to bring their case to the attention of the Global Village. Yes, on behalf of them, I am appealing to all men and women of goodwill on Planet Earth, yes anyone who can part with a few cents and pennies for to help give them a future.
Initially, I intended limiting my activities to my people. Aware of the fact that they are not the only ones in the hot soup, I have decided to extend the realm of activities of Poverty Alleviation Action Trust (POVAAT), the charity which will be directly involved in the provision of the envisage assistance to the affected, to cover the whole of Ghana.
Poverty, of course, is not unique to Ghana. If through the mysterious Hands of Almighty God, POVAAT grows in resources , it will not hesitate to extend its activities beyond the borders of Ghana. The legitimate question one would tend to ask is—how can I trust you with my money; yes indeed what is the guarantee that money donated to the charity will end up where it is intended , and not in your or other peoples’ pockets?
Those who want to help without any reservations are welcome to do so. For those who harbour reservations, at least during the foundation stages of POVAAT, I suggest that instead of making a free donation, you rather select some of the several books displayed on this website (I hope you find one suited to your taste!). For a contribution of a minimum of £15 or USD 20.00 or 20€ per title, POVAAT will post the selected title to your address ( free of postage).
Finally—please make it a point to visit our various social media sites on a regular basis to update yourself on our activities.
Thank you very much for your time.
