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27.08.2014 General News

'Blind Need Improved Living Standards'

27.08.2014 LISTEN
By Daily Guide

Rev Sanaki (Right) making the presentation to Charles Oppong

Charles Oppong, leader of the Royal Sparrows Band, which is made up of visually impaired persons, has appealed to the government to do more to improve the standard of living of persons with disability.

He said that with persistent advocacy, Ghana could formulate and implement policies that would positively impact on the lives of the physically challenged.

He asserted that visually-impaired persons have been forced to live without any appropriate state interventions to make them self-reliant.

'Persons with vision impairment want government of Ghana to do more to improve their welfare,' he stressed.

He pointed out that making the physically-challenged self-reliant through the appropriate interventions would also help prevent begging on the streets.

Charles Oppong was speaking to DAILY GUIDE after members of the Christ The King Methodist Church at Anaji near Takoradi had donated assorted items worth GH¢2,500 to members of the band.

The church, which is under the Effiakuma circuit, also presented cash of GH¢5,300 to members of the band as part of efforts aimed at giving back to the needy in the society.

The donation was made during church service last Sunday.

The items included cartons of milk, bread, assorted drinks, toilet rolls and soaps, among others.

Mr. Oppong noted that unlike their counterparts in certain parts of the world who receive substantial state assistance, the Ghanaian blind persons still face many challenges from lack of education to social recognition, adding that 'disability is not inability.'

Mr. Oppong criticized the begging on the streets by many visually impaired.

He, however, pointed out that most of his colleagues preferred begging to engaging in any kind of business because jobs were non-existent.

''There are competent blind teachers and we do not still have classrooms to teach. You would be employed and you go to work and you will not have assisting devices to work with.'

He noted that with continuous assistance from government, conditions for the physically challenged could improve.

Making the presentation, Rev Wisdom Sanaki, who is in-charge of Christ The King Methodist Church, noted that the church was obligated to counsel, encourage, pray and assist society, most importantly the needy and the poor.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
 
 
 
 

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