Residents of five communities in the Okere District of the Eastern Region have benefited from As I Grow (AIG), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with its headquarters in Larteh-Akuapem in the Eastern Region.

The five communities which include Asaase Korkoo, Gbemumu, Bekoe, Nyawosor, and Bewasi benefited from the financial and intellectual empowerment drive of the NGO as well as personal belongings.

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 durbar were tasked to be responsible and contribute to the welfare of their wards’ education.

The speaker, Mr. Emmanuel Larbi hinted 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 quality education cannot be underestimated.

To this, he encouraged the residents to shift their attention from investing hugely in funeral and naming ceremonies to the education of their wards, which is one key assurance for a better future.

On savings and financial management, the gathering was made to purge their minds from the myth that they are incapable of living a meaningful life because they are 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 is arguably the first step to living a meaningful life.

On teenage pregnancy and family planning, parents were motivated to monitor and guide their children particularly the girl-child since they are at a disadvantage of the situation.

Apart from the advocacy drive, residents of the five communities were treated with 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 and what could be described as a pre-Christmas package when the Master of Ceremony (MC) announced about presentation of slightly used clothing, shoes, and bags among others.

Every member of the five communities from children to the elderly, men and women benefited from the aforementioned items which took the NGO almost two years to gather them.

Speaking with the paper, the Chief Executive Officer of As I Grow Mr. Debrah Bekoe Isaac hinted that the achievement of our chosen values, in line with rational self-interest, is the precondition 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 is a non-profit organization 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”.

Like the Russian-born American writer and public philosopher Ayn Rand once 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 is synonymous with his life as a young tutor of Benkum Senior High School (SHS) in the Akuapem North municipality of the Eastern because of his devotion to serving mankind through community services.

He stressed that, since its inception on March 12, 2012, he has 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, cried that like a brilliant child who goes to school in tattered clothes unnoticed by the parents, his widow’s mite towards these deprived communities is relatively not appreciated.

He acknowledged he is not mandated and forced in any way to support these deprived communities but it is also worthy to acknowledge that, human behavior is driven by what the person hopes 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 have been the major fuel that moves him and by far As I Grow.

The CEO of As I Grow admitted that funding the activities of the NGO has stretched his small pocket to its last limit since his relatively insignificant salary as a teacher cannot meet the core mandates of the NGO.

Mr. Bekoe postulated that the situation has virtually rendered him a beggar as he goes around with a cup in hand to raise funds in his effort to find ways of alleviating poverty in the deprived communities in Ghana.

This has subjected him to a laughing stock with its corresponding name beggar philanthropist particularly among those who do not understand his philosophy of life, adding that, service to mankind is service to God.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of As I Grow, which is based at Larteh in the Akuapem North Municipality has therefore called on every well-meaning Ghanaian both home and abroad to support the NGO with its work.

He further called on corporate organizations and other sister NGOs to collaborate with him to help contribute and improve the socio-economic conditions of these deprived communities.