Cape Coast, July 12, GNA - Mrs Theresa Kufuor, the First Lady, on Tuesday urged women in the rural areas who are in business to develop interest in book-keeping and in saving with the banks. This, she said, would enhance the growth and development of their businesses since they could get access to financial assistance and urged them to form cooperatives to enable them to readily benefit from loan facilities.

Mrs Kufuor made the call when she opened a five-day 'Trainer of Trainers' workshop in soap production for 10 women living with AIDS in the Central Region at Cape Coast.

The Mother and Child Community Development Foundation, which has the First Lady as its Chief Patron, is spending 30 million cedis to train women to be self-supporting.

The Foundation has already spent 90 million cedis to sponsor similar training workshops for such women in the Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Ashanti regions.

Mrs Kufuor underscored the important role women play in putting the "family in shape" and commended the trainees for availing themselves of the opportunities offered by the workshop that would go a long way to improve their standards of living.

She advised them to take very good care of their health needs as well as their social lives and urged the public to show love, care and compassion to AIDS orphans and people living with the disease. Mrs Kufuor took the opportunity to advise other women, who attended the opening ceremony, to lead lives that would protect them from acquiring the deadly disease.

Mr Isaac Edumadze, the Central Regional Minister, thanked the First Lady for sharing "the benefits from the foundation" with women in the region and urged the women to take their training seriously.