Nkanchina Lepers Get Support
By Doreen Darko
A sod cutting was recently performed for the construction of a 40-Bedroom block for cured lepers at Nkanchina in the Kpandai District of the Northern Region.
The ceremony was performed by Most Rev. Gregory Ebo Kpeibaya, Emeritus Archbishop of Tamale supported by Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Campbell, SVD, Chairman of the Lepers Aid Committee, Nana Okumankwi I, Chief of Nkanchina and other dignitaries.
Members of the Committee as part of the ceremony which also formed part of this year’s World Leprosy Day Celebration, donated assorted items including food, clothing, provisions and toiletries to the cured lepers.
Fr. Campbell said the Project to provide decent accommodation for cured lepers in fulfillment of a promise LAC made two years ago when members visited their settlement and noticed the dilapidated houses in which they lived.
He said the project is estimated at about two million but LAC through a musical and Fund raising concert last year, money from the Common fund and the benevolence of some individuals and organizations, had raised GHȼ1.3 million to start it and urged all to come to their end.
He expressed appreciation to all benefactors and individuals who had supported the Committee in its activities of alleviating the plight of lepers in the country and asked for the continuous assistance.
He noted that unlike cured lepers at Weija in Accra who get 80 pesewas stipend a day, those at Nkanchina and other areas in the country do not get all and appealed to the Government to include them in the LEAP Fund.
He urged the Government to increase stipend given to cured lepers.
Fr. Campbell urged the cured lepers not to feel dejected but know that God loves them because they were created in His own image.
Mr. Jato Moayi Jasper, District Chief Executive for Kpandai, commended Fr. Campbell and his team for championing the cause and the survival of the less privileged in the society over the years.
He also thanked Nana Okumankwi and his elders, for donating the parcel land for the project.
The DCE assured that the cured lepers would be incorporated onto the LEAP programme and seasonal support offered to them.
He was hopeful that the Projected would be completed in due cause to enhance the living of the cured lepers who have been abandoned.
Archbishop Kpiebaya, who chaired of the ceremony, said the Project was a dream which had been actualized as the building they were living in was endangering their lives, saying that once the building collapsed on one of the cured lepers.
He thanked Fr. Campbell and his team for their untiring efforts in caring for the cured Lepers and urged all not to stigmatize cured lepers, adding that leprosy was not a curse but a disease.
Nana Okumankwi appealed to Government to extend electricity and portable water to the area, saying that, lack of these facilities had led to the youth migrating from the town as well as health workers and teachers not accepting posting to the area.
He also called on the Government, to rehabilitate the only health facility in the area and also provide them with Schools.
Mr. C.K Bawa, Head of the cured lepers in the area, thanked the LAC and all their benefactors of their help.
The World Leprosy Day was instituted in 1954 by Raoul Follereau, a Frenchman to raise awareness on the disease and to enable people with the disease to seek medical treatment like any other illnesses.
It was also in remembrance of Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian leader who had the interest of lepers at heart.
The Nkanchina Leprosarium was established in 1947 by Missionaries of the Evangelical Church to treat people with leprosy but was later handed over to the government, who later turned it into a hospital for the people.
It currently has about 95 inmates from all over the country as well as other West African countries who came to seek treatment.
A sod cutting was recently performed for the construction of a 40-Bedroom block for cured lepers at Nkanchina in the Kpandai District of the Northern Region.
The ceremony was performed by Most Rev. Gregory Ebo Kpeibaya, Emeritus Archbishop of Tamale supported by Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Campbell, SVD, Chairman of the Lepers Aid Committee, Nana Okumankwi I, Chief of Nkanchina and other dignitaries.
Members of the Committee as part of the ceremony which also formed part of this year’s World Leprosy Day Celebration, donated assorted items including food, clothing, provisions and toiletries to the cured lepers.
Fr. Campbell said the Project to provide decent accommodation for cured lepers in fulfillment of a promise LAC made two years ago when members visited their settlement and noticed the dilapidated houses in which they lived.
He said the project is estimated at about two million but LAC through a musical and Fund raising concert last year, money from the Common fund and the benevolence of some individuals and organizations, had raised GHȼ1.3 million to start it and urged all to come to their end.
He expressed appreciation to all benefactors and individuals who had supported the Committee in its activities of alleviating the plight of lepers in the country and asked for the continuous assistance.
He noted that unlike cured lepers at Weija in Accra who get 80 pesewas stipend a day, those at Nkanchina and other areas in the country do not get all and appealed to the Government to include them in the LEAP Fund.
He urged the Government to increase stipend given to cured lepers.
Fr. Campbell urged the cured lepers not to feel dejected but know that God loves them because they were created in His own image.
Mr. Jato Moayi Jasper, District Chief Executive for Kpandai, commended Fr. Campbell and his team for championing the cause and the survival of the less privileged in the society over the years.
He also thanked Nana Okumankwi and his elders, for donating the parcel land for the project.
The DCE assured that the cured lepers would be incorporated onto the LEAP programme and seasonal support offered to them.
He was hopeful that the Projected would be completed in due cause to enhance the living of the cured lepers who have been abandoned.
Archbishop Kpiebaya, who chaired of the ceremony, said the Project was a dream which had been actualized as the building they were living in was endangering their lives, saying that once the building collapsed on one of the cured lepers.
He thanked Fr. Campbell and his team for their untiring efforts in caring for the cured Lepers and urged all not to stigmatize cured lepers, adding that leprosy was not a curse but a disease.
Nana Okumankwi appealed to Government to extend electricity and portable water to the area, saying that, lack of these facilities had led to the youth migrating from the town as well as health workers and teachers not accepting posting to the area.
He also called on the Government, to rehabilitate the only health facility in the area and also provide them with Schools.
Mr. C.K Bawa, Head of the cured lepers in the area, thanked the LAC and all their benefactors of their help.
The World Leprosy Day was instituted in 1954 by Raoul Follereau, a Frenchman to raise awareness on the disease and to enable people with the disease to seek medical treatment like any other illnesses.
It was also in remembrance of Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian leader who had the interest of lepers at heart.
The Nkanchina Leprosarium was established in 1947 by Missionaries of the Evangelical Church to treat people with leprosy but was later handed over to the government, who later turned it into a hospital for the people.
It currently has about 95 inmates from all over the country as well as other West African countries who came to seek treatment.
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