By Joseph Kobla Wemakor
A social group that seeks to cater for the welfare of the aged, the widows and widowers on earth till their departure back to their creator arrives has been launched in Accra on Wednesday December 26, 2018.
Dubbed: “Empty Nest Foundation” (ENF) is the brainchild of Pastor Mrs Christina Mante, Head Pastor of the Mallam Branch of the International Central Gospel Church(ICGC) which seeks to care, bring life and hope to old, widows and widowers in the society; ensuring they live a life of dignity on earth till their time of demise.
Speaking at the launch which coincided with the Anniversary and Fund Raising Dinner on Wednesday December 26, 2018 at her Mallam residence in Accra, Rev. Mrs. Christina Mante averred that the support system for the aged, the widows and widowers in Ghanaian society has been very weak and ought to be strengthened at all cost to enable them live a normal life.
She believes this can be achieved through membership of the Empty Nest Foundation where old people in Ghana at the age of 60 years and above including widows and widowers can come under one umbrella and socialize ‘meaningfully’ for the rest of their lives on earth.
“Our mission is to spend with the aged, more especially the widows and the widowers to study the word of God with them in order to reduce the effects of loneliness, to help provide counselling, to organize periodical recreational activities and get-together for them”.
According to her, the passion to cater for the aged in the society dated back in her youth ages when she deliberately saved little of any cedi that comes into her hand and later used the accumulated sums each year on her birthday which is falls on Christmas day to purchase gifts for the aged in her community.
This, she kept doing year after year until in January 2015 when she was moved to accentuate her benevolence by registering the Empty Nest Foundation as a Non-Governmental Organization(NGO).
Benefactress cum Minister of the gospel, Mrs. Christina Mante is calling on all well-meaning individuals, philanthropists, corporate organizations and government to support the foundation in both cash and kind to implement its agenda of expanding its wings to cover more aged in the communities in 2019.
“We are looking forward to extending our services to those who will not be able to join us at home. We will visit them as how we used to do but this time I want to intensify it a little bit and if not the same Thursday, get another free day to visit those who are not able to come here but are members and also try to organize more activities like arts and crafts, scrabbles, ‘Oware’ including other games just after sharing the word of exaltation”.
Expressing her views on the initiative, Mrs. Kate Otoo, HR Director, Cedar Integrated Security who chaired the occasion hinted that the move was a laudable idea since it’s geared towards the welfare of the aged, widows and widowers in our society in the absence of such initiatives in the country.
While lamenting on the lack of such support systems in the country for the aged, she said: “It is unfortunate to note that in our part of the world (sub-Saharan Africa) we cannot boast of such care giving systems for the elderly people unlike in abroad where you see numerous of them”.
“Now times are hard, people just look at their own immediate family so there’s no extra left for old people. Even our own parents, by the time they finish paying their children school fees, there’s nothing left for the upkeep of their parents so this foundation is a very laudable idea since It’ll take care of all these old people and they will have support system to enjoy life on earth”, Mrs. Kate Otoo stressed.
She therefore pledged her allegiance to support and equally urged all and sundry to do same to the foundation in both cash and kind to achieve its objective.
For his part, Chairman of the Empty Nest Foundation, Mr. Anthony Fletcher observed that there are many elderly men and women out there who are really looking for a place to go fix their boredom and loneliness and appealed to all aged, widows and widowers in the society to quickly get enrolled unto the foundation to enjoy those rights and privileges being denied them.
“I hope that they’ll all take this opportunity and come in and it’s a very good organization which is specifically designed for those who are old, I mean the elderly in the society and also I believe as we continue to help with their social activities, they will live long”, he concluded.
