Easter is the most important celebration, season or festival for Christians. This is because it is the remembrance and celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Also, if Christ had not risen, the Christian faith would have no foundation.
However, this year‘s Easter celebration was celebrated in a grand style at South Dayi with the help of Humanitarian Alarm. The Easter celebration was climaxed with a soccer match between the communities in the district.
Help for Children (HFC) sporting club of Todome were on Easter Sunday crowned champions of the 3rd Annual South Dayi Easter Soccer Gala 2109 after defeating Maranatha FC of Dzemeni in a penalty shootout.
In a fiercely contested finale which ended barren, it took the bravery of the agile goalkeeper of the Todome lads Osei Tutu Daniel who pulled a couple of saves to the admiration of thousands who trooped the Dzemeni R/C Football park to watch the flagship and arguably the well organised football tournament in the district and the region as a whole. Shooting Stars FC of Dzemeni placed third after defeating Young Boys Bulley Stars by a narrow 1 nil margin.
HFC Sporting Club took home a giant trophy donated by a philanthropist Mr David Kofi Wuaku, an undisclosed amount of cash, a set of football training kits, footballs, cartons of Indomine from our headline sponsors, Special Ice Ghana Ltd, Adehyie Nsuo Mineral Water, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Fredmef Group of Companies and Accent Financial Services Ltd.
Speaking to the press after the event the Executive Director of Humanitarian Alarm the organizers of the event cautioned the political, religious and traditional leaders on the dangers of child labour and substance abuse on the growth and development in the Dzemeni catchment area due to its proximity to the Volta Lake. He entreated the youth and the numerous budding talents to adopts healthy lifestyles if they aspire to become professional sportsmen.
On a message read on his behalf, the Mayor of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) underscored the need for MMCE’s, DCE’s and governance experts at the local level to collaborate and roll out interventions aimed at eradicating poverty with the aim of unearthing and polishing of talents for socio-economic gains.
Mr George Bada the Presiding member of the South Dayi District Assembly who doubles as the assemblyman for the Dzemeni West electoral area praised Humanitarian Alarm for the professional manner in which the tournament was organised and appealed to the organisers to also consider developing on other sporting disciplines like Volleyball and Athletics. He was of the opinion that such philanthropic and community development initiatives will open up the South Dayi District for economic opportunities especially in terms of talent and sports infrastructural development.
The three–day soccer tournament had 9 teams participating in this year‘s edition with teams drawn across the South Dayi District with Dzemeni R/C park hosting the 3rd edition. Previous winners include Avetile Action Unit and Wudome FC.
Humanitarian Alarm is a national NGO with offices in Kumasi and Peki-Avetile, Volta Region whose main aim is to roll out interventions aimed at using innovative and time tested tools to help eradicate poverty in deprived and marginalized communities. Their focus areas include Health, Agriculture and Afforestation, Youth and Sports, Education; and Capacity Building, Training and Empowerment.
