'Travel and see,' poverty is real

"Travel and see" was the inscription on a mummy truck that used to ply between Ho and Adaklu Kodzobi, my holy village in the early seventies.

These were the exact words by a member of Friends of Humanity Foundation, an Accra-based non-profit making organisation when they travelled to some deprived communities in the Adaklu District of the Volta region to celebrate Easter Saturday with them.

Confronted by the stack reality of deprivation of the three communities they visited the member uttered the words travel and see.

The group saw the abject poverty which engulfed the people in these communities.

The communities visited are Adaklu Zanukorfe, Adaklu Davanya, and Adaklu Vudede where they presented the people with used clothing and footwear, cooking oil, rice, and hygienic items.

The Ghana News Agency correspondent was part of the group and was shocked by what he saw.

Poverty is defined by the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English as the situation or experience of being poor.

"Do these people also vote?" another member of the group wondered.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said "we think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start from our own houses to remedy this kind of poverty."

The joy of the people knew no bounds when the group in a convoy of four vehicles arrived in the communities. They shouted for joy, laughed, and danced a sign of appreciation of the love shown them by the group which braced all the odds of having some of the vehicles getting stuck in the mud at times and having flat tyres to get to them.

"Poverty is like a punishment for a crime you did not commit" - Eli Khamarow once said.

There are many such communities dotted all over the country that need the government’s attention.

For this reason, the government through its members of Parliament must turn their attention to such deprived areas and lift its indigenes out of poverty by providing social amenities and the needed infrastructure.

"In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of."

" These days there is a lot of poverty in the world and that's a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give to everyone. We all have to think of how we can become a little poorer. - Pope Francis.

Mrs Abigail Abena Acheampong, founder of Friends of Humanity Foundation said an act of kindness can change the life of someone for the better forever.

She said the vulnerable can be empowered to lead a meaningful life.

Quality education and healthcare, water, electricity, and good roads are not privileges but a right of every citizen of Ghana.

Giving five kilograms of rice, cooking oil, tin fish or a few notes of Ghana Cedis to people in those heavily deprived areas is a sign of hospitality but it will not eradicate their poverty.

Our politicians should now be thinking of teaching them how to fish instead of giving them fish.

I doff my hat for Mr. Kwame Agbodza when he said his first, second, and third priorities for Adaklu is education.

I wholeheartedly agree with him because poverty can only be eradicated by quality education.

If poverty is a disease as they say, then it can be cured.