Kumasi Porters Attend HIV/AIDS Workshop

Kumasi - Two Non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) promoting the welfare of street kids have jointly organized a day’s workshop on personal hygiene, prevention of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) for 102 women porters in Kumasi.

The organisations are the Street Children Development Foundation and the Neglect Foundation. Participants were selected from Kejetia, Adum and Race Course areas and sponsored by the Almere city in Holland, a sister partner of the Kumasi Metropolitan assembly (KMA).

Topics discussed included HIV/AIDS, Gonorrhoea, syphilis, candidditis, cholera and a visual documentary testimony of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS).
As part of the workshop, health personnel from Suntreso and Tafo hospitals in Kumasi also offered free medical services to the kids of the participants.

Mr George Baffour Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the Street Children Development Foundation, said women porters are vulnerable to the dangers and activities of wee smokers and drug addicts in the Kumasi metropolis.

He noted that HIV/AIDS cases and cholera had been on the increase and hoped that the workshop would enlighten them on such issues to help curb their vulnerability.
Mr Owusu-Afriyie urged churches and organizations to consider the plight of women porters in society and assist them raise their status.

He disclosed that through the efforts of the two NGOs, many women porters had registered with the Manhyia sub-metro office of the National Health Insurance Scheme to enable them receive health care.

Mr Francis Cornah, the country Co-ordinator of Almere city in Kumasi, advised the participants to give proper attention to the their children, so that they did not become burden on the government.

Kumasi Porters Attend HIV/AIDS Workshop

Kumasi - Two Non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) promoting the welfare of street kids have jointly organized a day’s workshop on personal hygiene, prevention of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) for 102 women porters in Kumasi.

The organisations are the Street Children Development Foundation and the Neglect Foundation. Participants were selected from Kejetia, Adum and Race Course areas and sponsored by the Almere city in Holland, a sister partner of the Kumasi Metropolitan assembly (KMA).

Topics discussed included HIV/AIDS, Gonorrhoea, syphilis, candidditis, cholera and a visual documentary testimony of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS).
As part of the workshop, health personnel from Suntreso and Tafo hospitals in Kumasi also offered free medical services to the kids of the participants.

Mr George Baffour Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the Street Children Development Foundation, said women porters are vulnerable to the dangers and activities of wee smokers and drug addicts in the Kumasi metropolis.

He noted that HIV/AIDS cases and cholera had been on the increase and hoped that the workshop would enlighten them on such issues to help curb their vulnerability.
Mr Owusu-Afriyie urged churches and organizations to consider the plight of women porters in society and assist them raise their status.

He disclosed that through the efforts of the two NGOs, many women porters had registered with the Manhyia sub-metro office of the National Health Insurance Scheme to enable them receive health care.

Mr Francis Cornah, the country Co-ordinator of Almere city in Kumasi, advised the participants to give proper attention to the their children, so that they did not become burden on the government.

Poor Implementation Of JSS Concept Has Produced Street Children

Kumasi, July 21, GNA- Street Children Development Foundation, an Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) engaged in skill training for street children, has said the ineffective way the Junior Secondary School (JSS) concept was implemented was one of the causes of street children.

Mr George Baffour Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the Foundation, said if all the components of the JSS concept were fully implemented, "the street children, most of whom are JSS graduates, will not have found themselves roaming the streets."

He said the workshop component of the JSS was designed to provide technical and vocational skills training for students but its implementation was neglected.

Mr Owusu-Afriyie was addressing an Advocacy Forum on the Community Poverty Reduction Programme (CPRP)-Street Children project in Kumasi on Sunday.

The forum was organised by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and the Foundation.

He suggested to the government to take a second look at the JSS system with the view to ensuring that well-equipped workshops were established and attached to all Junior Secondary Schools. "This approach will help to reduce or entirely bring to a halt the problem of street children," he said.

Dr Edward Prempeh, Presiding Member of the KMA, said as part of its programme to help the street children, the KMA was in link with the Department of Town and Country Planning to help provide a site where the children could set up their workshops after skill training.

10,800 "Kayayeis" get Free Health Care

Kumasi, Sept. 17, GNA - Street Children Development Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has registered 10,800 porters (Kayayeis) in the Kumasi Metropolis for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Mr. George Baffour Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the NGO, said their insurance premiums were paid between, year 2006 and 2009. He made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi on Thursday. Mr Owusu-Afriyie said the NGO worked closely with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) through the assembly's Street Children Project.

He said his Organization was committed to the job of helping to care for the socially disadvantaged and the poor. He encouraged corporate bodies to partner government to address the high rate of rural-urban migration in the country, a major factor responsible for the growing number of street children particularly in Accra and Kumasi.

He called for job creation in the three northern regions by investing in irrigation projects.

Mr Owusu-Afriyie said by so doing young people from this part of the country would have no incentive to travel down south to engage in "Kayayei" business.

He said a study carried out by the NGO shows that there are more than 20,000 female porters aged between 12-40 years in the Kumasi Metropolis. Their increasing population is fuelling the springing up of slums.