The Sound Mind Foundation, a non-governmental organization, on Saturday (25 December) 2021, took to the streets and markets in Navrongo and Paga, to celebrate the birth of Christ with mentally challenged persons.
With food and fruit drinks, members of the foundation roamed from one street to the next and fed mentally challenged persons in the two towns.
The foundation also provided free haircuts and trimmed the nails of mentally challenged persons. The beneficiaries also enjoyed a replacement of their old, dirty clothes with clean second-hand clothes.
In all, 30 persons suffering various degrees of mental instability on the streets and markets of Navrongo and Paga benefited from the outreach programme.
Co-facilitator for the Sound Mind Foundation, Desmond Kampoe, expressed satisfaction that the outreach programme went well without any challenge considering the violent nature of some mentally challenged persons.
He said the outreach programme, which is a bigger version of what the foundation does monthly, was to extend the love of the season to the mentally challenged persons who have been neglected in the communities.
Kampoe said the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has impacted negatively on the operations of the organization. He stated, as a result, the foundation was no longer able to take the outreach beyond the streets and markets into homes where there may be a lot more mentally challenged persons locked away.
“Our operations have been affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19. We are currently unable to take the outreach as far and more often as we want”.
He added that “But we hope to get back into doing our outreach frequently when the COVID-19 situation is managed across the country”.
Leading members of the foundation, Tanlongo Eric Badawe and David Tibambuya, in separate calls, appealed to families to give proper care to relatives who suffer mental challenges.
They noted that proper care was one of the surest ways to help them recover from the condition and reintegrate into society.
They also appealed to the government to prioritise the needs of mentally challenged persons in the country and also equip the Mental Health Authority to be able to work toward reducing challenges in the sector.
Senyalah Castro
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