Catholic Charity Donates Towards Primary Evangelization in Ghana’s Remote Villages

The Pontifical charity reports that the Priests who first arrived in the Ghanaian Diocese in 2008 have had one vehicle, now over 11 years old, and one motorcycle between the three of them, a situation that makes it difficult for all of them to travel to the different places at the same time to meet the people.

“Besides, there are still many villages in the Kpassa district where Christianity has not yet arrived,” Fr. Melkis tells ACN in his appeal to the Catholic foundation for aid.

“In our evangelizing work, we are attempting to reach at least one new village each year,” he says, and adds, “In fact there are already four more villages that we have now evangelized, although we have not yet formally established an outstation in them.”

Besides spiritual care, the members of OFM Cap. have also been working to address poverty, illiteracy and a myriad of other social challenges that the people grapple with.

Fr. Melkis says, “Although our principal objective is to provide spiritual care for the community where we serve, our Friars are also involved in social and development work. Our goal is to create an awareness among the people of the social problems and encourage them to become involved in seeking their own solutions.”

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“The village people are extremely poor,” the Franciscan Priest says, and adds, “There are two main areas of focus: the provision of a decent education for the children and at the same time the provision of clean drinking water by drilling boreholes in the various villages.”

To reach as many people as possible within St. Michael Parish, Fr. Melkis has, on behalf of the Capuchin missionaries from Kerala, India, requested for a four-wheel-drive vehicle, which ACN has donated to the mission.

The missionaries, according to the leadership of the Catholic charity, requested for “something like a pickup truck, if possible, with a double cabin, so that they could serve the many outstations, celebrating Holy Mass and encouraging other spiritual activities.”

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.