Concert to support lepers

Saturday, December 6, 2008 (The Mirror Pg 34)
By Rebecca Kwei
Come Friday, December 12, 2008, the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra will host the National Symphony Orchestra, Winneba Youth Choir and the Holy Family Youth Choir as they sing their hearts out in a Christmas Choral Concert to raise funds for cured lepers.
The Lepers Aid Committee, supported by GUNSA of St Rose’s Senior High School, who are organising the concert, indicates that the funds will be used for the construction of a bungalow/clinic for cured lepers at the Ho Leprosarium. The ticket for the concert costs GH¢5.00.
The Ho Leprosarium, which was established in 1926 by the Basel Missionaries.
Over the years, discharged patients were rejected by their families and with no other alternative home, they came back to settle around the hospital.
According to the chairman of the Lepers Aid Committee, Rev Fr Andrew Campbell, currently, there were about 140 cured lepers living in the seven communities around the hospital.
He said most of the lepers were living in very poor conditions and in dire need of accommodation.
Rev Fr Campbell, therefore, appealed to individuals and organisations to support lepers in order “to put a smile on the face of our forgotten friends”.
He said the bungalow was estimated at GH¢30000 and it will accommodate two cured lepers, a clinic to serve the cured lepers in their communities and a nurse’s quarters.
Another fund raising event, “Flag Day”, will be held on Saturday, December 20, 2008, at the Accra Mall, where volunteers will solicit funds from Christmas shoppers.