The National Disaster Management Organization-NADMO, On Wednesday and Thursday 8th and 9th April, 2020, led a team of officials from the National headquarters and Staff of the various District offices, with the support of the Greater Accra Regional Director under the Directive of the Director-General to some Districts in Accra under the lockdown zones to distribute food to the VULNERABLE in those communities.
As part of the President’s directive to give one hot meal to the VULNERABLE in the various Districts under lockdown, NADMO in partnership with the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection and the Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development distributed cooked food to a number of people who are categorized as VULNERABLE, some of who live in places like; Maamobi, Nima Club 1000, Maamobi Market Area, and other communities in the Nima area, were served ONE HOT MEAL as part of the government’s policy of feeding the VULNERABLE as a result of the lockdown in the forty Districts in the Greater Accra, Tema, Kasoa and the Greater Kumasi enclave.
The team also served food in the Malata Market Area and the Alajo Communities all in the Ayawaso Central District.
The NADMO team and our partners also engaged in public Education of the Market women on Social distancing, and the need to keep and live in a hygienic environment, wash their hands often, use the hand sanitizer and observe all the Covid-19 safety protocols in order not to contract the disease nor infect others if one has the disease. The use of the nose-mask was also emphasized by the team.
A group of volunteers, in line with the President’s admonition to all of us to be CITIZENS and not Spectators, joined the team at Ayawaso North District to do the distribution of the cooked food in the Maamobi/ Nima enclave. The group of volunteers were led by the Parliamentary Candidate for the Npp in the area, Alhaji Manarf Osman Mohammed.
On the second day, the NADMO team went to the Ga North District and the Madina District. At the Ga North District, the team started the distribution with the first set of eight hundred packs of rice, jollof, and banku with fish in Communities like; ACP-Pokuase, Ofankor Sawmill,Tantra Hill-Muus, Rocky Down, Asofaa, Fiise and Amomole.
The beneficiaries and other individuals in these communities were grateful to the government of Ghana for the policy of giving food to the VULNERABLE in the society who are hardest hit by the lockdown. Some however had reservation with the distribution of the Hot meal or the cooked food, they would rather prefer the raw food like yam, rice, maize, oil, vegetables and cash were given to them to do their own cooking. They were worried about the conditions under which the Caterers cooked the food and their health status, as to whether they are carriers of the Covid-19 or not. The Director of Communication of NADMO, in a bid to assure them of the wholesome nature of the food, the team ate some for them to see and also assured them it was safe for their consumption. The Ga North District Director of NADMO and his Staff, and Staff of the Social Welfare were part of the Team that did the distribution.
The Team concluded the day’s work at the Madina District, where the District NADMO Director received us and led us to the MELCOLM AREA where members of the disabled Community were served their Hot meal.
The Team then moved to the Ayamba or Point 5 Community in Madina where about One hundred and fifty people in the community were fed. They were grateful to the government for the exercise. They also wished the raw food stuffs were given to them to do the cooking themselves.
The NADMO Team assured them their grievances will be relayed to the leadership of the program.
The exercise is a worthy one and it is helping the needy and vulnerable. We gave them the helplines for the Covid-19 feeding point which is; 0800800800 and 0900900900.
