The Lord’s Pentecostal Church International has donated assorted items valued at the cost of GH¢5,000 to inmates of the Senior Correctional Centre (formerly known as the Borstal Institute) at Maamobi in Accra.

The items included five buckets of detergent washing powder, two boxes of key bar laundry soaps, two bags of 25 kilogramme rice, a set of cordless microphones and 300 packs of hot meals with water and drinks for the inmates.

This year’s presentation ceremony, which coincided with the Workers’ Day celebrations is an annual affair by the Prisons Ministry of The Lord’s Pentecostal Church International, which is headquartered at Kwashieman near Accra.

Making the donation on behalf of the Church, Mrs Rejoice Buafor, wife of the General Overseer of the Church, told the inmates, who are largely under the age of 18 that they “should not see their incarceration as the end of their lives”, adding that, “I am elated at the motto of the Correctional Centre, which partly says that we shall rise again” and challenged them to live the motto.

Mrs Buafor advised the inmates to dedicate their lives to God and take advantage of the education and training opportunities “being offered by the Centre so that you can come out prepared to take advantage of the myriad of job prospects in the world that await you”.

She indicated that, their unfortunate situation was not necessarily due to their “making as better parental support and due care could have prevented them from ending up at the Senior Correctional Centre”.

In a short exhortation to the inmates before the presentation ceremony, Rev (Mrs) Vida Agbo, an Associate Pastor of the Church, encouraged them to “look up to God who is the author and the finisher of our destinies”.

Rev (Mrs) Agbo indicated that “God has the capacity to transform your lives beyond your own imaginations” and urged them to look beyond their present predicament, adding that the future was bright for them.

She stated that with the right focus and dedication to Christ, she could “see many men of valour emerging out of them”.

She added that the Prisons Ministry of the Church would continue to support the inmates, to ensure that their basic needs were taken care of. Rev (Mrs) Agbo also prayed for the inmates and their wardens and congratulated the wardens for dedicating their lives to remolding the lives of “errand children who ended up at the Correctional Centre”.

The Senior Officer on Duty at the Senior Correctional Centre, who received the items on behalf of the inmates, DSP Patience Bruwaah, thanked the leadership of the Church for donating the items to the Centre.

“On behalf of the Prisons Service and inmates of the Senior Correctional Centre, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to The Lord’s Pentecostal Church for donating these items to the Centre”, she said.

As part of strategies to reach the less privileged members of society, every year since 2012, the Prisons Ministry of The Lord’s Pentecostal Church International, donates assorted items and cash to selected orphanages and prisons.

The donations are supported by GH¢1 voluntary contributions by participants at the Church’s Easter retreats.