Mydas, Funny Face & Others Thrill Audience At Passion for Compassion 5

I try not to review our own events for fear of bias but as I walked away from the National Theatre on Saturday, 17th July 2010, I felt a strong inclination to do exactly so. Write about this electrifying passion for compassion and the immense show of love for these underprivileged children who otherwise would have no hope for a brighter future.

Compassion International Ghana (CIG) had just celebrated their 5th year in Ghana with a beautiful festivity of dance, culture, food, music and love. In five years, this amazing team of young men and women, headed by Rev. Mrs. Jemima Amanor, Country Director of CIG, had succeeded in registering and assisting 25,000 Ghanaian children. I was amazed.

Compassion International, currently, operates in eight countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Togo. CIG is its branch in Ghana. The organisation’s aim is to use child sponsorship programmes as a model of child development. Under their supervision, children are connected to Christian sponsors across the world, who sponsor the children to develop their talents and break the generational chains of poverty. I felt extremely proud to have been able to assist in the planning and execution of this love filled event.

I recounted the comedy act from Funny Face (aka Chemu) towards the end of the program and my face lit up instantaneously. The crowd had absolutely loved his performance. His act, although short, filled the room with so much laughter that you couldn’t but grin from ear to ear as he walked off the stage with his “swag on”.

As I cast my mind back to Joyce Aryee’s keynote address, I smiled as I recounted her observation that “men could also cut down on excess spending on drinks and unnecessary gifts they buy for female friends in order to support these children”. I was surprised to learn from her that, cumulatively, CIG had contributed huge sums to the Gross Domestic Product of Ghana’s economy and had within the last five years brought into the country over GHC 20,000,000 for CIG's programme activities. That was certainly impressive.

The resounding melodies from the Winneba Youth Chior, those adoring little Trumpeters, Mydas’ amazing unforgettable soul searching rendition of Lean On Me - to me, it all came together with a rich and genuine passion for compassion that will be talked about for a long time.