NGO rehabilitates 25 drug-addicts in Kumasi

Kumasi, Jan. 8, GNA - The Faith Care Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) committed to the campaign against drug-abuse, has rehabilitated and also resourced 25 drug-addicts including two females in the Kumasi metropolis since its formation two years ago.

The drug-addicts whose ages range between 21 and 43 and mainly ex-convicts, have completely gone off the drugs and were given various forms of vocational training to equip them with employable skills for the improvement of their lives after their rehabilitation. The Reverend Kwame Afrifa Sarpong, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, who disclosed this, indicated that the vocational skills training programme included masonry, carpentry, hairdressing and kente-weaving.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Sunday, Rev Sarpong stressed that the vocational skills training and rehabilitation programme were sponsored by the Foundation in collaboration with some philanthropists and ranged between two to six months. He called for stepped-up efforts in the campaign against drug abuse and peddling to help save the youth from falling prey to drugs and its attendant consequences.

The citizenry, he said, should also shun discrimination against ex-convicts since such attitude had the tendency of luring them back to drugs in desperation.

Rev Sarpong further warned the youth to be determined to lead lifestyles that would help to improve their growth, whiles accelerating the nation's socio-economic development since they were the backbone of the nation's work force.