AFRICA/GHANA - Matthew 25 Centre run by the local Catholic Church offers assistance to people with AIDS

Tuesday, 30 August 2005

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Accra (Fides Service)- People in Ghana with AIDS find hope at Matthew 25 Centre which offers assistance to people with AIDS. The Centre was opened by the local Catholic Church in 2003 in the diocese of Koforidua in east Ghana. According to APIC local news agency the Centre takes its name from chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus speaks of service to others: “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me... what you did for one of these least ones, you did for me.'
Matthew 25 Centre was opened by Fr Alex Bobby Benson a diocesan priest aged 53 who studied clinical psychology in Ireland and the United States. About 700,000 people 3.6% of the population in the diocese of Koforidua have HIV virus and two thirds of them are women. In the local language HIV positive people are called plwhas.
Besides giving assistance the Centre provides information on HIV/AIDS, therapy and how contagion can be avoided. It is also a place where infected people can meet and discuss their problems. It also offers women patients a place and equipment for sewing so thy can make clothes to sell and make a little money. “Avoid pre-marital relations, irresponsible sexual behaviour, multiple relations, taking drugs; be faithful to your partners, to yourself, your family, your community, to God; change your attitude towards people with AIDS” these are some of the slogans used in print material distributed at the centre.
“We have strong moral support but few material means to provide costly anti-retroviral treatment” the staff say and stress the need for more centres of this kind to stop the spread of AIDS and prevent the marginalisation of people affected. Matthew 25 Centre is open to all irrespective of religion.
Matthew 25 Centre pays for schooling and school meals for about 200 AIDS orphans of various ages. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 30/8/2005 righe 38 parole 398)