The Riis Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Gbawe District on Saturday, undertook cleanup exercise to rid their locality of filth and encourage healthy lifestyle.
Dubbed, “Cleanliness is godliness”, the exercise organised in collaboration with the Weija-Gbawe Municipal Assembly, was to mark the church’s annual health week celebrations.
The exercise was simultaneously held across all the 13 PCG locals within the District.
Protected with gloves, nose masks and rainboots, the exercise which started as early as 6:00am, saw the congregants desilt chocked drains, cleared bushy surroundings and sweeping through the township .
The Minister in charge of the Riis Congregation, Rev Isaac Kwame Gadri told the Ghanaian Times that, the church had made it a responsibility to educate members on the need to adopt good sanitary conditions.
He indicated that it was relevant for the public to live in a healthy environment, saying the word of God charged mankind not to pollute nor defile the land, hence the need to live in holy and healthy surroundings.
According to him, keeping a healthy environment was a shared responsibility.
Rev Gadri charged the youth to support the vision President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
He regretted that despite the country advancement towards digitization, preventable diseases like cholera, malaria, diarrhoea and other communicable diseases were still having a toll on the citizens saying this trend must be reversed.
A member of the Health Week Committee, Mr Abdella Quartey, throwing more light on the project said the church dedicated the entire week as health and sanitation week to teach its congregants on the importance of living a healthy life through Christ.
He explained that the action was to bring the church and the word closer to the community for them to feel the presence of God, stressing that it was also a means of attracting outsiders to join the church.
Mr Quartey further stated as part of activities to mark the health and sanitation week the church conducted a screening exercise for the community and the congregationwhere “they were educated on the need to eat a healthy food, deal with illnesses like diabetes, sitting and sleeping posture in order not to put pressurethe spineamong others.”
At the Emmanuel Congregation-Djaman, for instance, residents were elated to join church members in the clean-up as they believed it was timely to rid the area of filth.
The exercise also saw participants patching up potholes developed on the main Djaman-Upper Weija road to ensure smooth vehicular movement when the Ghanaian Times got there.
Catechist in-charge, Mrs Constance Ntow-Amoah, promised more of such intiatives to improve sanitary conditions in the area as she believed the church could only thrive where there was a healthy environment.
BY JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE