GWAM Partners with LEPERS’ AID COMMITTEE of Ghana, along with RWDP - COC (Rural Water Development Program – church of Christ), GWAM was presented with the opportunity to partner with the Lepers’ Aid Committee of Ghana to provide clean water for a 40 family housing unit for those cured of leprosy - living in the Nkanchina in northern Ghana.
The Lepers’ Aid Committee has a focus of curing those who have leprosy living in Ghana. In most cases, those who are impacted by the disease are cast aside by society and left homeless because of the stigma associated with it's contagiousness.
World Leprosy Day
World Leprosy Day is observed internationally on January 30, or its nearest Sunday to increase the public awareness of the Leprosy or Hansen's Disease. Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world. It is an infectious chronic disease that targets the nervous system, especially the nerves in the cooler parts of the body - the hands, feet, and face. Historically these people have been cast aside for thousands of years.
To the surprise of many, there are those who are still being cast aside and forgotten because of misunderstanding of the disease. According to webmd.com:
The disease has been around since ancient times, often surrounded by terrifying, negative stigmas and tales of leprosy patients being shunned as outcasts. Outbreaks of leprosy have affected, and panicked, people on every continent.
However, leprosy is actually not that contagious. You can catch it only if you come into close and repeated contact with nose and mouth droplets from someone with untreated leprosy. Children are more likely to get leprosy than adults. Today, about 180,000 people worldwide are infected with leprosy, according to the World Health Organization, most of them in Africa and Asia. (http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/guide/leprosy-symptoms-treatments-history)
GWAM Providing Water for 40 Families
On that day GWAM representatives, along with RWDP-COC and the Lepers' Aid Committee, were on hand at the ceremony to commission the housing facility into service. GWAM played a vital role in the facility by drilling a mechanized water well system with a potential of generating a yield of up to 35 gallons per minute for the 40 family facility. This water will be used for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing.
Christ's Message
There is wonderful message in Matthew 8:1-4 that is relative to this partnership. In this passage, it seems, Jesus heals a leper simply because the man came to him to ask to be healed. But, at a closer look, it seems, based on the greater picture of who Christ is, he cares deeply for those who are cast aside' lost, shunned and forgotten by society.
Our Core Principals
We at GWAM and COC-RWDP, at the core of who we are, believe in seeking opportunities significant to demonstrate Christ and the church - by putting into practice the same policy of caring for those forgotten by society – not simply believing in Christ, but participate in the suffering of fellow man. (Philippians 1:29, Matthew 25:41-46)
By His grace, thank you for your donations to support this work, which is helping to expand the Kingdom of God by faith and service - impacting those unreached by the gospel. This opportunity leads to hope and empowerment for those that are forgotten and shunned by the stigma's of society.
