UHAS Wins Community Service Award 2016
Embak, a student team from the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, emerged winners at this year’s Community Service Award (CSA) held on Friday 24th June 2016.
The Community Service Award is the biggest platform in Ghana for tertiary students to exhibit volunteerism and patriotism as their contribution towards national development. It was initiated in March 2014 by Osei-Kusi Foundation (OKF) and Selfless 4Africa Inc, (S4A) with the aim of cultivating a spirit of volunteerism and community service among young people.
This year’s award ceremony, which was held at the University of Ghana Law School auditorium attracted people from all walks of life including the Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Nii Lantey Vanderpuye (Guest Speaker), Dr. Joyce Aryee (Chairperson) and the Board Chairman of the Osei-Kusi Foundation, Mr. Emmanuel Dei-Tumi.
Dr. Joyce Aryee in addressing the audience as the chairperson mentioned that Volunteerism is both an opportunity and a catalyst for development and it can be strategically channeled to foster growth and development. Organizations and agencies that volunteer for their communities provide important services at low or no cost to those who need them and this goes a long way to support development. “It is true no one person can solve all of the world’s problems but each of us should try and make a change in somebody’s life in the little corner we find ourselves,” she said.
The six finalist teams for this year’s CSA were Inspya (University of Ghana), Initiative for Community Development (University of Cape-Coast), Embak (University of Health and Allied Sciences), Youth Empowerment Society (KNUST), Life Changers (Valley View University), and The Mariners from Regional Maritime University.
Each team was allotted five minutes to give a face-to-face presentation of their various projects after which they were scaled down to three teams. The teams from University of Cape-Coast, Valley View University and Regional Maritime University couldn’t make it to the final round. They each received certificates from the Osei-Kusi Foundation.
The three finalist teams Inspya, Embak and Youth Empowerment Society were each given one minute to convince the judges why they merit the award money of GHȻ 10, 000.
In the end, team Embak proved to the judges that they merited the award money of GHȻ10, 000. Their project is to construct a borehole for Duta, a community in the Volta Region with chronic water crisis resulting from pollution from a cement factory in the area.
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon Nii Lante Vanderpuye in delivering his keynote address noted that, if the youth are trained to serve their nation without expecting anything in return, they become patriotic and if they end up in Parliament, they will be able to identify problems and find lasting solutions to them. He therefore commended OKF and other like-minded organisations for the tremendous efforts being made towards youth development.
Let’s keep up the spirit of volunteerism and community service and promise our motherland that we will do everything to enrich and preserve our heritage, our attitude and our treasure.