Soccer News of Monday, 27 December 2021
Source: GNA
2021-12-27
Football – File photo
The Kwesi Afful Foundation (KAF) and the Abura Community Football Gala 21 have been launched at Abura, a suburb of Cape Coast, to empower the youth to contribute effectively to development.
KAF is a community-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with the mandate to improve the lives of the youth and the vulnerable in society to contribute their quota to national development.
Mr Kwesi Afful, the KAF Founder, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the intervention was to provide the basic needs of the youth, including skills training in handcrafts, carpentry, masonry, and hairdressing to help them improve their standards of living.
He noted that about 70 per cent of the youth at Abura were unemployed, who idled around leading to increased crime rate, teenage pregnancy, and other social vices hence the launch of the Foundation to train them to find gainful employment.
He said about 10 of the youth had been engaged in apprenticeship training – hairdressing, sewing and beads making – and they had already started work.
Touching on the Community Gala 21, he said it was part of the Foundation’s activities to keep the youth busy to restrain them from engaging in unfruitful activities that hindered their personal and socio-economic development.
A prize money had been place on the gala, a cup, and other goodies to support the team that wins and motivate others to explore their talents.
Mr Afful said government alone could not absorb or reduce the unemployment rate in the country and, therefore, called on corporate bodies and individuals to get on board to assist.
“If we don’t support the youth today, they will be wayward tomorrow and come after us,” he cautioned.
He called on the Ministry of Youth and Sports to construct an Astro-turf field for the community to aid in bringing out more talents who could become stars when supported at the basics.
Ms Veronica Donkor, a beneficiary, applauded KAF for the training and pledged to use the acquired skills to make a positive impact on the community.
She called on government to implement skills training programmes for the youth and focus more on their development to improve the economy.
“In so doing, the rate of teenage pregnancy, crimes and other related incidences will reduce drastically in the country,” she said.