The University of Ghana Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof. Rosina Kyeremanten has commenced the distribution of food items and toiletries to students who registered under the Dean’s Food Bank initiative.
The food bank initiative by the Office of the Dean of Students’ Affairs is intended at alleviating food poverty among needy students in the university community.
The distribution took place on the 11th of January 2024 at the forecourt of the Dean’s office; some items including bags of rice, tomato paste, bags of water, detergents and several others were distributed to the beneficiaries. The Dean who was present on the grounds spoke to Univers News, where she explained the source of inspiration for the project; she also gave insights on the eligibility criteria for application.
“There are some students who are very needy and I think the free senior high school has compounded it because students who otherwise would not have been able to afford secondary school, now have gone through. They are brilliant and have gotten admission to the University but they have poor backgrounds they come to the university and it’s very difficult for them to survive. Currently, some of them go to sleep without food some even have to miss lectures because they are hungry.”
“We want to reach every needy student. We are starting little by little so what we did was, we contacted all the hall executives, and departmental executives because they interact with the students and they know the ones who are needy. I tasked national service persons from my office to liaise with the executives from which we generated a list and did some background checks to make sure that the students are well deserving of the items.”
Further speaking, the dean entreated the beneficiaries to judiciously utilize the items presented to them to prevent wastage.
“We will leave the students (beneficiaries of the initiative) to their conscience. If you don’t need it, don’t come for it because what it means is that you are depriving somebody who really needs it and that person is going to bed hungry and that’s what we are trying to avoid so we are appealing to their conscience. We are not just training you to learn book but at least to come out as a whole person who has morals and empathy for those who are less fortunate.”
Prof. Kyeremanten expressed her heart felt gratitude to donors who contributed their quota to the development of the foodbank initiative.
“My biggest ‘thank you’ is to those who have donated, we have a long list and I won’t be able to mention all the names but we’ve sent thank you letters to them and we will publish their names in due course but we are very very grateful to them. God bless them and I pray that whatever they do prospers so that they can come back and donate more to us.”
Students who benefited from the Dean of Students’ Food Bank initiative shared their excitement with Univers News and their gratitude to Prof. Rosina Kyeremanten at the end of the distribution session.
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Story by: Esther Esenam Ofori | univers.ug.edu.gh
