Standchart Staff ‘Follows Sun’ To Home Of Disables

It formed part of the department’s environmental programme (EP) dubbed ‘Follow the Sun Day’ which gives employees the opportunity to take a day off to interact with members of the communities in which the bank operates.

The EP, according to Mr Ankur Kapoor, the Head of CRES at Standchart, was one of the bank’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives undertaken twice a year to help improve lives in communities hosting Stanchart operations.

Mrs Vivian Tetteh, a physically challenged person in charge of cheques at Standchart, told the members that the era in which people with disability often relied on sympathy from society and institutions must come to an end.

“We have to stop thinking that because you are physically disadvantaged, society must have sympathy and therefore help you. No, that must stop.”

“If I, who is like you here, have made it and is working at Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, why can’t you make it,” Madam Tettey asked to applause from participants.

Madam Tettey’s legs are challenged, causing her to walk with the aid of crutches.

“When I was in senior secondary school, there were times when I could not climb the stairs to my classroom because the place was not disability friendly. There were times I fell back while climbing but I never gave up. I often wept but rose again to continue and that has made me who I am today,” she added.

She is currently in charge of cheque processing at Standchart Ghana, taking care of inter and intra-bank cheques coming in from the bank’s branch offices nation-wide to those from the head office at High Street in Accra.

“If you want to work in a corporate institution like I am doing, then you have to be committed to your dreams. You have to attend school and study hard not to be waiting for people to have sympathy and help you with alms,” Madam Tettey added.

The Head of CRES later pledged to develop a long lasting relationship with the group to help better the lives of its members.

All those who participated in the dance competition were given some consolation prizes with the winners taking home higher ones.

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare