Fiaxor community appeals for relief items - AME Zion Church goes to its aid

Residents of Fiaxor and its surrounding communities in the Anloga District in the Volta Region have called on the government to send relief items to the area to assuage their suffering following the flood that has submerged all communities in the area.

The over 500 residents have had their situation worsened by rising waters in the Keta Lagoon, which is also fed by flood waters from the spillage of the Akosombo Dam.

The road from Kome Junction, Xenui, Alakple, Atito, Kome, Deta, Kodzi to Fiaxor have all been taken over by flood waters.

Churches, schools and the chief’s palace have all been engulfed, with residents marooned in their flooded homes.

Some have been rendered homeless as they are left with nothing to salvage.

The Regent of Fiaxor, Togbui Zoiku, made the appeal when the leadership of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church presented relief items to the community yesterday.

The items included 1,000 bags of sachet water, 300 packs of bottled water, 100 bags of rice, 10 maxi bags of gari, 10 cartons of tomato paste, 100 crates of eggs, 20 cartons of cooking oil, bales of clothing and treated mosquito nets  worth GH¢80,000 in total.

Togbui Zoiku said the community needed the government’s attention to relieve the people of their situation.

Support

The Bishop of the Western West Episcopal Area of the AME Zion Church, Rt Rev. Dr Hilliard Kwashie Dela Dogbey, said the gesture was part of the church's responsibility to assist and support the vulnerable in society.

Responding to the plea for the community to use the church's facility as a temporary classroom facility for the Fiaxor AME Zion Basic School, Rt Rev. Dr Dogbey said as a church that ran 612 schools, they were ready to give out the chapel for use.

He, however, appealed to the GES and the Ministry of Education to support the people with teaching, learning materials and other resources to enable the children to learn.

He also appealed to the Inter Ministerial Committee on Flooding to extend its intervention to communities in the Southern Volta Region, including those along the Keta Lagoon.

Economic impact

The Assembly Member for the area, Freeman Kwame Fiagbe, said the flooding had negatively impacted the fishing activity of the area.

Fishing, he said, was the main economic activity of the people in the area.

He added his voice to the need for the government and philanthropists to come to the aid of the communities. 

Writer's email:benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh