Rotary Club refurbishes Accra Rehabilitation Centre

The Rotary Club of Accra Sunrise has refurbished portions of the Accra Rehabilitation Centre and handed it over to managers of the facility.

The renovation and redecoration covered the male dormitories and the dining hall, and cost $54,000 which was raised from internally generated funds.

At a short ceremony to hand over the facility last Tuesday, the President of Rotary Accra Sunrise, Mr Kofi Sagoe-Payne, said the gesture was part of the club’s commitment to help improve conditions at the facility for students and workers of the centre.

He said members of the club, on a visit to the facility in 2017, were moved by the level of deterioration of some units of the facility and decided to help.

The Centre

The centre was established in 1962 to train persons with disability to acquire vocational skills and also empower them to live independent lives.

It currently has a total student population of 60, made up of 38 males and 22 females.

Students enrolled at the centre include disabled persons, visual and hearing impaired, persons with epilepsy, down’s syndrome and other conditions.

However, due to financial constraints, the centre has barely seen any renovation over the years.

When members of Rotary Club Accra Sunrise visited the centre in 2017, they found portions of the facility such as the washrooms, kitchen, dormitories and the dining area in a very deplorable state and thus decided to adopt it.

Mr Sagoe-Pyne said the club would continue to support the centre, but appealed to the managers and occupants to ensure its maintenance regularly in order to keep it in good condition.

 A view of the building

The refurbishment

It took one-and-a-half years for the refurbishment works to be completed. The works covered a three-room dormitory which has nine bunk beds in each, bathrooms and toilets and a dining hall.

The dormitory received a complete makeover, while the washrooms were tiled and the water closets changed.

In addition, a 40-inch television set was installed in the dining room which was also replastered, painted and furnished with eight dining tables and 50 plastic chairs.

The second and final phase of the refurbishment works will include renovation of the kitchen, replacement of the external sewage facilities, remodelling of the walkways and landscaping, and it is expected to be completed by December 2020.

Female dormitory

The Manager of the Centre, Mr Seth Dzidzornu, expressed his gratitude to the Rotary Club of Accra Sunrise for the assistance and said the gesture would go a long way to help the centre to discharge its mandate and enable more students to be enrolled, adding that the previous conditions at the facility usually put some prospective students off.

He said the centre needed support to function properly, train and provide means of livelihood for persons living with disability and appealed to benevolent organisations to come to its aid.

Mr Dzidzornu said the centre needed help urgently to renovate the girls dormitory which was currently dilapidated.