Dr Jane Irina Adu, Founder and President of the Potter’s Village has attributed the peace threatening behaviours of the youth to the shirking of responsibilities by parents.
She said such behaviours including armed robbery, all forms of murders, and other atrocious crimes had the potentials of disturbing the country’s peace, which must be a matter of concern to all stakeholders.
Dr Adu, made the remarks at the celebration of the Village’s 21st Anniversary and launch of the Marriage Training School and Emotional Healing Center, in Dodowa in the Shai Osudoku District.
It was on the theme: “Promoting Peace and Harmony in Families-Our Collective Responsibility.”
She said some parents, families, and organisation have abandoned their God-given responsibilities of showing love and care, consequently producing homeless children who had become agents of disturbances of the peace and harmonious living.
“Love is an act and has to be taught, this way, people will find it difficult to take the lives of their fellow humans to make wealth or have power,” she said.
She noted that people and even parents had turned ‘blind eyes’ to the upbringing and welfare of their children, let alone correcting their wrongs, adding that, the values in the extended family system where communal life had been the order of the day where family members had been each other’s keeper and the correction of societal wrongs, everyone’s responsibility had been neglected.
“These virtues are now being jettisoned on the altar of the so-called modernity and nuclear family system.” she said.
The Founder said the Marriage Training School and Emotional Healing Center would help stabilise emotionally abused minds, and married couples be equipped with information to impart knowledge to their children, post-marriage counselling, and potential couples be given pre-marital knowledge and skills to maintain a happy home devoid of waywardness.
She appealed to the Government, philanthropists, and organisations to support the vulnerable children and women in the Village while appreciating all entities that had supported them over the years.
Mrs Pyllis Emefa Senyo, Greater Accra Regional Director, Department of Social Welfare (DSW) said, the Government had been making efforts to reduce the number of Residential Homes for children in the country with a new emphasis on family based care, which could be kinship care, foster care or adoption.
She said, however, the existence of Residential Homes could not be overlooked or ruled out completely since their services came in handy, hence, the need for few to exist for emergency purposes.
Mrs Senyo advised the children to utilise the opportunities given them to excel and become independent since the Village was not their permanent residence.
“Take your lessons seriously, respect those who represent your parents to become great people in future to help your families and the Village to continue to provide for those who needed it most,” she said.
The Regional Director commended the management and founder of the Potter’s Village for providing care and protection for children who had been abandoned, orphaned, missing, trafficked, and among others for over two decades while some had become responsible citizens.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Georgina Tawiah, Commander, Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), they had been working with the Home since the establishment of the Unit in the District to provide aid to vulnerable children when necessary.
She stated that the Village had played a major role in assisting the Unit in achieving their core mandate of protecting lives and properties and in all their successes.
ASP Tawiah urged the stakeholders to play their parts and support the Village to ensure that the members of the community lived in peace and harmony.
