There was a heavy downpour of rain yesterday to cool down the unfriendly heat in Accra. The conducive atmosphere together with our intention to support led us to the State House for the Becca’s Children’s Ball.
Some shows are for the rich and affluence in the society, indeed, a show considered as such was ‘Becca’s Children’s Ball’, a show which was to help raise funds for at least 10,000 Ghanaian children who cannot afford to be registered on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Some few years back, there were reported cases of children being detained treatments at the hospital because their parents were not able to foot the hospital bills. Cash and Carry was a canker which was hanging heavily on their neck.
This obliged the former government with help from the donor agencies to setup National Health Insurance Scheme, a scheme to ease the pain and suffering of the masses.
The idea of the Ball came up when, Rebecca Acheampong known as Becca visited a local hospital and saw a woman sitting on a bench, dejected and staring blankly into the air like the world had come to an end. The reason was that her four-month old baby had just died because she was not able to raise 15 Ghana Cedis for medication.
“My heart sunk because that was an amount that many of us waste on non-essentials each day. That amount is not even enough to buy a round of drinks for one person in some bars in Accra. But a precious child died because it could not be raised on time to save his life”, the Afro Pop Artiste she said.
She then approached people she thought would help her for the actualization of her dreams and the rest they say is history.The below is an account of the event.
After the introduction of the MC, then Ishac Diwan, Ghana’s World Bank’s Director was then invited to give a short speech. He said among other things that “It is my greatest pleasure to be part of this noble effort by Becca and her team. We often say that children are the future, and out of them will emerge our future leaders. It is, therefore, imperative upon us to do all we can to protect them, provide them with their basic needs, particularly in the areas of good health and good education, and safeguard their happiness”.
Mr. Sylvester Mensah, the CEO of National Health Insurance Authority urged all persons with the means to contribute and support this laudable initiative. One of the surest ways of securing the future of the nation is building it on a foundation of healthy children, who would sustain the better Ghana agenda, he said.
The lady of the night Becca, dressed like an Egyptian Mama treated the audiences made up of ‘big’ guys in the country with some of her songs. After this was a fashion show from designer Renee Q. Nigerian comedian Basket Mouth cracked some ribs with his funny real life issues turned into jokes.
Time to make some money, there was an auction, which really didn’t go down well. The MC was not up to the task. He cannot be found culpable since he is a doctor doing this for a first time. Some of the audiences preferred to be given forms to make pledges.
Kwame Sefa Kayi, presenter of the morning show on Peace FM relieved the MC of his job to continue from there.
Now time for more performances as the Glo Ambassador and Highlife legend Abrantie Amakye Dede, who for some time now has been excelling at any event he was been billed to perform, was announced as the next performer.
Amakye Dede stole Becca’s Ball, he stole the show and in the process managed to resurrect the event which was dying off as a result of boredom. He got each and everyone on their feet.
Amakye Dede did songs from his old albums, a line in one of the tracks he performed “Akwada Wusea” goes like ‘Mbaa Pe Sokoo, Sokoo Ne Mbaa, Ene Mbaa Aba Oni Sika A Yen Pe Woo Oo, Mbaa Pe Sokoo, Sokoo Mbaa Pe’ had the audience dancing and singing along with him.
“I thank God greatly for the privilege given me to serve humankind. I believe the ability to feel someone’s pain is a blessing. Tonight I want everyone to feel blessed for it is the gift of feeling another person’s pain that has brought us together. I am grateful for your support. Let’s do it”, Becca said.
In a nutshell, the night was a memorable one and the atmosphere was just great.
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