West Hills Mall, Ghana’s trendiest address for modern shopping has extended some of the excitement of its Christmas package to pupils of the House of Grace School for the Deaf at Aplaku, with a donation of assorted provisions and food items to the charity.
The Mall made the donation to the school – the only privately run non-profit institution in Accra West catering for the educational needs of children with hearing disability – in line with its policy of promoting good corporate neighbourliness within its local community.
The House of Grace School for the Deaf was established by a Ghanaian academic, Kodwo Boateng and his Finnish wife, Hanna, more than ten years ago and currently has 72 pupils and a teaching staff of eight who are all deaf. The school depends on donations and gifts from friends and families of the couple, the Lutheran Church in Finland and the sale of Ghanaian fabrics and trinkets in Finland.
School pupils who were present during the presentation were delighted to meet officials from West Hills Mall and gestured ‘Thank you very much’ in sign language as they unpacked the consignment of food and provisions which included bags of perfumed rice, cartons of canned fish, cooking oil, soft drinks, biscuits, milk and sugar .
“Our vision here is to help the community and the government to provide meaningful education and hope for children with hearing disability and today, the West Hills Mall has become one of the very few Ghanaian business organizations to recognize our efforts and help our children,” Miss Maria Kivivuori told the West Hills Mall delegation after receiving the donation.
“Our numbers keep going up but we do not have enough classrooms and offices for our children and staff. As you can see, we have been trying to put up a six-classroom block. The project is financed purely through charitable donations but it has been stalled because we had to buy a bus to convey our children to and from school. We hope that West Hills Mall’s example will be emulated by other Ghanaian businesses and organisations,” said Miss Kivivuori.
Mr. Eric Osae Koranteng, Manager at West Hills Mall, commended the school and its staff for the invaluable service they are rendering to the community and said West Hills Mall is proud to have contributed in putting smiles on the faces of the pupils during this Christmas season.
The Mall’s Christmas programme has a heavy bias in the favour of family and children and featured among a variety of promotions, offers and shows is a massive outdoor children’s recreational park with lots of games, including fancy train rides, swimming and adventures on bouncy castles.