Ivorians seeking asylum at the Ampain Refugee Camp in the Ellembele District of the Western Region, heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday September 3, as women of the Lower Pra Rural Bank, with branches all over the region and headquartered in Shama, made a huge donation of bags of rice, gari, canned foods, fish, cooking utensils, cloths, toiletries, detergents, shoes, slippers amongst others, to alleviate their plight. The donation formed part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility to the needs of communities in its catchment areas. The over 7,000 Ghana Cedis worth of donation presented by the Ladies Association of the Bank, was spearheaded by a Takoradi-based NGO, Advocates for Children and Women’s Advancement and Right (ATWWAR), which made an appeal to the Bank to support a teenage mother at the camp, who has delivered a premature baby. The Vice President of the Lower Pra Rural Bank Ladies Association, Grace Adjei-Misa, said the bank will occasionally visit the camp to provide for the needs of the women and children in particular. She said the Bank will collaborate with the NGO to equip the women with employable skills so they could work and fend for themselves. The Manager at the Ampain Refugee Camp, Kelly Forson, thanked Lower Rural Bank for the donation but said the camp needed more food to meet the high numbers of Ivorians who were still trooping into the country despite the relative peace in their country. He said the donation had come at the right time since their regular rations from the UNCHR had delayed for several days, making life unbearable for the asylum seekers particular women and children. Mr. Kelly Forson said due to the inadequacy of the food, they decide to give special attention to vulnerable persons such as pregnant and lactating mothers, the disabled and sick before feeding able-bodied persons. He noted that this is often misunderstood by some of the inmates who feel that they should all be treated equally. The Camp Manager thus called on benevolent institutions and individuals to continue to donate to support the inmates. The Western Region now has over 10,000 refugees at the Ampain Refugee Camp and the Eagle Star Reception Centre at Elubo. The official number of Ivorian refugees in the country is 17,159, but the actual number may be less due to the unannounced return of some without notice to the Ghana Refugees Board or the UNHCR. The Camp has 11 boreholes, but Mr. Forson said the iron content was very high, adding that there was the need to de-ironise them to make them drinkable. It has a school from kindergarten to class six, while a clinic had been built to provide the health needs of the refugees. There are 91 pit latrines and 92 bathrooms, but that is woefully inadequate for the over 4,500 refugees currently in the camp. There are 20 police officers in the camp to provide security with assistance from a Neighbourhood Watch Committee.