The Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO) with support from the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), has made donations of assorted food items and toiletries to Burkinabe refugees in Sapelliga.

The donation was made as part of the Organisation’s Christmas and New Year’s corporate social responsibility of giving hope to the underprivileged in society.

Bishop of the Bolgatanga-Navrongo Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Alfred Agyenta, noted how disturbing the plight of the refugees was, and added that he was grateful that the organisation could offer their support.

“We are touching the refugee problem directly and concretely as we see the faces of these children, women, and our brothers. This is not normal, this is not human, this is not dignifying, and so it is for this reason that we are grateful that we have had the opportunity also to be part a parcel to bringing relief to our brothers and sisters here,” he remarked.

Over 1,400 refugees who are now settled into groups of 338 households at Sapelliga benefitted from the donation.

Food items such as cooking oil, sacks of rice, maize, and beans, as well as non-food goods like toiletries, mats, buckets, and mosquito nets, were distributed to each household.

Each house also received a cash amount of GH320.00. The refugees at Sapelliga, expressed their gratitude to the Catholic Church and the CRS for their kind gesture.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Country Representative for CRS, Daniel Mumuni has bemoaned the rise of the refugee camps in Africa, despite decades of efforts to address it.

He urged Ghanaians to take lessons from the incident involving the Burkinabe refugees to ensure that peace is maintained in the nation.

Additionally, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bawku West, Mr Issahaku Tahiru disclosed that Burkinabe refugees living in Sapelliga have so far been law-abiding and cooperative, and have not given the district security council any reason to be alarmed.