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GHANA-AWIAPO Sep-9-2010 (320 words) With photo. xxxi
For CRS worker in Ghana, a snack changed his life
Ghanaian Thomas Awiapo, a Catholic Relief Services worker, says most people have no idea the power a little food can have for a hungry child. (CNS/Nancy Wiechec)
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By Nancy Wiechec
Catholic News Service
ACCRA, Ghana (CNS) -- If you ask Thomas Awiapo what one thing had a lasting impression on his life, he will tell you it was a snack.
Most people would never understand the power of a little snack to a hungry child, he told a group of U.S. visitors to the Catholic Relief Services offices in Accra.
"That was the greatest gift I received in my life," he said.
Awiapo grew up in Wiaga, a village in northern Ghana with no clean water, no hospital, no electricity. At night "the moonlight was what we had," he said.
By about age 10, Wiaga had lost his whole family: After his parents died, two siblings died of hunger. His eldest brother ran away from the village, never to be seen again. Thomas was left to fend for himself.
Then CRS came along.
"They put a school in that village, and they tricked me into going to that school," he said.
He did not like school, he said, but went to classes because students were fed a snack and also lunch.
"I kept going to that school because I was hungry," he told the visitors.
Today, Awiapo has a master's degree in public administration from California State University. He is a global solidarity coordinator for CRS and lives in Tamale, Ghana, with his wife and four children.
He will be on a speaking tour in U.S. churches and schools this fall, sharing his story of survival and success. He wants people to know about CRS and how education changes lives.
The U.S. bishops' aid and development agency operates education programs in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia. Its school feeding initiatives are aimed at preschool and primary school students in rural, food-insecure regions.
"I want to thank CRS and the people of America who support it," Awiapo said. "It made my life possible."
END
Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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