EP Church honours traditionalist at Adutor
Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church at Adutor in the South Tongu District in the Volta Region has honoured a retired businesswoman, traditionalist and philanthropist, Mama Adesi Gidi, for single-handedly financing the construction of a chapel for the church a decade ago.
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She also financed the construction of a pre-school for the basic education unit of the church.
Mama Adesi, an octogenarian and astute businesswoman, was once the sole importer of St Louis sugar into the country.
Religious beliefs notwithstanding
In spite of her strict belief in the traditional religion, she did not hesitate to take on the project of building a chapel for the church to the admiration of community leaders and the Christian community in Adutor and beyond.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic after receiving the honours at Adutor last Sunday, she said her motivation was that religion ought not be the basis for offering assistance where there was a need.
She said her foremost conviction was that as human beings, needs could arise for any individual, group or community and meeting them should be indifferent to religious considerations.
Making democracy work
Speaking indirectly to the constitutional provision on freedom of association and religion, she said on a good number of occasions, those provisions, rather than uniting the country and the various religious groupings, had provided some worrying outcomes.
Hence for her, the beauty of those democratic principles lay in letting go of religious pride and ego and seeing all people as same regardless of their religious beliefs.
The Synod Clerk to the Presbytery of the Adutor E. P. Church, Rev. Frank Korku Anyidoho, who delivered the sermon and later presented a citation to Mama Adesi, said the example by a non-Christian in funding the construction of a place of worship for Christians was a commendable feat.
He added that more of such actions across religious fronts would clearly demonstrate that God was not discriminatory and that the religious challenges that had bedevilled the world were all creations by people who did not want the world to be at peace.
He expressed the hope that Mama Adesi would take the decision eventually to become a member of the church to the glory of God.
