Mothers Extol Asempa FM

IN SPITE of last Sunday’s heavy downpour in certain parts of Accra, many mothers trooped to the Unique Floral Gardens in Accra to witness the Asempa FM’s Mothers’ Day Lunch. They could not hide their joy as they showered praises on the station for its generosity. A mother, who was overjoyed with the gesture, said it was her first time to share and express her inner feelings with other people and also talk about childbearing. The event featured Ohemaa Mercy and Rudy Goodie who thrilled the mothers and children with their songs. Briefing BEATWAVES, Bismark Nana Apeanti, Programmes Manager to the station, noted that as a precursor to the Mothers’ Day celebration, Asempa FM had organized a six-week programme on air dubbed, “Maame Ayekoo”. According to him, the occasion was set aside by the station, which is a subsidiary of the Multimedia Broadcasting Company, to honour and reward mothers for their endless love and support for their children. “Children were given the chance to express how well they knew their mothers on air through a phone-in, after which the parents were interviewed on air to ascertain the truth about what their children had said about them”, he said. The programme, which was a competition between children for their mothers, he said, witnessed over a 100 participants out of which six emerged as the ultimate winners. The ultimate mothers took home hampers from Maggi Foods, Adwoa Ghana Beauty Products, and 2nd Image Beauty Clinic. The mothers and children also enjoyed a sumptuous lunch provided by Mamalet Restaurant. One of the resource persons, Mrs. Mavis Apatu, a Senior Nurse on Family Planning from Marie Stopes International Ghana, who spoke on Cervical Cancer, stressed that the disease was currently on the rise in Ghana as compared to previous years. She said this was due to the fact that most women were ignorant about the disease and also refused to report such cases on time at health centres. Highlighting on some of the causes, she said the possibility for a woman, who was introduced to sex at an early age to suffer from cervical cancer, was very high. “Douching with spices such as ginger, ‘peppre’, ‘nkete nkete’, alum, and other dangerous chemicals, are very harmful to a woman’s health and could also lead to one developing the cancer”, Mrs. Apatu noted. She therefore called on mothers to desist from that act and also educate their children on such harmful practices. Masters of Ceremony (MCs) for the occasion were Maame Dokono and Bismark Nana Apeanti, Programmes Manager, both of Asempa FM.