Reverend Monsignor Alex Bobby Benson is noted for the provision of care and support to marginalised HIV/AIDS persons living in any part of the country.
He does this through Matthew 25 House which is the first HIV/AIDS care, education and hospice centre in Ghana. Rev Monsignor Benson takes inspiration from the biblical quote- “For I was hungry you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, in prison, you visited me what you do to the least ones you did it for me” (Matthew 25:31-40). That is why he christened the Matthew 25 House.
The centre founded by Rev. Monsignor Alex Bobby Benson, a Priest of the Koforidua Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in 1999 is still the foremost Non-Government Organization (NGO) which provides care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) and Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Ghana.
Since its inception the Mathew 25 House based in Koforidua, the Easter Regional capital has grown from nine resident PLHIV to over 70 and increasing.
Affected persons are given regular medical screenings, psychosocial counseling, care, food, supplements and training in income-producing work. The children are given supplies for school such as books, fees, transportation, clothes and shoes.
In addition to services for PLHIV and OVC, the House has a meal programme which serves from 200 to 1,000 persons once per month depending on available funds. People in need come for the kind of support that only a community can give such as fellowship, group activities and dignity.
Besides, Matthew 25 House teaches income generating skills to its residents such as batik fabric dying, charcoal and palm oil production and simple farming. Interest-free loans are provided to patients who are able to begin their own self-supporting work.
The marvelous story of the House and its founder Rev. Monsignor Benson in the region and other parts of the country have led people to select him as a participant of this year’s MTN Heroes of Change.
It is currently aired on GTV every Saturday at 5:30pm;Multi TV on Sundays at 5:00pm;TV3 on Sundays at 6:30pm; and GhOne on Sundays at 7:00pm to highlight the activities of the Rev. Monsignor Bobby Benson and other nine nominees.
The MTN Heroes of Change which is MTN Ghana Foundation flagship project was initiated in July 2013 to recognise and reward persons who have provided significant humanitarian services to their communities through personal sacrifices.
The MTN Ghana Foundation is the corporate social responsibility (CRS) arm of MTN Ghana, the leading telecoms service provider in the country.
Rev. Monsignor Benson who was featured prominently on the episode second two weeks ago in the ongoing season III of the MTN Heroes of Change, lamented that one of the saddest things that can befall any human being is to be neglected and ostracized by either family members or society or both as a result of sickness or mishap. It is based on this he founded the charity house.
By so doing, HIV/AIDS victims are encouraged to feel that they are also human beings and see the disease as any other ailment which can befall on any human being irrespective of social and economic status.
According to Rev. Monsignor Benson who is also the Director of the Mathew 25 House, “Society forgets that the disease is no respecter of persons and that anyone can fall prey irrespective of one’s social, political, religious or economic background”.
He narrated that the idea of the establishment of Matthew 25 House was conceived in 1996 when he (Rev. Monsignor Benson) was studying in the United States of America (USA) as a student Chaplain, where two people living with HIV were brought to him and his colleagues in one of their classes.
“I was touched so much after they had spoken to us and I hugged them, sat and chatted with them. It was then that I realized that people living with HIV were also humans, who needed to be encouraged diverse ways. Before, I said I will not get nearer to them because I was afraid but my action broke the barrier”, he said.
When he returned to Ghana in 1997, Rev. Monsignor Bobby Benson decided to help in his small way as a support base by opening a centre at the old Parish Hall of St. Anthony Church at Akwatia in the Eastern Region where he was then the Parish Priest and named it ‘Matthew Chapter 25 Project’, which started in 1999 with nine HIV/AIDS patients who met every Thursday at the Parish Hall and later increased to 20.
At the time, Rev. Sr. Miguela Keller, Primary Health Care Coordinator of St. Dominic Hospital at Akwatia where Rev. Monsignor Bobby Benson was posted to, had already started a programme by meeting with HIV victims and offering them herbal medicine free of charge, according to narrations.
As the number grew, a new centre was built at Koforidua where HIV/AIDS victims meet to be counseled by resource persons, given nutritious food, medical care, support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), and engagement of the HIV/AIDS victims in incoming generating ventures like batik tie and dye, processing cassava for gari, palm oil extraction and funeral undertaking.
Currently, the Matthew 25 House has a total of 90 adults with 64 on antiretroviral treatment (ART) and 95 OVC.
According to watchers of the activities of the House, the effort of Matthew 25 House was so timely in the sense that the Eastern Region used to topped the regional prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS for than more two years.
Currently, the Ghana AIDS Commission revealed that the Greater Accra Region now has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country. The region has overtaken the Eastern Region with a prevalence rate of 3.2 percent in 2015.
“Whereas Eastern region is declining, the Greater Accra prevalence has been increasing for two or three years,” Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACOP), Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo, said at the launch the 2015 HIV survey in Accra, last year.
He added: “If you look at the trend analysis, the Greater Accra prevalence is almost a plateau compared to all the regions including Eastern Region which is on the decline. “Eastern Region has the highest gradient of decline, now…there is a game change, we are transitioning to the highest prevalence in Greater Accra region.”
Ghana’s HIV prevalence rate continues to decline as it currently stands at 1.37 with women making 57 percent and 43 percent made up of men.
It is evident that the work of Rev Monsignor Bobby Benson and his Mathew 25 House and other anti-HIV/AIDS crusaders is yielding results. But more is needed to eliminate the HIV/AIDS scourge on the Ghanaian society.
If Rev Monsignor Bobby Benson wins the GHC 100,000 ultimate prize, it will go a long way to boost the activities of the Mathew 25 House. Besides the fame, the award will greatly motivate him to keep transforming the lives of the HIV victims and it related problems. He therefore needs your vote to win the ultimate prize. You can do so by texting his short code name (Bobby) to 1406.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
