Founder and CEO of Royal Seed Foundation at Kasoa, Naomi Esi Aku Amoah has emerged winner of the ultimate prize of GHC100,000 in the fourth edition of MTN Heroes of Change.
Naomi was revealed to the ecstatic crowd by ace artist Chukwu, who drew a pieces of a picture of Naomi’s face upside down on four separate boards and joined them before the crowd could tell who she was.
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It was all pump, pageantry and fireworks amidst ecstasy when the Second Lady Samira Bawumia and Acting CEO of MTN Ghana, Sam Addo presented the heavy prize package to Naomi, surrounded by some of the kids from the home.
An obviously overwhelmed Naomi was dump founded and teary as she received her plaque, citation and cheque.
She competed with nine others, all of whom had very laudable and impacting projects as well. The final ten were short-listed from a group of 30 convincing entries gleaned from more than 1,000 entries this year.
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Naomi expressed her profound gratitude to God, MTN and to the one who nominated her, Miss Malaika 2017, Pearl Nyarko-Mensah.
Naomi’s Royal Seed Foundation was born out of a passion to bring up needy and homeless children to become a great persons in future, something that Naomi said she was denied of as a child.
“I take in homeless and needy children and give them a future. I have here children from 1 month old to 22 year olds who don’t know their families and can’t even trace them,” she said.
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According her, she has over 200 children at the home, most of whom were young kids and babies who were picked up from bushes and refuse dumps and brought to her, adding that some of those that bring the kids to her never show up again to check up on them.
She started the foundation with an initial support from her mum, her own funds from street evangelism, and gifts from friends.
Today, she has been able to put eight of the kids into university, 24 into senior high school and several others into the basic level.
She has also been able to get several of them through life saving surgeries, even though there are more waiting for surgery due to lack of funds.
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Some of the grave health cases at the home include a two-month old baby boy with a hole in his throat and needs GHC12,000 for five surgeries, and a hermaphrodite case.
Naomi said the home has recently moved to a bigger place but she has not finished paying for it, moreover the children sleep under tents in mosquito nets in the open because there is no roof and the she owes workers salaries.
She said part of the GHC100,000 prize money will go to pay the school fees of eight children waiting to enter tertiary education institutions, pay workers, pay for surgeries and Miss Malaika 2017 will also help in deciding on what to use the bulk of it for.
Meanwhile, a bus that a UK-based Ghanaian Good Samaritan sent to the foundation some years back have still not been given to them because some port officials in Ghana are allegedly demanding GHC26,000 from her before delivering the bus to her.
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Naomi said, as a result, the kids continue to walk longs distances to school on days she does not have money to get them a bus.
Apart from Naomi, three other contestants won GHC30,000 each in three various categories of education, health and economic empowerment, which are the three main focus areas of the MTN Foundation.
Emmanuel Annobil, whose Mental Health NGO bathes, clothes and feeds mentally retarded persons off the streets across the country won the health category.
Emmanuel has affected more than 2,000 mentally retarded persons with his work and he dreams to build a private shelter for the mentally retarded to augment government effort.
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He got some of the audience at the event tearing up like he was when he said “because of this work I do my siblings and my own children think I am useless and a nobody so they have no respect for me at home. But I thank God and MTN for this honor. MTN will continue to stand out of the crowd in Jesus name.”You
Emmanuel later told Adom News “my family members treat toilet paper better than they treat me and none of them came here with me to collect this award but I know God called me to do this and he will glorify his name.”
He said part of the prize money will go into paying for documents to secure a parcel of land he got as a gift for the establishment of the mental home, and part will go to pay his staff and other bills.
Serwah Quaynor, 67, of the Autism Awareness Care and Training Centre won the education category, while the economic empower prize went to 65-year-old Rev. Sanatu Nantogma of the Tumakavi Development Association.
This, MTN Heroes of Change feature special awards of GHC10,000 each, citations and hampers to five persons who did not make entries but had in the year under review used their influences to make positive impact on society.
The five were journalists Seth Kwame Boateng and Joseph Opoku Gakpo of the Multimedia Group, screen divas Yvonne Nelson and Yvonne Okoro, and ace hip-life musician Okyeame Kwame.
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Acting Corporate Services Executive of MTN, Samuel Koranteng said Heroes of Change is only an innovative avenue for the MTN Foundation to commit more resources to brightening lives in various communities.
“Over the last 10 years MTN Foundation Ghana has spent over US$13 million on 142 projects across the country direct and Heroes of Change is just an addition to all that,” he said.
Award-winning Afro-pop sensation Kuami Eugene, gospel music minstrel Cee Twum, 75-year-old veteran high-lifer AB Crenstil and upcoming Afro-pop songstress Adoma kept the night alive with splendid and electrifying renditions of their most loved tunes.
