The Brong Ahafo regional management of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB), on Monday feted the inmates of Hanukkah Children’s Home at Berlin Top, a suburb of Sunyani as part of this year’s Chocolate Day celebration.
The theme for the celebration was: “Chocolate, a healthy expression of love”.
National Chocolate Day was instituted in 2007 by Government through the Ministry of Tourism to promote the consumption of Ghana-made chocolate on February 14th Valentine Day.
The celebration at Hanukkah Children’s Home went beyond eating chocolate. Organisers also served the inmates with assorted soft drinks, canned fruits and pastry.
Mr Charles Obeng, Brong-Ahafo Regional Manager of GTB, traced the history of Valentine’s Day and said the celebration, which came into being in the 19th century, “is to express love to one another through the exchange of gifts, presenting flowers, offering sweets and sending greeting cards”.
In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts including roses and chocolates, he added.
Mr Obeng expressed regret that the main goal of expressing love on Valentine Day had been misunderstood by the youth of today and “is now perceived to be promoting promiscuity”.
He said Ghana became the first African country to process cocoa into chocolate by the Cocoa Processing Company at Tema in 1969, adding the national chocolate day celebration was thus established as a national heritage to promote and boost the sale and consumption of the local chocolate and other cocoa products within and beyond the borders of the country.
Mr Obeng said GTB believed in the future and importance of children, who together with the less privileged must enjoy on chocolate day.
“It is therefore an honour to find ourselves in the midst of these dear ones as we celebrate chocolate as a healthy expression of love”, he said.
He said the theme for this year’s celebration was expected to redirect people’s attention from the widely held perception of promoting promiscuity to the promotion and consumption of Ghana-made chocolate.
The theme is also to outline the need for people to avoid unhealthy lifestyles during Valentine’s Day, the regional director added.
Mr Obeng mentioned some health benefits of chocolate – it contains antioxidant substances “that keeps a person young, protects the body from ageing caused by free radicals, which can lead to heart disease”.
Using the occasion to talk on domestic tourism, Mr Obeng said one of the main aims of the Ministry of Tourism was to focus attention to generate the interest of Ghanaians in tourism.
He urged schools, clubs, social groups and families to visit and explore tourist sites in and outside the region, mentioning Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Kintampo Waterfalls, Nkyeraa Waterfalls, Tano Boase Sacred Grove and Bui Dam and National park and a lot more tourist sites in Brong-Ahafo.
He expressed the hope that the management of Hanukkah Children’s Home would accept the challenge of promoting domestic tourism by organizing tours for the inmates and that GTP was ready to assist in that direction.
The Regional Director said the GTB believed such trips would “open the minds of the inmates, make them knowledgeable and also help them to appreciate what nature has endowed the nation with”.
Earlier in a welcoming address, Mr Raphael Santah, Administrative Secretary, said the Home was established by Mr Moses Asagbor and his wife from Holland, Mrs Marriet Asagbor in 2006 in their effort to assist orphaned children.
He said the Home being controlled by permanent seven care-takers with occasional assistance from some volunteers from Holland has 39 inmates made up of 17 boys and 22 girls and most of them were attending basic schools.
The oldest inmate is 19 years old whilst the youngest is 10 months.