Social media–based initiative is connecting women for outreach and spiritual support.
Adventist Smart Women (ASW), a group of Seventh-day Adventist women on social media, with Facebook as their focal point of meeting, visited a community in need called Baako Ni Aba in the Nyinahin district in Ghana. In their visit, the group donated items worth 15,000 Ghanaian cedis (about $US2,900) to community residents.
Debbie Asamoah Antwi formed ASW in 2018. It has grown to more than 4,300 members from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, United States, Philippines, and Belgium, among others. The group’s primary objective is to make an impact in the lives of others through education, networking, collaboration, socialization, and empowerment.
“The group is made up of professionals who help in resolving delicate issues as well as discussions based on Adventist beliefs, social issues, relationships, health, education, and many more,” group coordinators said. “Members with sensitive issues bring them on board by using an anonymous link to hide their identity. To help the person, group members use the Bible, professionalism, personal experiences, and counsels.”
ASW planned and held the humanitarian activity in Ghana dubbed “Project Touch a Life” in December 2018, with the purpose of bringing people closer to Jesus by meeting the physical needs of a community. Project leader Antwi and her coordinators contacted Nyinahin district pastor Michael Boateng. He welcomed the idea and made the necessary arrangements for the project to happen.
The group’s goal was to attend worship services with the church in Baako Ni Aba, provide for some needs of furnishing the facilities, and donate food, clothes, and toiletries to the surrounding community, Antwi said. Donations and fundraising initiatives privately funded the project.
School children in the area received exercise books and notebooks, pencils, pens, mathematical sets, rulers, and pencil sharpeners.
Antwi said she was thankful to God for making it possible for them to achieve the dream of touching the life of someone in need. “It is the duty of every Christian, something that Jesus commissioned us to do,” she said. “We hope this project will bring some people closer to Jesus.”
She also invited other Adventist women to join the group to enlarge their sphere of influence, as she thanked current members. “Thanks for your prayers, support, and donations,” she said. “Thanks to everyone supporting this project.”
The original version of this story was posted on the West-Central Africa Division news site.