A Tema-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), M-Paradise Enterprise, last Wednesday put smiles on the faces of inmates of the Weija Leprosarium Center, by throwing a New Year party for them.

Apart from the presence of all the 25 inmates, top officials of the Center, members of the NGO, and some family members of the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NGO were present to grace the occasion.

After eating and drinking, officials of the NGO joined executives, staff and inmates of the Center on the floor to dance their hearts out as part of the celebrations.

The NGO later presented assorted items estimated to cost GH¢5,000 to the inmates to support their upkeep.

The items include 18 bags of rice, 14 cartons of milk, five (20 litre) gallons of cooking oil, eight cartons of Milo, two bags of granulated sugar, eight packets of toilet rolls, and assorted soft drinks.

Presenting the items, Millicent Yaquah, CEO of M-Paradise Enterprise, said her decision to present the items to the inmates was conceived when she was a kid.

According to her, when she was 11 years of age, she had a dream in which she saw her late mother and herself on a desert in the presence of a group of lepers.

She said she saw her mother holding a big bowl full of gifts, and she started sharing it to the lepers while she was standing somewhere aloof and didn't understand what her mother was doing.

Madam Millicent continued that when her mother turned and saw her standing idle minding her own business, she became furious and started shouting at her.

"At first I thought it was just a dream, but when I grew up, anytime I saw a programme on TV relating to lepers, my heart became troubled. Later, I came to realise that what I saw in my dream was a task given to me to perform in the lives of these people," she revealed.

She appealed to companies, organisations, religious bodies, philanthropists and individuals to come to the aid of such deprived persons, as they were not as lucky as we were.

Mr. Martin Tandoh, Coordinator of the Lepers Aid at the Center, who received the items, handed them over to Madam Gladys Adobea, head of the inmates, who thanked the NGO for the kind gesture.

Mr. Tandoh appealed to government to endeavour to take a second look at the money given to the inmates, as it was woefully inadequate for their upkeep.