Catholic Church of the Visitation (COV) in Topping has a new outreach mission. When the Rev. Johnny Mintah-Mensah, known as Father Koo, took over as pastor of COV, he brought with him his passion for his homeland and a desire to bring a better life to those he left behind in Ghana. Previous pastors had led the parish in similar goals: sponsoring a water system, a bakery, a hospital and an orphanage in Haiti; later building and supporting St. Noa’s School in southern Uganda. The Church of the Visitation now has a new mission: a well for the people near the polluted Ankobra River in Southwestern Ghana.
Father Koo’s home village is Assin Bereku in the central region of Ghana. Prior to attending the seminary, Father Koo participated in small-scale gold mining activity in the area of Wassa Akropong and Wassa Subri. That experience helped him understand both the economic pressures that drive people into mining and the devastating consequences it can have on communities and the environment.
The people of Ghana work for a meager wage for the gold mining companies or are forced to work illegally in a practice called “galamsey.” Digging for gold has made their rivers, their direct source of water, into polluted mud…
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