OUR FOUNDERS (APOSTLE & MRS. WASHINGTON)

HOW IT STARTED (CHOSEN REHAB CENTER)

Sixteeen years ago, Apostle Kelvin Cobi Gbingor Washington arrived in Ghana with his newly wedded wife, Mrs. Abena Washington. Their chosen place of residence was his mother’s house at Achimota-Abofu.

Their original intention was to just spend time fully enjoying their honeymoon, but God had other plans. One evening, as Apostle was taking his shower, He found himself asking God what He wanted him to do. He heard the lovely voice of God saying, “Go to the ghetto behind your house and testify of me, tell them of the wonderful things I have done for you.” He heeded the Lord’s instructions.

The next day, Apostle went to the ghetto behind his house. Supernaturally, the whole ghetto gravitated towards him and he started preaching the gospel to them. After sharing what the Lord had placed on his heart, he gave them some money. Later, he spotted a friend called Ben who was also sadly amongst the addicts. Ben came from a well-to-do family, and his father was a politician. Unfortunately, he had ended up in the ghetto as an addict.

Apostle approached Ben and while they were having a conversation, Apostle asked God what he should do for Ben. God impressed it upon his heart that if he(Apostle) was the one in that state, what would he have expected God to do for him. Immediately, Apostle knew he had to take Ben home so he said to Ben, “I can’t leave you here, I have to take you home.”

So Apostle brought Ben home and asked his wife to bear with him. His wife was very understanding and allowed Ben to stay with them. Miraculously, Ben didn’t go through any withdrawal symptoms (cold turkey). God just took it out of his system. Morning after morning, Ben was in shock because he was not experiencing any withdrawal symptoms and no detoxification was carried out on him. God then said to Apostle, “If you continue to do this, I will take the withdrawal symptoms away supernaturally and no one will ever die in your care”, and for 15 years now no one has ever died. Though people came into the rehab looking like they were going to die, God has been faithful, He has time again ensured their safety.

The following week, Apostle took Ben to the ghetto on a Wednesday and everyone saw how nice Ben had become and how he had changed in just a week. They looked at Apostle and said, “We are also going with you, do to us what you did to Ben.” That day, Apostle had 6 people follow him back home. Since then, Wednesdays became the day for Ghetto outreaches, and the number of rehabilitants grew from 6 to 170 men.

Today, Chosen rehab has expanded it’s wings across Ghana. By the Grace of God, we have rehab branches at Achimota, Mile 11, Gbetsile, Haatso, Dome (Women’s Center), Dodowa, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale. We continue to expand our borders to continue changing lives as the Lord leads us.

HOW IT STARTED (CHOSEN CHILD’S CENTER)

Apostle Kelvin Cobi Washington, who grew up in a family house in Asallam Down, saw a lot of children around. Little did he know that most of the children he saw around were from the village. His mother, who was a seamstress, missionary and an evangelist, would go to the villages and rural areas with some members of her church and would mostly go with food, clothes and to share the gospel. Whenever she returned from her journey, she always had two to three children with her. Apostle would ask his mother who the children are and where they are from, to which she would reply, “These are your siblings. You’ve always wanted a younger sibling”. This was because he was the last born and he always wanted a younger sibling to play and share a room with and his mother wanted to grant him his wish.

But there was something different about the children his mother always brought home. They didn’t look healthy or well catered for, and his mother would give them his clothes which he loved and cherished so much, to wear. This was at a time when his parents were divorced and his father had left home. The first born, Edwin Washington, who was 18 years old at the time was forced to mature due to the financial difficulties at home, considering the fact that mom was now a single parent. At the time, there were about eight children living with them. Apostle’s mother would go to the factory to bring pieces of fabrics home and let the children sort them out in colors. Once done, she would sow them together into one big cloth, cut it and get them ready for her next outreach. She gives these cloths to the people in the village to cover themselves at night when they sleep.

Sometime after, Edwin had to travel to Europe. He later moved to Sweden and got adopted by a Swedish family. After some time, he informed his new family about his younger brother (Apostle) who had dyslexia at the time. His concern was on how to get his younger brother to read, write and to become an “A” class student like he was. His Swedish family advised him to get his younger brother a “Sony A-Darte player” (a small flat tape with a cassette port) as a solution to his problem. Edwin also made sure that Apostle always got the latest stuff as at the time, he (Apostle) was very suicidal due to his condition.

After a while, the family house became quite occupied with a lot of children, causing family members to complain. This prevented Apostle’s mother from bringing in more children. God being so good­, Edwin returned to Ghana, bought a new house and moved in with Apostle and their mother. This made it possible for their mother to bring in more children and to start a school which she named “Forest Gate Nursery”. The reason for the name was, the Achimota forest back then started from their new house. As the school developed, the forest moved back and as a result, she had to change the name of the school to “Thy Bounty Daycare”. The daycare was free due to her burning desire to help children in need.

As time went on, Apostle’s mother joined an association known as “The Girls Guide” and they had their meetings at the Achimota forest. After some years, due to aging and fibroid, she couldn’t go to the rural areas like she used to. Apostle and his siblings even rose against their mother’s nursery, as they were concerned about her health and how the nursery work seemed to be exerting her further. But she made them understand that the nursery was her liveblood and her heart. The Father called her home, into eternal rest at the age young age of 56.

Apostle was in Sweden at the time his mother died. When he returned to Ghana, he thought of continuing the nursery because he knew that his late mother would be pleased if he continued with it. Unfortunately, his older brother and sister were in disagreement and the nursery had to be closed down. Apostle also lost his grandmother later on but before she died, she gifted him her house at Darkuman. After thinking of how to honor his late mother and grandmother, Apostle decided to start a center for abused women and children for which he used the house his late grandmother gifted him. He started the center in the year 2007 and had it registered in 2008.

The center stared going for outreaches to bring drug-addicted women and children from the “Ghettos”. Some of these women were pregnant and breastfeeding and as a result, they had to be detoxified together with their babies. In order for the children to focus on their education and not get distracted by some of the services being provided for the women, the women were separated to a house at Dome which Apostle got from his father. The center was growing but due to the nature of the house at Darkuman, It kept getting notified by the Social Welfare but couldn’t be closed down since it was the only center providing such services in the area. Construction began to build a two-starry building where children can stay, learn and also receive medical care.

By the grace of God, the building is in its final stage as the last floor is all that is left to complete.

 

OUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE

MODE OF PAYMENT

LOCAL BANK PAYMENT

BANK NAME: Fidelity Bank Ghana

ACC NAME: Chosen Rehab Center

ACC NUMBER: 2090023447266

INTERNATIONAL BANK PAYMENT

BANK NAME: Fidelity Bank

ACC NAME: Chosen Rehab Center

ACC NUMBER: 1951023447267

SWIFT OR BIN CODE: FBLIGHAC

CALL/MOBILE MONEY

MTN: +233 555 466 374 (KELVIN COBBI WASHINGTON)

VODAFONE: +233 201 748 970

WWW.CHOSENREHAB.ORG

PLEASE NOTE: OUR REHABILITATION PROGRAM IS FOR A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR.

MEET THE TEAM

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, ACHIMOTA (HEADQUARTERS)

  • Apostle Kelvin Cobi Gbingor Washington

    C0-FOUNDER/CEO

  • Mrs. Abena Washington

    CO-FOUNDER/MANAGING DIRECTOR

  • Felix Lanyo

    SUPERVISING DIRECTOR

  • Thomas Barimah Obuobi

    CREATIVE DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

  • Alice Osei

    NURSE

  • Lawrence Opoku

    CUSTOMER CARE MANAGER

  • Bernard Nyarko Ofori

    DEP. ASST. CUSTOMER CARE MANAGER

  • Lorddone Ahene

    2 DEPT. ASST CUSTOMER CARE MANAGER

  • Pastor Yushi T. Kawaji

    BRANCH PASTOR

  • Prosper Marlon KwaKofi

    HEAD OF SECURITY

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, GBETSILE BRANCH

  • Pastor Amugi

    MANAGING DIRECTOR/BRANCH PASTOR

  • Sampson Amankwah Gyemfi

    SUPERVISING DIRECTOR

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, MILE 11 BRANCH

  • Wealthon Nana Koomson

    SUPERVISING DIRECTOR

  • Pastor Solomon Bechem

    BRANCH PASTOR

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, HAATSO BRANCH

  • Pastor Emmanuel Quarshie

    MANGING DIRECTOR/BRANCH PASTOR

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, DODOWA BRANCH

  • Richard Gally

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, TAKORADI BRANCH

  • Pastor George

    MANAGING DIRECTOR/BRANCH PASTOR

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, TAMALE BRANCH

  • Abdul Rashid

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

CHOSEN REHAB CENTER, KUMASI BRANCH

  • David Baidoo

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

CHOSEN WOMEN’S CENTER, DOME BRANCH

  • Helen O. Amoo

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

  • Jedidiah

    SUPERVISING DIRECTOR

  • Vanessa

    CHEF

CHOSEN CHILDREN’S CENTER, DARKUMAN

  • Theophilus Eyison

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

  • Jane Mwinige Yanbaar

    SUPERVISING DIRECTOR

  • Jessica Dogbey

    ASST. SUPERVISING DIRECTOR

  • Valerie Sogbey

    CUSTOMER CARE MANAGER

  • Josephine

    CARETAKER

  • Eunice Mensah

    CHEF

CHOSEN CHILDREN’S CENTER, TAKORADI BRANCH

  • Felicity

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

CHOSEN CHILDREN’S CENTER, TAMALE BRANCH

  • Victoria Owusua

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

  • Becklyn Adebayo

    SUPERVISING DIRECTOR

CHOSEN CHILDREN’S CENTER, KUMASI BRANCH

  • Angela Konadu Yiadom

    MANAGING DIRECTOR

  • GALLERY

    Visit our wonderful gallery for a showcase of how it started , how it’s going and what Chosen is all about in a visual manner.

  • PROJECTS

    Visit our projects page to see past, present and future projects. also for you to help annd support in this great vision.