A more personal charity

Young children in school. Ghana. Photo: Curt Carnemark /World Bank. From Flickr, Creative Commons licence

Yesterday I had to do some fairly extensive research on the internet, looking at various education-based sites. One had an appeal in the sidebar for teachers and schools to consider sending surplus textbooks to a school in Ghana.

Following the links, as you do, I found Friends of Tafo, which operates in Kwahu-Tafo, the ancestral home of Gyearbuor Asante, who played Matthew in the Channel 4 comedy, Desmond's.

The charity works on a more holistic approach than many. It concentrates all its efforts on this one small town (pop. 5,500) in rural Ghana, where unemployment is about 80%. This means many children can't go to school because they can't afford books or uniforms, and the schools themselves are in poor condition. All of which leads to further unemployment.

The projects undertaken aim to encourage self-development in education, health and infrastructure, and employment.

· Funding teachers for and renovation of the Senior Secondary School
· Enabling training workshops in soap-making, tie-and-dye and textiles
· Starting training courses for the Disabled Association in leatherwork and tailoring
· Establishing an eye care programme
· Setting up bee-keeping cooperatives for income generation
· Founding a music academy for promotion of talent and musical culture
· Establishing school twinning programmes between Tafo and the UK
· Funding school fees for 'needy pupils'
· Repairing wells to improve water quality and safety
· Encouraging Ghana's first Edible Almond Oil project, being developed in Tafo
· Resourcing the town's first computer classroom, for pupils and townspeople
· Rebuilding the Islamic Primary School
· Providing in-service Teacher Training
· Equipping the town's first Science Lab
· Building a Community Library
· Improving sanitation in schools and the community's wells

They are supported in a number of different ways and donors provide not only money but also much-needed equipment, hence the appeal for surplus text books from teachers. They can find uses for many things and will often fund a project that is of particular interest to the donor.

PozzoGhana

Photo courtesy of Architect Magazine

From Modern Green Architecture in Accra

PozzoGhana is a new sustainable material being used in a new development in Ghana. It is a mixture of palm kernels, lime and local clays and will reduce the cost of imported cement forming the outer structure. It helps too, to insulate against sound.

There will be wide and deep balconies to provide natural ventilation but solar panelling if air-conditioning is needed. Bamboo will make up balcony railings, adobe plaster will be on the walls, and recycled oil drums will provide facing for the sides. Responsibly harvested native woods will provide wall panelling.

It is hoped that the first PozzoGhana factory will be built in 2008 and that the product will be sold throughout West Africa.

Girl-friendly toilet facilities in Ghana

Absenteeism from schools has been particularly high amongst adolescent girls because of issues surrounding menstruation, and this often leads to dropping out from school altogether.

After consultation with girls, special toilet facilities have been designed and put into place in ten locations. They had to have good washing facilities, privacy, and be safe and secure. They have been put in place by Plan International, a child-centred development organisation with no religious, political or governmental affiliations, at a cost of $3,500 per block.

Coupled with education and information, these facilities have been successful in improving school attendance, so now the government wants to extend the programme throughout the country.

The price of a child

About £7.50 or $15 if you live in Ghana and your mother sells you along with your three younger siblings.

Imagine the poverty you must be experiencing to feel you have to sell your children. At the time Abena Nyenyanu sold her four she was selling porridge to support them. She was reunited with them after five years under a scheme in Ghana to bring families back together.

A half-way house has been set up in Accra to help children who have been trafficked in this way. They are given medical treatment, schooling, counselling and life skills training before being brought back to their parents after several months. The parents are given income generating skills in case poverty will tempt them to do the same thing again.

Two years ago a law was passed in Ghana to allow prosecution of parents who sell their children to traffickers. The government wants to start enforcing the law, now that awareness of it is widespread. "The grace period is over".

From IRIN reports