Newsletters from Ghana

Our Community outreach for this month was held on December 2nd at a village called Bukunor. Bukunor is about an hour drive for Koforidua.

Inseparable from traditional music, the dance and ceremony that accompanies it is used to greet gods and spirits, to re-enact or tell a story or legend, or simply as a social recreation. These ceremonial dances may occur at funerals, celebrations, important historical dates and festivals.

A heavy and expectant crowd surrounded Cape Coast Lagoon to gleefully engage in the annual casting of the fisherman's net into the water. For generations the casting of the fisherman’s net has been a symbol of local prosperity in harvesting. If the fish are caught in the net then it forecasts an abundant harvest for the coming year. If none become entrapped in the net then the locals will have a sparse harvest for the following twelve months.

In 1909, Kwame Nkrumah was born to Madam Nyaniba in Nkroful, Gold Coast. Nkrumah graduated from the Achimota School in Accra in 1930, studied at a Roman Catholic seminary, and taught at a Catholic school in Axim. In 1935 he left Ghana for the United States, receiving a BA from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania in 1939, where he received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology in 1942.

Accra has had over 40 volunteers since the beginning of August doing various placements scattered within Accra. Accra has had a huge number of volunteers doing the Soccer, Human Rights, Care and Medical projects over the summer period.

The West African nation of Ghana celebrates its Republic Day on July 1st. Political independence from British colonizers was hard-won through a series of massive political upheavals that lasted for over a century. But finally, in 1957, Ghana was declared an independent republic. Three years later, the government instituted the first Republic Day celebrations, on July 1st, 1960.

The Care and Teaching Project has been going on well in Ghana. In order to make the program worthwhile, the Care and Teaching Coordinators with their volunteers often share useful ideas at our workshops.

We met around 8:30 at the usual meeting spot by 205 junction, and then headed to the busy main station to fill up a tro-tro. Waiting for everyone to arrive, some of us played with the children who were there.

The Akuapem Hills team has been gladly hosting the Projects Abroad building sites! Here is a little news about the past, present and future projects! Many thanks to all those who contributed by means of funds, donations to the establishments, and most importantly the hands-on work!! We have been creating many lasting smiles all over the region.

Every 6^th of March, Ghana celebrates its independence and unity as a country. The Portuguese were the first to arrive in the Gold Coast area around the 15th century. After then, the Dutch, Danes and Swedes set up in the region for trade.

AYD use sports as a tool for human and social development of young people. It contributes towards addressing gender inequality and assists with the development of life skills such as leadership, decision making, organisational and management skills among the children.

Recently in the Akuapem Hills, building volunteers finished building a school in Akokoa. Currently, there are volunteers from the United States, Australia, Holland, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Denmark. There are about sixteen volunteers working at the building project.

Sarah-Mae's passion for human rights and social justice began at the age of 11 when she witnessed the horrific injustice directed towards the street children of Bombay. It was at this juncture that she decided to take on Mahatma Gandhi's mission - 'to be the change you want to see in the world.'

More than 110 volunteers of Projects Abroad celebrated “Make a Difference Day” by cleaning up litter and providing maintenance at the Prisons Football Park in Accra. The volunteers were among three million people worldwide to participate in the annual event of community service which was created by USA Weekend magazine 18 years ago.

Kwame Nkrumah became the first prime minister and later president of Ghana. He was born on September 21, 1909, at Nkroful in what was then the British-ruled Gold Coast, the son of a goldsmith. Trained as a teacher, he went to the United States in 1935 for advanced studies and continued his schooling in England, where he helped organize the Pan-African Congress in 1945. He returned to Ghana in 1947 and became general secretary of the newly founded United Gold Coast Convention but split from it in 1949 to form the Convention People's party (CPP).

Vision International is one of the care placements used by Projects-Abroad in Ho. The school was established in January 2008 by Mrs. Victoria Klinogo. She has the love for children especially kids living in deprived communities. It was for this reason that she established the school to take care of children from poor homes in and around Ho Newtown.

Cantonments Football Club is located in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. It is part of a prison officer community and began life purely as a youth club around the turn of the century. Since then, the club has developed into a fully-fledged senior football team with a Youth Academy and a committed group of coaching staff and volunteers.

The Republic of Ghana is a country located in West Africa that borders Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King and derives from the Ghana Empire.

On Wednesday the 23rd of June, 2010, five Projects Abroad volunteers and the medical coordinator went to the Royal Seed Home to provide medical treatments for the children. The home started initially as a vocational centre in January 2002, offering training in hairdressing and dressmaking for girls, especially teenage mothers.

As the world prepares for the kick off of this session of the world Cup in South Africa, coming 10th June, 2010 Ghana also names the squad going to stand on the front line to win victory for the nation. Ghana's Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, this month named an initial 30-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that would be pruned down to 23 before the competition begins.

Care volunteers at New Life International Orphanage Zarah Hage, Luke Jones and Josephine Boremans, last month organised swimming lessons for the children of the New Life International Orphanage. The kids, numbering about 20, between the ages of 4 and 12 were taken through swimming lessons for about 3 hoursat Hans Cottage Hotel, about 5 minutes drive from the orphanage.

It has been a busy month in the Akuapem Hills. On a social side, one of the highlights was a game of football involving the local Akuapem United under 21 team taking on our very own Obruni White Stars in Kwamoso. The mighty White Stars put up an impressive fight, but were unable to topple the local team who eventually took the game by four goals to three. It was a fantastic effort from our volunteers, and a great day all round.

Celebrated by the people of Agave, in the Volta Region, in the month of February. It is an annual traditional thanksgiving festival of the Agave people. In every February, the chiefs and people of the Agave traditional area celebrate their annual Dzawuwu festival at Dabala, their chief commercial centre.

Hilma Valkema, who is a medical volunteer with Projects Abroad at the Akuapem Hills donated pencils, erasers, toys and games to the Holy Hills complex in Kwamoso. Receiving the items on behalf to the school, the head teacher thanked Miss Hilma Valkema for her kind gesture to the school and promised that the items will put to good use.

Yensiso Methodist School is in one of the villages in Akuapem Hills, Eastern Region. The school is not one of our partners for sending volunteers to. However that does not stop Projects Abroad from lending a helping hand whenever the school calls on us. The head teacher of the school came to the office and requested our assistance. Her school needed a classroom for the Nursery Pupils.

Cantonments FC continues to be an exciting place to be, as the academy continues to develop, with the assistance of volunteers from Projects Abroad. This month, progress has been rapidly assisted by significant donations of equipment from Dave Oswell, a volunteer from Australia. While Dave is only in Ghana for 2 weeks he has had a huge impact; in addition to donating equipment he has had some interesting training ideas which the senior players in particular have enjoyed.

It doesn't happen all that often. But sometimes, I sit here and I think, "Life isn't that bad for some of these people". I get desensitised, and feel comfortable. Surely enough though, something will eventually come around and knock (or Enoch!) so sense into me. This time, it hit me hard. My teaching placement has been great and I have felt quite positive from my time there, but last week I took up an opportunity to go with the Projects Abroad Medical Outreach team and journey out to an underprivileged village.

The end of this month saw the return of our monthly party, where all Projects Abroad volunteers and staff in Ghana have the opportunity to come together to have fun. At the end of last month, on the 31st of July one such gathering took place in Accra. All our volunteers in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, Akuapem Hills in the Eastern Region, Cape Coast in the Central region, Accra in Greater Accra region, Ho and Hohoe in the Volta region were invited to the party.

2 Week Special volunteers in Cape Coast are doing a great job painting and renovating the Lady Heike School and the Abura Literacy School. For the past 2 weeks, these volunteers have painted almost the entirety of Lady Heike School and a wall has being built around one of the classroom blocks.

On a wonderfully sunny and perfect day, the "Oguaaman Rugby Festival" organised by none other than Projects Abroad‟s very own George Lapido took place. Watching the three matches played that day were the volunteers from Cape Coast who had turned out to support Tom, Colin and Will as they joined members of Central Regional Rugby Academy on the pitch against the visiting team, Cowley Rugby Club, from Lagos, Nigeria.

Early last month, the Projects Abroad demonstration farm situated at Safro in Akuapem, in the north of eastern region, was moved to Mamfe Methodist Junior High. This is to make it easily accessible to more schools.

Volunteers (Fabienne de lanay, Rowena) at New Life international orphanage in Cape Coast organised a talent show for the residents of the orphanage. New Life is one of the biggest and most interesting placements in the town of Cape Coast.

One of the most important days in a woman's life is the day she gets married. A wedding day in one of our rural communities involves the bride and groom being adorned in a beautiful traditional cloth (Kente).The people in the village get very involved in the celebrations and bear witness to the union. As is the norm, one of the eldest, married men in the village pours a libation to give thanks to the gods for the occasion. He also prays to the gods to bless the new couple with many offspring.

Shops and supermarkets are overflowing with red and pink stuffed animals, heart-shaped balloons and endless amounts of chocolate and candy. Why not celebrate Valentine’s by giving a homemade card to your host family or friends? Enjoy the day and spread the love!

Ghana has been a hive of activity recently with the long drawn out presidential election and subsequent inauguration of prof John Evans Atta Mills of the NDC as new Head of State. We hope that this means only good things for Ghana.

December 1st of every year is marked as World AIDS day. As part of this, after educating the children at New Life Orphanage, medical volunteers organised a quiz competition on HIV/AIDS. It was a very exciting competition but at the end of it a group calling itself HIV HUNTERS emerged as winners. They were presented with their prizes of books and fruit juice.

Aspiring journalist Francesca Freeman, 21, wanted to step out of the regular western newsrooms and experience something more challenging, demanding, and certainly different from what she was used to, and so she embarked on her Projects Abroad journey and signed up to participate in Ghana's journalism programme at the Statesman for 2 months.

Thanks to Projects Abroad, that gave us the financial support to fulfill one of the big dreams of the children from our orphanage: we took them for one day to the Lake Bosumtwi. We are Isabelle and Maxie and we work now in Cherubs Orphanage in Ampatia near Kumasi for respectively two and four months, and the children asked us many times to go there. The week before we arranged two tro-tros and also a cooker that prepared a meal for lunch. On Sunday, 9^th of December, we started in the morning. The children were all very well dressed and so excited that they sang and played drums all the time on the way to the lake.

>In a change to the usual party at the office, this month volunteers and staff set up base on a rather attractive beach in Teshie Nungua. Volunteers from all the regions met at the office bright and early to be taken by tro. As expected this received many stares from the locals with such a large amount of Obruni’s congregated together!

October’s end of month party took on a spooky Halloween theme, with the office transformed into a den of skeletons, ghosts, witches, bats and pumpkins! Volunteers from all the regions gathered at dusk just as the local bats were flying overhead lending a suitable mood to the proceedings! Accra’s very own Kat Pugh, Becky Hathway and Katie Drew easily won the prize for the best costume! In addition to the party’s usual drinks, food and dancing, a competition was made, with each region having four representatives.

This month in the Kumasi region, a major traditional festival took place. This was the festival of Akwasidea, in which all of the chiefs of Ashanti region gather in order to display their rich culture from their towns. Jelka Kiene, 24 years old from Germany, went along with a doctor from Suntreso Government Hospital where she works, to find out more about it and to take some wonderful photographs such as this one.

Central Regional Hospital - described as the referral hospital - is located in Cape Coast close to Abura, a suburb of the town. It moved to its current location in 2000 and consequently is one of Ghana most modern hospitals. It is also the biggest hospital in the region with approximately 20 Doctors, 40 Nurses, 100 beds and a wide range of departments for the volunteers to become involved in. Central Regional Hospital was one of the first medical placements in Ghana, having taken volunteers for more than five year.

Sadly it is not uncommon for pupils in some parts of the country to learn under appalling conditions. Classrooms, if they have them, often appear to be temporary structures - no roofs, no doors, insufficient and broken chairs and desks, along with a severe lack of instructional materials.