Providing School Supplies to 100 Children in Ghana

My name is Akira Kondo, and I am the Project Manager for the Ghana region for ACE. Thank you so very much for supporting our efforts to end child exploitation in the world.

It has been six months since we started a new project in two villages. A volunteer organization, “Community Child Protection Committee (CCPC)” was organized in the villages as soon as the project started. Representatives visit families with children who do not attend school and persuade parents to send their children to school. One of the families, Paul’s family, moved to this area. Paul has a fourteen-year-old boy named John. John has not attended school since dropping out of elementary school when he was in the third grade. Paul himself never went to school and he did not understand what it meant to go to school. The family migrated from the northern part of Ghana, where language and customs are different, so they could not interact with neighbors well. However, thanks to the great efforts of members of the CCPC to persuade Paul’s family, John re-entered school in the fifth grade. He enjoys going to school every day and said, with his eyes shining, that he liked mathematics and wanted to be a banker in the future. Paul is now very proud of his son going to school.

Just like Paul’s family, there is a tendency for a lot of families who are involved in child labor and have migrated from other parts of Ghana to have difficulties interacting with other residents of the village. Also, such families often live far away from the school and it makes it difficult for children to attend school. We advise members of the CCPC to give special attention to such families. This CCPC’s attitude helps to make those migrant families to gradually open their minds. 

The CCPC supports children who have not been able to attend school, and due to their efforts, the number of children at school has increased. Thank you all for donating to this project. Because of your generosity, we could provide school supplies to the new students, giving them a good start on their education. 

However, since the number of children who attend the school has increased so rapidly, the school is now facing new challenges, the most immediate of which is a shortage of desks and chairs. The school administration has been discussing how to solve this problem, and are considering requesting support from the region, the district, or the national government, and whether they can ask for support of the parents of students or other village residents. It is quite a difficult issue, and we are trying to help them to find a sustainable solution.

Any further support that you can give will be much appreciated!