Ghana Together News Updates

Ghana Together works with our Ghanaian friends of Western Heritage Home, a Ghanaian-registered and managed non-profit, to improve social, educational, and health conditions in Axim, Ghana. Together we accomplish projects, connect WHH to resourceful individuals and organizations, and create sustainable programs. We make a real difference to real people in a local, grassroots effort. Our website at http://ghanatogether.org tells our story.

Dec 12, 2015

THANKS FOR A REALLY GREAT YEAR!!!

Dear Friends---both American and Ghanaian,
We of Ghana Together and our Ghanaian partners of Western Heritage Home thank you from our hearts for your help with our projects in Axim, Ghana during 2015---especially for financial donations, generously-offered expertise, and logistical assistance.
We sincerely thank all the Axim adult leaders who put these resources to work. The "elbow grease" is theirs!

WHAT DID WE ACCOMPLISH IN 2015?
-Supported 75 students in various ways --- tuition, room & board, textbooks, personal supplies, uniforms, shoes, underwear, notebooks, pens. In most cases, families helped with some costs, but without our help, these students would not be in school.
-Completed the renovation of the dining/assembly/study building at Axim Girls Senior High School.

-Coordinated on-site visits for Adam Holt of Unleash Kids, and Katelyn Henderson and her Dad Jeff. Adam installed the first Internet-in-a-Box in Ghana at the AGSHS, giving access to Wikipedia, hundreds of science/math videos, maps, and other resources. Katelyn taught beginning coding, installed another Internet-in-a-Box at Axim Library, and trained students to search Wikipedia using the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computer. Absolutely thrilling for the Ghanaian kids (and maybe the Americans, too!)

-Enhanced the Axim Girls Senior High School’s Jerome Chandler Science Room with a ½ size, scientifically accurate, plastic human skeleton, dog & sheep teeth (!), chemicals, science posters, and back issues of Science News Magazine.
-Completed a second Urine Diversion/Dehydration Toilet (UDDT) at the Methodist-Government School, serving 750+ students. We trained the teachers in its concept, use, and maintenance. Imagine knowing your child has a clean, non-smelling, sanitary toilet at school! Imagine your daughter having a private, clean facility during her menstrual cycle!

-Delivered about 1500 children’s books to the Axim Library. Funded the launch of the new Axim Library’s Mobile Library Tricycle Program, which now visits 11 primary/JHS schools weekly. Delivered 98 technical books to the Community Development Vocational Technical Institute--electrical, plumbing, carpentry, etc.
-Provided electricity to charge about 40 OLPCs for the entire year. And then, were amazed at the big news!! Maybe our years of supporting the Library and the Children’s Computing Lab (OLPCs) had something to do with the Ghana Library Authority & the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication selecting Axim Library as the perfect spot to create a Community Information Center? Ten new desktop computers, internet access, solar power, and best of all, a National Service computer specialist to manage the whole computer shebang!

-Delivered 50+ lbs. of pre-school learning materials and purchased a DVD player for the Anglican Crèche.
-Conducted---by Board Member Louise Wilkinson and friend Susan Hirst--- Leadership Workshops for 75 senior high students. The leaders of tomorrow!
-Loved seeing Gifty Essien’s new fashion business, one of our Western Heritage Scholars, who graduated senior high this spring—the first in her family to do so. With her $300 Leif Pederson Graduation Award, she has traveled by tro-tro to Takoradi several times, purchasing fashionable bras, cosmetics, and jewelry, and selling them in Axim Town. She can’t quite afford her own “stand” as yet and so is using a small table in front of her friend’s stand. She has her bell to attract customers. She is realizing her dream to have her own fashion business, as she calls it. Her Mom, a subsistence farmer, is so proud! WE are so proud!!

WHAT ABOUT 2016?
-Continue the scholarships---and maybe expand them.
-Renovate the young men’s dormitory at the Community Development Vocational Technical Institute--enable about 30 guys to get technical training.

-Keep those Internet-in-a-Boxes running!

-Explore introducing the “Days for Girls” menstrual kits. We don’t want a single girl to miss school ever again.

-Continue to ship children’s books, pre-school educational materials, and science-oriented/technical magazines. Purchase a few science supplies.
Who knows what else? When Ghanaians and American put their minds together…WATCH OUT! (We dream of more toilets...)
Thank you for your partnership in these projects that have such a positive effect on individual lives and on the community of Axim.
We again assure you that we use 100% of your donations toward our projects.  We on the Ghana Together Board handle all administrative, travel, and other such costs ourselves.
We ask for your financial support, either by mail or credit card via the PayPal link on our website. We try as much as possible to buy locally in Ghana, in support of business and workers there. We ourselves consider our efforts in Axim a good investment in youth, education, sanitation, and community development.

We are a registered US-based 501c3 non-profit. Your donations are tax-deductible.
Ghanaians who wish to help can deposit funds into the Western Heritage Home account at Ghana Commercial Bank. Contact James Kainyiah at 024-407-2638.
With our sincere thanks…
Ghana Together Directors:  Maryanne Ward, Jerome Chandler, Rich Ward, Louise Wilkinson, and Nathan Ward
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Mailing Address: Ghana Together, 808 Addison Place, Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Phone: 1-360-848-6568

Posted by Ghana Together at 12:20 PM