1st Term 2016-2017 Scholarhips

Yes, we know. The chart below is barely readable…but we wanted to show it to you anyway. It shows the 1st term, 2016-2017 school year, scholarship costs for 69 Axim students, sponsored by Ghana Together.

In most cases, these costs are shared with the extended families, as with the CTK Academy students where parents supply uniforms, underwear, notebooks, shoes...and we pay tuition...for students living in this remote area, where the only reasonably available school is a private school.

We also list WHH staff salaries for three months and Internet-In-A-Box internet support, so the North American team can troubleshoot this incredible resource at Axim Girls High School and the Axim Public Library, which most Axim children frequent. 

Note that "CDVTI" stands for Community Development Vocational Technical Institute, a government vocational training school. Note that secondary schools in Ghana are NOT tuition-free at this point.

Payee	Beneficiary	Item	CEDIS	USD (3.9)
Axim Girls Sr High	Ernestina	tuition, textbooks, math tutorial (Term One)	769	$197
Manye Academy	Ben, Gladys, Johnson	Tuition, boarding, fees, notebooks, textbooks, uniforms, sandals…	2942	$754
Various vendors	6 WHH Scholars	Personal supplies: health/hygiene, snacks, pocket money, etc.	1560	$400
CDVTI	Kingsley	Tuition, room, board	380	$97
CDVTI	10 women, 2 men	Tuition, room, board	2860	$733
Nsein SHS	Peter	Extra Classes, student council, sci club, debate/drama, practicals	970	$249
Midwifery/Nursing School	Dorothy	Nursing-midwifery tuition, room, board, texts, etc. (one semester)	2175	$558
Christ the King Academy	50 primary students	tuition, 1st term	5850	$1,500
WHH Staff	Arloo, and 2 watchmen	salaries July-Sept (three month)	1500	$385
Azim Girls SHS	Computer lab support	Cellphone subscription for internet-in-a-box support	400	$103
TOTAL			19406	$4,976

Maybe you can’t quite make out the small print, but the bottom line is almost exactly $5,000 for most of the school costs for 69 students, averaging about $73 each. And some of those costs are "once/year" only, like uniforms, sandals, and textbooks.

Some of you have asked how we get such accurate, detailed info from our friends in Axim, esp. when it comes to school costs.

Well, we won’t burden you (J) with the incredibly detailed 16 sheets of statements/invoices that our guy in Axim, Evans Arloo, collected from the schools and forwarded to us.

Every detail is in these statements!

Did you know, for example, that Dorothy’s “obstetrics textbook” for her 2^nd year will cost exactly 30 Ghana cedis? That’s about $8.00. Or that Peter will pay 10 cedis (about $2.50) for his Science Club dues…the Club of which he, as an outstanding student, is the “Executive.” Or that Kingsley will pay 270 cedis (about $70) for food for Sept-Dec (quite a bargain for 16-year old guy!)? Or that Ernestina’s “bed user fee” will be 2 cedis (about 50 US cents) for her 1^st term, along with 399 cedis ($102) for her tuition?

The schools’ administrative offices prepare these  statements and give them to parents, or in our case, scholarship sponsor. The sheets are stamped and signed with the name of the school and the accountant/preparer.

And, I'm sure you are DYING to know...how exactly does Arloo get these 16 typed or handwritten sheets to us 10,000 or so miles away?

Why, of course, by the magic of “Camscanner”, the cellphone app. With it, he photographs the statements and saves them as PDF files. He then forwards them using “Whatsapp”, another nice little free tool, using the nice signals pouring out from the cell tower in Axim Town. And we use Whatsapp too, to "receive" the files, and also for follow-up communication. Our Ghanaian friends are total whizzes when it comes to cellphone use, seriously! They've taught us all we know!!

So, friends, these are children we’ve been supporting for some years. Knowing the needs of local families well, Queen Mom Nana Adjow Sika II and James Kainyiah have chosen these students, along with input from Headmaster David and Director Seidu, and have overseen their progress. Evans Arloo helps the scholars with their day-to-day needs and challenges.

And yes, we would appreciate your financial help in launching the new school year, 1st term, for these 69 youngsters, beginning mid-September. Thank you.

Ghana Together

808 Addison Place

Mount Vernon, WA 98273

360-848-6568

For Paypal, go to http://ghanatogether.org/HTML/Donations.html

info@ghanatogether.org

We are a 501c3, Fed ID 26-2182965

Congratulations to Charlotte & Philomena, Senior High School Graduates!

Good friends and classmates Philomena (left) and Charlotte at their Nsein Senior High School in March 2016, ready to start their last term before graduation

We’re really proud! Charlotte Armah and Philomena Mensah graduated from Nsein Senior High School in Axim, Ghana this June!

For this outstanding achievement, Philo and Charlotte each received Leif Pederson Graduation Awards of $300—enough to launch them into their adult lives. (Note: Ghana Together presents this award to our Western Heritage Scholars upon graduation from senior high school, in memory of founding Board member and good friend, Leif Pederson.)

We've known (and supported) Charlotte and Philo for about ten years now!

Charlotte Armah, 2007

Philomena Mensah, 2007

The girls used some of their Award funds to buy clothing that is not a school uniform(!), and set themselves up to sell earrings, bathroom slippers, gari (cassava), sugar…and some other items in “the Axim market.” This is a temporary move to support themselves as they prepare for the next step. They reported just this morning that their sales are going well.

They are in the process of applying for jobs teaching primary level students. In Ghana, if one graduates senior high with a good record, it’s pretty common that you will be called upon to teach the youngest primary students.

Photo from last week, as they launch their business in the  market in Axim. One of the wonderful things for girls who are no longer students is that they now can grow and style their hair! Fun!!

Achieving a senior high graduate level is no small accomplishment for these two young women. They spent their early primary and junior high school years living at the Western Heritage Children’s Home due to very difficult family circumstances. Ghana Together, in conjunction with Western Heritage Home, supported them entirely in those years.

At the Children’s Home they were helped greatly by Barbara Davis who, as the “senior sister”, as the children called her, ensured their school attendance at Manye Academy every day, saw to their homework, made sure their uniforms were clean and pressed, managed meals, and made sure they got enough sleep every night. Thank you, Barbara!

Barbara Davis, their "senior sister". Thank you, Barbara!!

Senior high school is not tuition-free in Ghana. Thanks to their academic excellence in primary and junior high, their obvious financial need, and to the efforts of their Paramount Chief Awulae Attibrukusu III, they were each awarded Ghana National Petroleum Corporation senior high school scholarships covering their tuition and boarding at Nsein Senior High School. We of Ghana Together provided funds for the “supplies”---uniforms, textbooks, lab materials, photocopies, health/hygiene supplies, snack money, etc.

You may wonder why graduation from senior high school is such a big deal!

We did a little research. According to the Ghana Statistical Service’s 2010 Census data for the Nzema East Municipality, of 8375 females 3 years and older who had attended any school at any level in the past, only 550, or 6.4% of had attended senior high school. And of the entire female population, only 32.5% had ever attended any school at any level. Of the female population over 11 years of age, 46% were classified as literate in 2010, meaning they could read and write a simple sentence in some language, maybe not learned in school, but somehow picked up.

That’s why this is such an achievement! With the establishment of the new Axim Girls Senior High School, which had 191 students enrolled at end of March, 2016, when we last visited, this picture is changing!

Philo and Charlotte are the 3^rd and 4^th Western Heritage Home Scholars to graduate Senior High, having been preceded by Gifty Essien and Dorothy Armoo. They are indebted to James Kainyiah, founder and chair of Western Heritage Home (our associate organization), who established this local Axim-based NGO to support children exactly like these four.

And they are indebted to YOU, dear friends, who have supported these two beautiful Western Heritage Home Scholars for 10 years, and so many other children (73 at present, in one way or another)! Thank you.

For prior News Updates, see http://ghanatogether.blogspot.com

Contact us at: info@ghanatogether.org

Website: http://ghanatogether.org