OK, you wonderful students, time to do your part!

Hi all,

We want to catch you up on what's going on with Ghana Together/Western Heritage Home efforts in the Axim area of Ghana.

As of this second term in Ghana’s 2018-2019 school year we have 74 students on scholarship.

We support 40 Primary level P4-P6 students at Apewosika Village School (Christ the King). The school is a private school, in a pretty isolated fishing area, with no government school within reasonable walking distance for primary school kids.

Apewosika Village School (CTK) P4-P6 scholarship students

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We support what in the US would be 4th-6th grade students because typically, as families send younger kids into kindergarten and early grades, they can’t afford to pay tuition for all their school-age children. So, around P4, these older kids---who now know the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic---often must leave school for financial reasons. The boys go with Dad to help with fishing and the girls to the markets with Mom or help with younger siblings at home.

We want these CTK students to achieve P6 at a minimum. At that level, they are functionally literate and numerate, not only for work and general adulthood life, but also to participate as citizens in a democracy---read ballots, understand banking, communicate with family and friends via written cellphone messages, pass their skills on to their own children, etc. So, we work with leaders there to select those students who are vulnerable to dropping out because of their family's financial struggles.

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We support 15 primary students at Maako School, another very isolated private school serving an ocean-side fishing community.

At Maako, leaders choose students of any age/grade whose fathers are away fishing most of the time, all along the West Africa Atlantic Coast. The moms come into the school every few days with small amounts of money garnered from their cassava and other crops to pay "school fees." They struggle to keep their precious children in school--their highest priority after basic food needs.

Students at Maako School

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Our Western Heritage Scholars Ben and his sister Gladys Quayson continue in upper primary at Manye Academy. They are orphaned, and we provide not only tuition but room/board and basic health/hygiene necessities and small pocket money. 

We give heartfelt thanks especially to Headmistress Felicia Attah for all her help for so many years with so many WHH Scholars, especially these two.

Western Heritage Scholars Ben (P-5) and Gladys (P-4) 

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We support 12 students at the Community Development Vocational/Technical Institute in Axim. CDVTI trains young men and women of high school age and older in various vocational trades, such as hairdressing, catering, home management, business skills, computer tech, electrical, welding, construction, etc. They recently added these last three programs which appeal more to guys, so to encourage that program, we've sponsored a few more guys than gals this year.

Sponsored students at CDVTI, in various technical/vocational training programs

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Two of our Western Heritage Home Scholars---Charlotte Armah and Philomena Mensah---are in their second year of nurses training at Asanta Nursing/Midwifery College.

Charlotte Armah left) and Philomena Mensah

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And two of our WHH guys are at Takoradi Technical University---Larmine in welding, and Peter in computer science.

  Kingsley Larmine (left) and Peter Assuah

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Emmanuella Dein is now in her final year of Ghana National College's special senior high school program for functionally blind students, such as Emmanuella.

She is thriving, both academically and musically as part of the school choir. She has worked so hard and the College has done a wonderful job helping her, a functionally blind student, achieve her goals! 

We thank Kathryn Roe, of Anansi (and of Bellingham, WA), who also sponsors students in GNC, who has visited Emmanuella from time to time and kept up with her progress, since GNC is in Cape Coast, and distant from Axim.

Queen Mother Nana Adjou Sika and Emmanuella Dein

We show Emmanuella with her wonderful Queen Mum, Axim Queen Mother Nana Adjou Sika, who we lost late last year. Nana loved Emmanuella, and "mothered" her for years, emotionally and with some "tough love", too. What a loss to the entire community, especially the young women. We are so glad she lived to see Emmanuella well into finishing senior high!

We are proud of every one of you students! Western Heritage Home joins us in saying we are so totally grateful for all the folks who have helped us with donations. Sometimes we get emotional, wondering how it is people can be so generous and caring for students so far away!

Ghana Together

808 Addison Place

Mount Vernon, WA 98273

Website: http://ghanatogether.org (click "News" for earlier News Updates and to subscribe)

Email: info@ghanatogether.org