Empowerment is not just giving aid and then walking away. The Apostolic Academy at Ashaiman have received the computers that we sent out and found keen workers to install and maintain the kit. They have built a secure room to house the systems and supplied appropriate furniture. That's a powerful partnership of aid and initiative!
The Headteacher, Mde Christy Atiso, is with Shaun Nicholson, the Manager of Refurbit in Hull.
Orphans and streetchildren should be clothed, fed and live in a secure, caring environment. In some cases it takes months to befriend the streetchildren and get them to leave their past lives behind and settle into a new routine involving education. Seeing such children emerge as successful students with pride in themselves, their achievement and their potential may take a long time to happen . . but the wait really is worth it.
"If you don’t work then you don’t eat" is what I was told while living in a slum area. Everywhere adults and children are working to make money to buy essential food. The atmosphere as you travel around is of these poorer Ghanaians wanting to survive AND improve their lot in life. They will walk many miles to sell you things. Children selling chewing gum amongst traffic queues yearn for you to buy their gum and help them survive.
A successful education is seen as the key in the mechanism to improve oneself and escape from poverty. It’s a key that many children in the affluent Western world seem to have lost. In Ghana we found that the children are more than willing. Often working many hours before and after school in order to survive, improve and fulfil their potential. We feel that they deserve our support and encouragement.
These somewhat stereotypical images of Ghana, that I photographed in 2006, only go to prove that the culture of working hard to survive is an essential and accepted part of life. Despite the demands of their lifestyle the Ghanaians we met always had a happy and positive outlook.
