Model Nursery School Brings Hope to Gushiegu

There is a story of a senior civil servant who was posted to Gushiegu ­Karaga District who refused to go, on the grounds that his children's education would suffer as a result. The civil servant argued that there were no good schools in Gushiegu­Karaga for his children to attend. He was right. GES records in the district show that the performances of Junior Secondary School (JSS) students in the district over the years have not been encouraging. This poor performance has also affected their results at the senior (SSS) level. Indeed, the cause of the abysmal performance can be traced right back to the nursery and primary schools.

However, 36-year-old Mariah Issah is determined not to let her five-year-old daughter fall victim to such circumstances. Mariah, a kulikuli (groundnut cake) maker, wakes up her daughter, Jemilatu Issah, at 6:30 a.m. each day of the week to prepare for school.
Jemila quickly wakes up and goes to fetch water to wash her face. She then cleans her mouth with a toothbrush and paste provided by her dad, Abdulai B. Issah, a worker with the Ghana Health Service in Gushiegu. Jemila then goes with her mother to fetch water from a well situated in the middle of their compound house to bath. After bathing, she goes to dress, whiles her mum busily prepares breakfast for her. Wearing her clean school uniform and neat boots, she quickly devours her breakfast and walks briskly to her school, located about 400 metres from her home.

Mariah knows that once her daughter Jemila is off to school, she has enough time to engage in her income generating activities (Kulikuli production). "Jemila would have been a big burden on me if she were not in school. I would not have had enough time to engage in my kulikuli work whiles she was around. I am particularly glad that she is in Ii good school and is getting the best of preschool education. I want her to grow up to become somebody in future," she says.

Jemila is fortunate enough to be a member of a pioneer model nursery school in Gushiegu. The school is aimed at giving children a head-start in their education, to combat the poor results in later years. Jemila goes to the nursery school along with 24 other children - 16 girls and nine boys. The model nursery school was set up by Gushiegu-Karaga Area Development Programme (ADP) and commenced in September, 2002/2003.
The school is currently housed in the ADP's resource centre. ADP Manager, Gladys Atiah. says the ADP decided to start the model school in thc resource ccntrc with just a few children. to ensure quality education. She said these children would be taken through primary, JSS and SSS level.
Gladys Atiah says each child paid 50 pesewas admission fees, and are paying a monthly feeding fee of 1 Ghana cedis. The ADP is helping supplement this with 2 cedis per child. The ADP Manager says the children are fed a balanced midday meal each day. She says the timetable of the school was designed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the ADP to include Arithmetic, English, Religious and Moral Education and Singing. "The medium of instruction in the nursery is mainly English with a bit of Dagbani. I can see that the children are picking up fast. Whiles some can speak 'English, others are able to understand because they can translate what they have been told in English into Dagbani," she adds.
One important criterion for selection in to the model nursery is. “a child should have a weighing card and a birth certificate. This is to enable the school keep track of the health and nutritional development of each of the children.
Gladys Atiah, affectionately called Madam Kpiemah (Senior Madam) by the children, explains that the next academic year will have 75 children, split into three streams, and the school will be called “Bob Pierce Model Nursery School”. She says by that time the present class of 25 children will be in primary school.
Fortunately the district assembly has given land to World Vision Ghana to construct structures for the model schools. The ADP hopes to complete phase one of a four classroom block with a store, kitchen and office by the end of August 31 this year.
The model nursery is generating a lot of interest and enthusiasm among residents of Gushiegu, judging by the over 300 applications that are lying on the ADP Manager's table. John Nantogmah, the Human Resource Development officer at the GES in Gushiegu, confirms this by admitting that the model nursery is a showpiece among others in the district. He says that although there are about five nursery schools in Gushiegu, these schools experience supervision problems as the number of children far outweigh the number of teachers. John Nantogmah adds that these schools lack proper teaching and learning materials and the school structures are not the standard GES structures. "The ADP in starting in a modest way by giving quality education to the preschool age group, will entice workers on transfer to accept posting to the district".
He adds that GES hopes to organise a workshop for day care givers in the district by involving the teachers of the model nursery school. Mr. Nantogmah also says that in collaboration with the District Assembly, GES will post qualified teachers and Rural Education Volunteers to teach in the model schools. .

A Helping Hand Bears Fruits

It is one thing to have the knowledge, and another to have the resources to make that knowledge work.
When Bongo Area Development Programme (ADP) presented equipment and materials to 23 graduating Youth Skill Training Programme (YSTP) students, the aim was to see them properly settled in their communities and earning a living.
The donation - which totaled about 3400 Ghana cedis (US$4,250) - was given along with a cash injection of 50 Ghana cedis (US$62). Now, as we go back to see how some of the graduates are faring, the benefits are obvious.
One of the beneficiaries is Philomina Ayipaala. The 20 ­year-old is doing well in her weaving business in Bongo and is helping train others for their future careers.
After receiving a loom with accessories. some yarn and some cash from Bongo ADP, she decided to set up her shop in Bongo to earn a living. The shop, which she shares with her mum, is situated just a stone's throwaway from the ADP office. She has on sale in her shop beautiful designs of hand woven cloth for those who can afford.
"I want to thank my sponsors for helping me to complete ATMA weaving centre and to acquire a skill. If it were not for their kindness, I would have ended up somewhere down south as a kayaayoo (head porter). But now I am getting an income for myself." she says.
Philomina has also taken on an apprentice to train free of charge. Benedicta Atanga was also a Youth Skill Ttraining Programme YSTP) student but could not .complete her training because of pregnancy. She dropped out. but after' giving birth to a child, decided to join Philomina to finish her training.
"I must thank Philomina for accepting to take me on as an apprentice even though she just started. Now I hope to complete my weaving course with her," says Benedicta
Philomina says she hopes to train five girls each year but complains about accommodation. "Accomodation is a problem here. My shop is too small to take on additional trainees. I share the place with my mother. Again, marketing is my number one problem. The market here is not yet established," she says.
Twenty- five-year-oId Regina Aura is another YSTP beneficiary who is doing well. She is currently running a canteen at the Catholic Social Centre in Bongo. After undergoing a rigorous selection process, she was selected to run the canteen because of the training in catering services she got from the Women's Training Institute in Bolgatanga. She has been running the canteen for the past 4 months. She operates the canteen from Monday to Saturday. For her menu, she has Banku and Tuo Zaafi (maize meals), rice balls, rice with stew and light soup for sale. According to her, she plans to include Fufu (pounded yam), plantain with beans and yam to her menu in the future.
"I am able to sustain the business with the profit I make daily. I am able to make in a good day about 30% profit. My customers mostly come from workers of the District Assembly who patronise my meals," Regina reveals.
Regina also has two girls under her tutelage. They are 25-year-old Azumah Adongo and 16-year-old Ama Ayolo who have come to learn catering to secure their future. "We have come to learn how to cook. When we finish, we will also start our own businesses and train others to become like us," they say. .

The Travails of the Voiceless Widows

They are among Ghana's voiceless and marginalised. Most of them are above the age of 50, and most have no surviving spouse. None of them is male. They are poor, vulnerable and have no rich relatives to support them. For these "crimes", they have been segregated and isolated from society, confined to a camp.

One of them is 63-year-old Sanatu Asulo, who has been at the camp for one ­and-a-half years. Her 26-year-old daughter Lukaya has come to visit her in the camp. For the past four months, Lukaya has come often with her two sons, just to keep her mother company.
Sanatu, who hails from Nyon Gumah, has five surviving children, out of I 0 births ­two sons and three daughters. Her ordeal began when her older sister's sick son, Ibrahim. accused her of being the cause. Despite exonerating herself through two grueling trials by ordeal, Sanatu's life was still in danger in her community.
Her own son, Sulemana, brought her to the camp for safety. Ibrahim, however, died long after she had left the community for the camp. But there was to be no reprieve for Sanatu.
"If my husband were alive, none of this would have happened," she says, weeping. "I have no choice but to accept my situation and wait till my relatives come for me."
Women in these camps suffer gross stigmatisation. Outsiders call them witches. but the women themselves deny it. They say they have been framed because of hatred and envy. "I am not a witch. I know nothing about Ibrahim's sickness or death," Sanatu says.
"I can tell you that my mum is not a witch," adds Lukaya, clutching her youngest son.
Another who has faced the painful stigmatisation is Maimunatu, who has been at the camp for a month. Tears stream down her eyes as we interview her. Her story is so harsh, she has to abandon it halfway.
The conditions of camp itself are nothing to write home about. It is situated in Kpatinga and located about 500 metres away from Kpatinga community itself. Inmates of the camp share nothing in common with the community. The camp used to be much bigger, but was vandalised during the 1994 conflict between the Dagombas and the Komkombas. Some of the inmates lost their lives.
An overlord, a man called Musah from Karaga, is the ieader of the Tindanzeei camp in Kpatinga, lording it over the 27 widows wh') live there. The women sleep on the bare ground, in round poorly-built huts. They provide labour (farming) for the landlord in return for the shelter he provides, but otherwise fend for themselves. They
experience various difficulties including lack of water and health care.
There are two other camps in Gushiegu-Karaga district, located in Gushiegu and Nayilfong. The Gushiegu camp is called "Ganaa" and has 7 inmates, while the camp in Nayilfong has 13.
This practice of segregating widows as witches is embedded in the male-dominated culture of the people. When women marry, they move into their husband's homes. In the event that their husband dies, they have to revert to their father's home where they can remarry. However. this is not possible when they are too old.
. Consequently. in their father's house. they have to be catered for by their brothers. That is where the conflict starts. Their brothers' wives see them as competing with them for the scarce resources, which are not available, of their husband. They are therefore seen as a burden to be gotten rid off.
The situation is ripe for any trouble. The absence of medical facilities means children will always fall sick. Once this occurs, the family put the blame on the poor old lady, and she is banished from the community and sent to the camp designated for witches.
World Vision Ghana in Gushiegu­Karaga discovered the plight of these unfortunate women and has been sending them Gifts in Kind (GIK), soap, clothing and is even planning to provide them mats to sleep on. The Area Development Programme (ADP) has also arranged with the Ghana Health Services to attend to them but the problem is the health workers are unwilling to visit them in their camp.
The long-term plan of the ADP is to resettle them or to reconcile them with their relatives. Indeed one of them has already been reconciled with her son through the efforts ofthe ADP.
She is Teni Dalabra who was ostracised for the past 24 years. She started of in the camp in Kpatinga but later run to the Ganaa camp when the war started in 1994. Due to her deteriorating health, the ADP visited her son, Sumani Dalabra, and convinced him to accept his mum back which he did. This was made possible because Sumani was able to put up his own house with which he settled his mum. The reconciliation process is ongoing and many more will be reconciled with their families.
The ADP is also planning to rehabilitate them by acquiring land to construct chalets for them.

Children’s Assembly held in Tolon-Kumbungu District

Over 1000 children drawn from 13 primary and Junior secondary schools in 6 communities of the Tolon Kumbungu district have attended a Children’s Assembly/ Pre Christmas Party held in Kasuliyili, organized by Baptist Child Development Program and sponsored by Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) at a total cost of about 24 million cedis. The aim of the Children’s Assembly was to bring children from different schools and communities to interact with one another, exhibit their talents through poetry recitals, cultural displays, games and drama, which are the preserve of children living in cities, in order to build the confidence of the children to compete favorably with those in cities. It was also used as an opportunity to talk about Child Rights which is a problem in the communities in order to promote peace for development in those communities.Speaking at a durbar of parents, teachers and pupils organised to commemorate the Children’s Assembly, the Tolon Kumbungu District Director of Education, Yakubu Asani said that he was very thankful to the government for instituting the capitation grant to enable children of all classes to go to school. He therefore informed all parents to send their children to school because it was an offence not to send their children to school. The director advised the children not only to go to school but stay in school as well and cautioned teachers of the district to attend school regularly and not waste teaching time.The Programs Manager of CCFC, Paul Kofi Twene, on behalf of the Country Director stated that the children’s Assembly was very important because it is an opportunity for the children to participate in the activities and work of Baptist Child Development Program and CCFC because participation is an important aspect of the UN convention on the Rights of the Child. He said CCFC is interested in children participating because it is an international development organization addressing the needs of children in economically poor areas and is a member of ChildFund International — a child-focused alliance of international organizations who create significant changes in the lives of impoverished children, families, and communities, spending over $400 million U.S. in over 55 countries. At the end of it all, the children were treated to a hot meal of rice and some soft drinks. In a similar development, CCFC through its partners, Markas Al Bishara in the Tamale Metropolis and Presbyterian Farmers’ and Child Development Program in East Gonja district has feted on separate occasions about 8,152 children from 16 primary and Junior Secondary Schools to a Christmas party at a total cost of over 47 million cedis. Each child received biscuits, fan pop, fan yogo and kalyppo as part of the Christmas party.

17 Communities get Health Planning Service Compound

A forty five (45) thousand Ghana cedi Community Based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compound has been built and commissioned, through a collaborative partnership between Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), World Servants, Assemblies of God and Relief Services (AGREDS), Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Dapkam Community for the people of Dapkam in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region.The CHPS compound will serve about 17 communities in and around Dapkam. For years the people of Dakpam and its environs had to cover several kilometres to Bimbilla or Salaga to visit a hospital for treatment and sometimes people succumbed to illnesses because of the distance and lack of money for transport. Whiles World Servants provided funds for the construction of the block, CCFC through its Nanumba Child Development Program with AGREDS assisted with a motor bike, a freezer, an 8 seater KVIP and a bath/urinary. It also provided 10 benches, 2 desks and chairs, some internal fittings such as doors, louvre frames and blades, ceiling fans and 5 beds to the facility at a cost of about thirteen thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC 13000).Addressing a durbar to mark the commissioning of the CHPS compound, the Executive Director of AGREDS, Joseph Wumbee stated that the CHPS compound stood as a proud landmark shoulder to shoulder with other CHPS compounds in the country. He said patients who were already visiting the compound were only the first of many people who would benefit from the health care facility. The Executive Director added that the facility, built with funding from World Servants and assistance from CCFC, would serve all people irrespective of socio-political affiliation.Speaking on behalf of the Country Director of CCFC, the Communications Manager of CCFC, Justin Bayor, said that the CHPS compound was a reflection of the fact that partnership and collaboration yielded great dividends to communities, women and their children. He stated that the compound was a manifestation of great collaboration between CCFC, AGREDS, World Servants, MOH and Dapkam without which it would never have come into fruition. The Communications Manager called for greater collaboration between institutions and communities to bring wonderful projects like the Dakpam project to deprived communities.The Nanumba North District Director of Health, Madam Tia on her part, revealed that the CHPS compound in Dakpam will enable the GHS deliver quality door to door service to the people of Dakpam and its neighbouring communities. She commended the Regional health directorate for their immense contribution towards the establishment of the CHPS compound in Dakpam and advised the community to patronise the facility.

Hand Washing Organised to Mark World Water Day

Christian Children’s Fund of Canada in collaboration with its partner organisation, Tuma Kavi has organised a hand washing workshop for over 100 members of its Child to Child Health and Environmental clubs drawn from three communities in the Savelugu Nanton district in order to mark World Water Day. The day which was marked under the theme “Sanitation Matters” was used to highlight the importance of keeping our environment clean. World water day is a day set aside to bring global and local attention to issues of water stress,water-related disasters and poor water quality. Lack of safe water and adequate sanitation is the world’s single largest cause of illness. World Water Day is a therefore a unique opportunity to draw attention to the crisis and to create momentum that compels goverments, the international community, civil society and individuals to take action.Over 2.6 billion people, including 980 million children, live without proper sanitation and every 20 seconds on average, a child dies as a direct result. Poor basic hygeine practices, especially among children, are a major contributing factor to these deaths. Diarrhieal diseases, a direct result of poor sanitation and hygiene, kill over 1 million children every year. Simple, proper hand-washing with water and soap or ash can reduce the incidence of the disease by up to 50 percent.The children were taught lessons on proper hand washing techniques, lessons on the use of new hand washing stations before eating and lessons on how to build low cost hand washing stations. The aim was to let them act as catalyst for initiating student-led suatainable hand washing programs in schools and reduce in the incidence of diarrhoea. Speaking to the particiapants of the workshop, the Leader of the District Health and Sanitation Team of Savelugu-Nanton district, S.I Tahiru, reminded the children to keep their environment clean and to always wash their hands regularly. The Team Leader said it was not only important for them to wash their hands regularly but also wash their hands with soap, most especially after visiting the toilet. He said if they washed their hands properly with soap, they would reduce the diseases that affected them by 30 percent.The Country Director of Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), Sanatu Nantogma said that children are the top priority of CCFC and so the organisation shall consistently advocate for the right of children through providing their needs, protecting them against abuse of any form and making them participate in decisions and actions that affect them. She stated that “encouraging children to wash hands as it is being done today is a step towards reducing dysentery, diarrhoea and trachoma, which are water borne and water related diseases”. The Country Director added that "choosing a day as today to hold this workshop for the Child To Child (CTC) groups is a very good way of commemorating World Water Day, especially focusing on children as a way of propagating the message on sanitation and hand washing". At the end of the workshop, CTC groups were given practical lessons on how to wash their hands properly with soap.

Sixty Mothers Undergo Wean-mix Training

Gumani Child Care and Family Helper Program (GCCFHP) of Markaz Al Bishara in conjunction with its main funding partner, Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), has organized a day’s wean-mix training for 60 mothers from six communities in the Tamale Metropolitan Area. The training was prompted in part by the realization by GCCFHP that some mothers in their program area were preparing wean-mix flour under unhygienic conditions and were akin to preparing only one type of wean-mix flour. It was also realized that some mothers were not using the right proportions of foodstuff to prepare their wean-mix flour.Thus at the training, the mothers were schooled on how to prepare three different types of wean-mix flour from a combination of maize, soya bean, millet, beans, groundnut and herrings in the right proportions and under hygienic conditions. Speaking further on the purpose of the training, a nurse from the District Health Management Team of the Tamale Metropolitan Health Directorate, Madam Faustina Vimaraba, said that the training was to teach the mothers how to use cheap and locally available foodstuff to prepare wean-mix flour and to teach them how to combine these foodstuff in a proportionate manner to obtain the best wean-mix flour. She said the training also taught the mothers the importance of wean-mix to the growth of their children as well as the need to combine cereals and legumes to make the wean-mix flour. Speaking on the essence of the training, the Country Director of CCFC, Sanatu Nantogma, said that CCFC focuses more on children and to achieve the target, CCFC gives more direct benefits to children who are the top priority. The Country Director stated that CCFC consistently advocates for the rights of children through providing their needs, protecting them against abuse of any form and encouraging them participate in decisions and actions that affect them. Madam Sanatu Nantogma added that “It is for this reason that this wean-mix training is very crucial to us because we cannot attain our objectives if the children in the communities where we operate are malnourished and unhealthy. The end result that we expect from this training is for the children in our communities to be well nourished and healthy”.After the training the mothers were taught how to prepare porridge and Apapransa (local meal) from the flour. A beneficiary of the training, Maame Zakaria of Gumani community revealed that the training was good because it would not only improve the health of her two and a half year old son Abdul Rauf, but would keep her entire family healthy and strong. She said she learnt new methods of making wean-mix flour and what measurements to use when making her flour. The mother added that “I am a petty trader and now I can make wean mix porridge to sell for an additional income”. In another development, CCFC through its partner, Markaz Al Bishara in Gumani Child Care and Family Helper Program (GCCFHP), has made a donation worth over a thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,000) to the Mabihigu Association in Tamale. Mabihigu Association, with a membership of 170, is an association of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWH) based at Sherkinah clinic in Tamale. The donation comprised the payment of Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢500) to the Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital to cover drugs for 100 of their members in Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) for one month and 20 bags of rice worth about five hundred Ghana cedis (GHC 500) for distribution to members of their group. Receiving the donation, the President of the Association, Kofi Tetteh, expressed his profound appreciation to CCFC and GCCFHP for the kind gesture extended to the group and assured that the donation would be used in the best way possible to the benefit of their members.