CIDA President Commends CCFC

The President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Margaret Biggs, has commended Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) for their work in the north.  She said that CCFC’s work shows what can be achieved when Canada collaborates with Ghana.

The CIDA President made the comments when a team from CIDA accompanied by the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Darren Schemmer, paid a visit to a women’s shea butter pressing project in Kanvilli. The project was co-funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and CCFC Canada and implemented by Markaz Al Bishara, a partner organization of CCFC.

Margaret Biggs stated that the project shows what women can do when they take charge of their lives and it also showed what they can do when they group together as partners on behalf of their families.  She wished the women success in their endeavors and in the marketing of their products.

The CIDA team also comprised Christine Hogan, Vice President for CIDA, Barbara Brown, Head of Programs for West and Central Africa of CIDA, Michael Gort, Director of Development Co-operation of CIDA Ghana, Janice McDonald, Deputy Director of Development Co-operation of CIDA Ghana and Vida Assum-Buti, Senior development Officer of CIDA Ghana.

The Canadian High Commissioner, Darren Schemmer on his part lauded the spirit of hard work exhibited by the over thirty women working under the Kanvilli shea butter processing project.  He expressed his happiness at the site of professionalism shown by the women in processing the shea nuts from the early stages to the end product.

Briefing the visiting Canadian team, the Country Director of CCFC Ghana, Mrs. Nantogmah Sanatu, said that the establishment of the Micro Enterprise Development (MED) project under CCFC sought to minimize money wastage by avoiding exorbitant interest rates in the villages, provide better access to credit, revitalize indigenous mutual support systems and set up a common fund to provide better access to credit. She stated that it was also intended to improve the health and living conditions of families and provide a regular source of income for women.  

The Kanvilli Shea Butter Processing Project, a branch of the MED program  under Markaz Al-Bishara, was set up at a cost of about 1,400 Ghana cedis in 2006.  It is made up of over thirty women under the name Suglo Nboru Buni Shea Butter Processing Group. Through the initiative of the shea butter project, the women have not only improved upon their shea butter making business, but they have also been trained in loan management, records keeping, personal hygiene as well as soap and pomade making. 

 

                              

CCFC Marks 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 opporturnity  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 hygeeine 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 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 not only was it 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.

 

Children’s Fund Commissions Children’s Centre

The Gushiegu District Director of Education in Ghana, Edward Asakya, has commended the Christian Children Fund of Canada (CCFC) for complementing government efforts in the development of education in the district. He said government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of providing educational infrastructure and so it is in the right direction that CCFC is supporting government.  He made the remarks at the commissioning of a 36,477.00 Ghana cedis Bill Proctor Children's Center in Kutung in the Gushiegu District.  The facility is also endowed with two rain water harvesting tanks, play equipment, furniture and a feeding center where the children would be provided with a meal a day.

In an address, the Country Director of CCFC Ghana, Mrs Sanatu Nantugma said the aim of her outfit is to address the needs of children in deprived areas. She noted that the Millennium Development Goal number two seeks to achieve a universal primary education through ensuring that all girls and boys complete a full course of primary education.  She added that it is for this reason that CCFC in collaboration with Markaz Al-Bishara, a local partner NGO of CCFC, have come to the aid of the people of Kutung to promote the achievement of the MDGs in Kutung.  Madam Sanatu noted that Kutung and its environs in the Gushiegu District are plagued with myriad of developmental problems such as low illiteracy rate due to lack of proper educational facilities, lack of safe drinking water among others. The Country Director disclosed that the center was funded by a Canadian Philanthropist couple in memory of their late son, Bill Proctor.

In a speech read on behalf his behalf by a representative, the District Chief Executive of Gushiegu District, Abukari Mahama said education is the key to the development of any nation and the children of Kutung can not have a secured future if they are not educated. He added that it is therefore essential and vital for children to be targeted so that they can develop and contribute their quota to the development of the country. The DCE charged the people of Kutung to take the opportunity offered them by CCFC and produce the future doctors, engineers and other professionals that the nation needs.

The chief of Kutung, Yakubu Adam on his part thanked CCFC for the numerous support they have offered his community and appealed to other NGO to emulate the example shown by CCFC.

The DCE's representative later inaugurated a Child to Child Health Club and cut the tape to commission the school.

CCFC Improves Education In Tolon

The District Director of Ghana Education Service in Tolon-Kumbungu of the Northern Region, Yakuba Assani, has praised Christian Children's Fund of Canada, a Canadian based registered charity and child-centered international development organization, for her immense contribution to educational development in the district. 

“I have been tracking the improvement of Kasuliyili in the BECE results and I have seen that with each passing year, the school children are continuing to do better and better.  For 2008, Kasuliyili presented 50 candidates with 47 passing completely and for the first time, 31 students gained admission into senior high schools”, the District Director disclosed.

Yakubu Assani made these comments when Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) in conjunction with its partner organization, Baptist Child Development Program, made a presentation of educational materials, worth over GHC 9.500.00, to about 600 school children in 5 community schools of the Tolon Kumbungu district.  The beneficiary communities are Kasuliyili, Zali, Kunguri, Wantugu, and Lingbun Kundaa.

He stated that for instance, Kasuliyili in 2006 presented 37 candidates, out of which 70 percent passed completely and placed 13^th among schools in the district.  The district director also said that in 2007, Kasuliyili presented 47 candidates, out of which 85.1 passed completely and placed 9^th among schools in the district.

The Country Director of CCFC, Mrs. Sanatu Nantogma on her part said that it has become “a yearly affair for Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) and its partner, Baptist Child Development Program to offer support to schools and school children in the Kasuyili area.  We are doing this because we are committed to promoting education among deprived communities and to meeting the objectives of MDG 2, which seeks to achieve universal primary education for all by 2015”.

Mrs. Sanatu Nantogma stated it should however not be taken for granted that CCFC’s assistance to schools will continue to come. She said that a time will come in the future when this support will cease.  The Country Director said that CCFC had identified a gap in education in the areas of Early Childhood Development and Youth Skill Development and was therefore taking steps towards solving the gap in the not too distant future.  She therefore urged members of the communities, to start putting in place alternatives ways of supporting their children in school long after CCFC’s support had ceased. 

In a welcome address, the Program Coordinator for Baptist Child Development Program (BCDP), James Amadu, said that CCFC through BCDP is currently supporting 13 volunteer in the UTTDBE program, paying the fees for 46 students in SHS and Nurses Training Colleges, paying the monthly allowances for 11 volunteer teachers as well as presenting school supplies to the schools in the area. 

He said the school supplies included 8000 Note 1 books, 6000 ‘A’ series, pens, pencils, library books, school uniforms and tables. The Coordinator advised the children to utilise the items judiciously.

Over 425 School Girls Receive Hygiene Kits

Over 425 school girls in about 20 communities, aged between 13 and 20, have each received a hygiene kit at a total cost of 5, 362.00 Ghana Cedis from Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC), a Canadian based registered charity and child-centered international development organization.

 

The aim of the hygiene kit project is to increase personal hygiene among teenage girls in Senior Primary and Junior High Schools and to increase awareness of proper hygiene behaviors among the teenage girls within CCFC’s operational areas. It also seeks to transform knowledge into behavior by actively following up with the beneficiaries.

CCFC made the donations through five of its partner organizations located in the Tamale Metropolis, Savelugu-Nanton, Tolon-Kumbungu, East Gonja and Nanumba North districts.  Each girl received cakes of soap, a tooth brush, tooth paste, a nail clipper, a shaving stick, pockets of razor blades, sanitary pads and Dettol (disinfectant).

Interacting with the girls in the Tamale Metropolis, the Country Director of CCFC, Mrs. Sanatu Nantogma advised them to keep their bodies and surroundings clean, shave their pubic hair and trim their nails regularly, take their bath and wash their mouths everyday as well as keep themselves clean during menstruation. The Country Director also educated them on good community sanitation practices, prevention of teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. She admonished them not to litter the environment after use of the hygiene products but dispose of them in an environmentally friendly manner.

 

After receiving her hygiene kit, 19 year old form three student of Kalpohine Anglican JHS, Abdulai Fawzia disclosed that she was more than pleased to have received the kit. She thanked CCFC for the education on personal hygiene that was given to her.  Fawzia said that before this she had limited knowledge of personal hygiene and therefore engaged in unsafe personal hygiene practices such as sharing nail clippers with friends.  She revealed that due to her poor personal hygiene practice, her confidence in school was always low and this affected her academic performance.  

 

CCFC hopes that the project will help the girls improve their personal hygiene and hence their confidence in their communities, improve their participation in community activities, motivate them to continue to improve their personal hygiene and encourage them to teach their peers and siblings about personal hygiene.