News Update on all our work in Ghana
From intrepid exploration to providing major funding to build a Kindergarten

A long drive to Ghana ...

A 10,000 mile overland journey to Ghana & back, passing through Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso & Ghana. The trip will be by a specially prepared Land Rover and will take approximately 3 months.

The journey will be used as both a fund-raising exercise (target £10,000) and also an educational resource with local schools being involved in the preparation, planning and monitoring of progress via the Internet. Departure date scheduled for 2007.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT IAN & JANE'S SPONSORSHIP PAGE

The Kindergarten back in 2001

The Kindergarten under construction 2004

Cooking lunch outside the new Kindergarten

UPDATE AUGUST 2005:

We are pleased to finally confirm the actual completion of St James Anglican Kindergarten after a final £1500 had been wired out to compensate for the rise in inflation. Our visit last month saw the final touches being made, with our own hands on work painting the interior of the Kindergarten. Followed by an official commissioning ceremony.

The final result is overwhelming.

The new building comprising of:

• 3 classrooms (including the addition of a nursery)
• staff and store room
• kitchen (complete with daily menu to ensure the children get at least one good meal a day)
• girls and boys toilets and a stool room.

This project has been on going since 2001 when I (Naomi) felt inspired to raise funds to rebuild the Kindergarten during a visit to the Junior Secondary School and hence initiated the fund-raising projects of which Cornwall & Devon Online have been major supporters and contributors. Please visit www.ghanachild.org for more in-depth information.

Kindergarten with HIPC Primary School & JSS in the background

As a result of the recent development in the village of Agona Swedru, with both the Junior Secondary School (JSS) and the Kindergarten projects being completed we are pleased to report that the Primary School has been rebuilt by means of the HIPC scheme (Highly Impoverished Poor Country) whereby interest on money borrowed by Ghana from the World Bank has been frozen on condition that it is repaid into the infrastructure of a community such as Agona Swedru.

Money attracts Money
Development attracts Development.

UPDATE APRIL 2005:

The finishing touches are now being completed, costs were higher than previously estimated due to inflation. A final £1500 has been wired out to ensure the completion of the project. The balance from the building fund will used to furnish and equip the Kindergarten.

JSS Before in 2001

JSS After

Ghana Schools Project Update - January 2004

The good news is that all three stages of the Ghana Schools Project are now nearing completion.
There is no bad news!

In February 2004, Ian & Naomi will be returning to Ghana to see the Kindergarten project its current stage and assess the final touches.

To bring you up to speed, in January 2001, Jane (Ian's partner) a teacher at Liskeard School & Community College went out to Ghana to set up a link between St James' Junior Secondary School and Liskeard School & Community College. Since then the linking program has blossomed. Over the last three years we have seen a regular exchange of letters, joint curriculum exercises, the building of 3 classrooms and a new Kindergarten.

In March 2003:

Richard Mensah Attah (headmaster) and Edward Mensah (senior teacher) visited the UK for three weeks working in schools in Cornwall and the West Midlands. This was a highly successful visit with much learnt on all counts.

We have just been informed the the new Kindergarten (KG) is now complete. In October 2001 Naomi (Ian's daughter) took up the challenge to raise the funds to build a replacement KG. The existing building was of mud block construction and showing the ravages of time and a tropical climate. In the last 2 years with the help of supporters and sponsorship from Cornwall & Devon Online the funds have been raised and the building completed.