I CAN READ AND WRITE

MY STORY

I was born in Accra–Ghana, into a circle of polygamy family and absolute poverty.

I feel very blessed and content with my life which is underpinned by the saying “In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success”, although, there was a time in my life when I couldn’t imagine my dreams come true.

At a very tender age, I walked in the streets of Accra-Ghana feeling that I was rather walking in a desert island shouting for help with no support from the state, no children social service to turn to, no reliable family to depend on, hopelessly wishing to become a lawyer in future.

Mum had just returned to Ghana from very successful years, but later a painful struggle in Nigeria, everything had fallen apart, mum is suddenly a single mother of five and homeless. The frustration mounted on us (her children) and we became prematurely independent. With constant tears and sorrow in my heart, my greatest fear was not what I will eat the next day, but who I will become someday. The echoes of life lead me to the deep ends of a stormy sea at a tender age. This wasn’t what I dreamt of, my fairy dream of one day becoming a Lawyer was about to be swept away into dark clouds. I was innocently vulnerable, it was hard and dark but I survived.

Although, studying law didn’t go well for me, today I am a proud Social Worker and a Public Health Educator, because someone elevated me from a helpless situation and gave me hope.

To give back to children who are experiencing similar situation like I suffered, I am passionately committed to help every abandoned child that I come across to protect their vulnerabilities. With your help, we will care and support abandoned children in significant risk, reduce their risk and help them reach their potentials in life (Julie A-G Fiamavle).

A nation that protects and shield its children with wisdom, invest immensely in how the country’s resources are arranged, the wisdom we give to our children will preserve their lives, our own lives and the lives of four generations to come. Thus, a ripple effect on their community, country and the world at large.

– Julie A-G Fiamavle

PROMOTE EDUCATION AND HEALTHY CHILD DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA-AFRICA

Ghana is Located in the continent of Africa, in the sub-region of sub-Saharan West Africa country. A fast-growing population with limited resources for basic education and health development for children and young people. the population of Ghana was estimated to be 28, 516, 866 and projected to increase to 29, 088, 849 by the year 2018. 36.5 percent (equivalent to 10, 356, 143 in figure) of the population are children and young people under the age of 15. 60 percent of the population are young children and adults between the age of 15 to 64, and the rest of the 3.5 are older adults from age 65 plus. 66.7 percent of the population are not in the labour force, these include young children and adults from the age of 15 to 64. Child dependency ratio in Ghana is 60.8 %. Education attainment in Ghana varies across regions, people from the Southern urban areas tend to be more literate, compared to the less literates from the Northern rural areas of the country.

Source: The estimation data for section “Ghana population literacy” is based on the latest data published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (retrieved 2/3/ 2017, via http://countrymeters.info/en/Ghana)

FACTORS INFLUENCING SCHOOL EXCLUSION ARE

Over 400,000 Ghanaian children are out of school

Children are not enrolled due to lack of statutory enforcement to abolish child labour, lack of social system designated for children educational welfare, lack of teacher and resources to ensure appropriate basic leaning such as reading, writing and numeracy skills, lack of school in their communities, lack of interest and poverty. In some cases, Children are at risk of dropping out of school due to challenges of extreme poverty, young carer responsibilities and cultural devaluing of girls in certain communities.

HOW DOES EDUHOPE SUPPORT CHILDREN’S EDUCATION?.

We believe that every child deserves the right to basic elementary and secondary school education and healthy development, this is a fundamental Human right. Good early stage in education and healthy development of a child, regardless of their gender, culture and beliefs paves the way for any nation to secures successful and production future leaders within their communities. However, in Ghana-west African like many other developing countries, children who come from a wealthy home have the opportunity to attend a private school, which is often a quality education offered at an expensive price, compared to children from poor background who often attend a public school which is said to be free but with non-or very minimal resources, it has therefore, become a sigma to attend a public school as it is deemed the worst place for effective early educational and child developmental needs. Our aim is to provide a healthy start for less privileged children in Ghana, through quality educational needs that meets the standard of a private school to bridge the rate of inequality in childhood education and in an environment, that support healthy early development. Children are incline to transits from dependency to increasing autonomy. Developmental milestones are defined as norms in relation to the things most children can do by certain age. The early stage of a child’s life, from nursery and preschool age 0 to 4 tend to affect their future physical, cognitive, emotional and social development. The ecological environment of a child will determine how a child play, learn, speak and behave.

As the Ghanaian Akan Adages goes: The older ones look after their young once to develop healthy teeth, and in turn, the young once look after the old once when they start to lose their teeth.

For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it (Ecclesiastes 7:12)

– Julie A-G Fiamavle

In Ghana- West Africa, the government has repeatedly tried to recognise the importance of early-stage education, unfortunately, this has not been successful due to constant changes in government administrations. Thus, there is no social system to support child development programme. This means that families who cannot afford to pay for their children’s early stage learning, miss out. Children who do not have families or carers are most vulnerable but mainly forgotten in plain places by the government. Voluntary organisations are left to support children within their communities. These organisations are often unskilled, lack knowledge and resources that are necessary to stimulate the early childhood development.
We will train and support other voluntary organisation to enable them to give adequate care and support to the children under their care.

All donations will be used to support pre-school to secondary school programme in facilitating new school building, employ teachers, provide learning and teaching materials, provide healthy school meals and clean drinking water, provide school uniform and clothing for children who need them. This will help to support the children in a holistic manner that meets all their basic need.

Our books collection campaign ‘I can read and write’ has been very effective for the past 7 years in collecting quality UK standard of books to support children in Ghana- West Africa. This will help to meet the standard of a private school programme by ensuring that qualified teachers are adequately trained and well skilled.

All volunteers will be trained at their level of needs and supported to improve their knowledge and skills, this will eventually promote employment within the scheme.

We work in collaboration with Social Workers, Teachers, Health Professional, Private Organisations, Voluntary Organisations and the Police to ensure that children receive holistic care and support underpinned by the Children’s Rights and Human Rights Acts.

All volunteers will be trained at their level of needs and supported to improve their knowledge and skills, this will eventually promote employment within the scheme. We work in collaboration with Social Workers, Teachers, Health Professional, Private Organisations, Voluntary Organisations and the Police to ensure that children receive holistic care and support underpinned by the Children’s Rights and Human Rights Acts.

NEW SCHOOL BUILDING AND BOOKS COLLECTION PROJECT FOR CHILDREN OF GHANA- AFRICA

Nursery and preschool age 0 to 5
Primary age 6 to 11 (Key stage 1 and 2)
Junior and Senior Secondary age 11 to 15 (Ordinary level GCSE Books)
Advance level Secondary age 16 to 18 (A ‘level GCSE Books)

Let us invest in the wisdom, knowedge and understanding of our children while we are strong, for it is greater than gold and any money that mordern slavery can bring. Please stop child abuse and child labour. Instead guide their paths with quality education.

– Julie A-G Fiamavle

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