Afrikids Trip to Tamale Operations in Ghana October 2007
I have been back to Ghana only intermittently since my childhood when my family first left for political reasons in the late Seventies, following the first coup attempt by Jerry Rawlings. I was born there and both my parents are Ghanaian and therefore with so much family still there, both direct and extended, my ties with the country will never be severed.
Most recently, I had come to Ghana in March to participate in the anniversary of the 50th year of the country’s independence from its colonial masters. It was the first time I had been for a number of years and it was a truly wonderful experience to see so much joy and happiness during the celebratory period. Dancing on the streets; cars blowing their horns at every opportunity; men, women and children all in their full regalia for the event; long official speeches and breezy afternoons chatting to relatives about what it was like 50 years ago when Nkrumah first liberated the country and started a chain of events that led to a plethora of other African countries seeking their independence over the next 30 years.
Coming to Ghana in October was therefore a very different experience in many ways. I was coming both because I was Ghanaian and because I wanted to see and understand more about this charity so focused on my own country and because I had promised a very old friend I would do so on his behalf. When I had come to Ghana in March, I was in Accra, the capital (and also the South), visiting friends and family. This time, I was going to the North, to Tamale and Bolgatanga to visit the AfriKids operations.
I had no real preconceptions of what Tamale and the north would be like. Indeed, it is fair to say that I have never been to the north and many of the Ghanaians I know have spent most of their lives in the more prosperous south, and in particular Accra and Kumasi. Ghana has robust economic prospects, a strong and transparent democratic process and a good literacy rate relative to the rest of the Continent. However, it is still a poor country and there is more poverty concentrated in the north relative to the south.
Although there are a number of tribes across the country, spoken English is omnipresent in Accra and Kumasi but less so in the north. Ghana also has a maelstrom of religions and it is a credit to the country that there is absolute tolerance practiced across the board and everyone lives quite happily next to each other, oblivious to religion. While in the south there is a slightly higher concentration of Christian faith, both Anglican and Catholic, in the north there is a slightly higher concentration of Moslems
My first introduction to Tamale was the beaming Dramani who picked me up at the airport for the drive to Bolgatanga where we would see the rest of the AfriKids operation. Dramani’s first great love is “country & western” music (don’t ask me how or why he first came across it) and so it was a slightly strange experience to cross the green and intermittently lush spectacle of Tamale to the sound of Dolly Parton’s “Working Nine-to-Five”.
I was excited and enthralled by the prospect of being in the north to see this charity, more so because I was a “man on a mission”. Consequently, I was keen to pepper Dramani with questions about what he did for the charity, who were the people he helped, what were the most severe problems faced, as well as the usual glib questions about whether the current government was doing enough? He answered each question with aplomb and a flashing smile. His underlying message was a simple one. When people fall over, you should help to pick them up. There was no great sense from him that this was charity work, per se. He was simply helping his people. There was a very strong sense of duty, honour and personal well-being from what he was doing.
I could see this man’s enthusiasm for what he did. I could see this man’s drive to help his fellow people to better their own lives. This was my first introduction to Afrikids and Dramani was highly representative of all the key staff within the organization as a whole.
Having then arrived at the lodge where we were all staying, I was introduced to a number of other people who were on the trip to view Afrikids’s activities across the area and to Georgie Feinberg, the remarkable woman who first started AfriKids in 2003 shortly after university. I use the word “remarkable” because from scratch she has built a fantastic organization where there are not only a young and committed group of individuals raising money and running the organization from the UK but where there is a strong network of Ghanaians running the various projects at the local level. In total the charity has raised over £2m and has 21 projects reaching out to thousands of children all over the country.
Over the two to three days I was there, a saw a number of different projects and met a number of different people. The main events and projects were as follows:
The Zuarungu Children’s Centre School – We visited a school that is clearly of huge benefit to the local community. 350 pupils attend the school with an age for the children of two to twelve. What I found most endearing about the school was not only the earnest desire to learn from all the children, it wasn’t just the fact that some children walk for miles and miles each day to attend, it wasn’t just the enthusiasm and diligence of the teachers but it was rather a very clear sense of progress. Essentially the school represents a vehicle for progress since it provides the best means to move away from simple subsistence farming. Asking some of the children what they wanted to be some would answer doctors and some would answer teachers. Class sizes were 25 on average with clear attention for all the children. Indeed, the results of the school are amongst the best in the region. Afrikids will use any further money raised to hire more staff/ build more classes, buy more books etc.
Mama Laadi’s – One of the most interesting people I met during the trip was a lady called Mama Laadi. To me she represents a latter day Mother Theresa. Mama Laadi runs a house on behalf of Afrikids that now looks after over 60 children. ML basically takes in any children that desperately need a roof over their heads or food. The children then look after each other, attend school, and have ML for pastoral guidance. Some of the children that she found had been wondering the streets alone for days or had even been raped in some cases. Some come knocking on the door because they have nowhere else to go. Essentially the common theme is children in desperation or being left totally destitute without a helping hand. Therefore ML helps sixty children to come alive again. Sixty children become human beings again. By coming under her love and supervision they join her family where they are safe, well-fed and have prospects for learning. On the day that we arrived, perhaps the most heart-wrenching sight was the newest arrival at the centre, a little baby girl less than one year of age that had been left at the front door of the house. Her family were obviously so utterly helpless that they clearly felt that this little girl had a better chance of survival and living well under ML’s household than in theirs. All the children are doing well and virtually all live as part of a greater family for a greater good. Importantly, ML keeps accounts of where every last penny is spent and is said to have the best accounts of all the projects. Afrikids will use any money raised to continue support for this amazing family, build an extension to the house so more children can be housed as well develop local businesses so that the home can one day fund itself .
Operation Fresh Start - One of the most innovative projects designed to improve the education of the region was Operation Fresh Start. Although it was early evening, we jumped into the Angus mobile where we were driven to the middle of a small community. As we got closer to our destination, we heard dance music being played fairly enthusiastically. As the crowd descended upon us, the real purpose of the journey became apparent. The music is used to attract locals and then they are given educational messages on a variety of different things from Aids to not leaving the north to go to Kumasi where. What I loved about this project was the simplicity and efficacy of the idea and the very direct means for building a platform to get a message across. Kumasi is further south and to many in the north there is often the perception that work and the good life is abundant there i.e. “that the streets are paved with gold”. The reality is much more harsh however, and many that decide to make their way down there find themselves either falling into prostitution or living in tin huts, jammed like the proverbial sardine.
The Sirigu Child Rights’ Centre is the Afrikids project that the ALMT will be most closely associated with going forward. If children are either disabled or in many cases just very different, they are often described as “spirit children” and then simply abandoned by the community and forced to fend for themselves. This is clearly built from ignorance as much as it is from poverty but it still leads to an extremely disturbing practice. The centre will be used to educate young women and mothers about looking after children with disabilities as well as building sources of micro-finance in the area. ALMT will be integral in building and funding the centre. During my trip, this was perhaps where we received our warmest and most vociferous reception. Due to the considerable work Afrikids has already undertaken in the area, and due to the fact we were opening the centre that day by laying the first few bricks of the centre, the community was kind enough to show their appreciation both through gifts, dancing and singing. Along with the local elders, I personally laid the first few bricks on behalf of ALMT in the midst of much celebration. I believe this centre will act as an important avenue for much due care and guidance in the community and I have no doubt that the money raised for the centre will be extremely well-spent.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning in passing the annual awards ceremony that AfriKids has for all its employees and its extended family. I loved the fact that this event simply existed because I felt it was a wonderful and very clever way of showing recognition for hard work. I felt it was also an excellent way for all the different projects and people behind the projects to bond, share ideas and create incentives for continued hard work on the behalf of the local communities. It made me very proud to be a Ghanaian to see how so many people were prepared to work so hard for each other and were happy to share so much in the pursuit of the greater good. While it sounds glib and clichéd to refer to this “awards ceremony” almost as if it was team-building exercise, to me it just seemed like a wonderful celebration of everything that the charity was about – kind and strong people working together to help those around them.
In conclusion then there are three main reasons that I would be a strong advocate of AfriKids and everything that the ALMT does to support it:
- It is an extremely well organised, efficient and transparent organisation where money is well-spent, fully audited and makes a difference to people’s lives
- Ghanaians on the ground are a key part of what makes the charity work. This is important in my view because it means there is better chance of the effective use of money where there is direct communication between the community and those working within the charity
- For every £1 spent on helping someone, £1 is invested for sustainability. This is also very important because it builds towards self-sufficiency over the long term and creates independence and confidence in building one’s own future
However, I believe that AfriKids and ALMT continues to need your help because:
- Poverty and hunger still exist. I met a child on my first that when he was first brought to the attention of the charity was so hungry that he was licking the floor looking for food
- Education is the best way to combat ignorance. The existence of the notion of “spirit children” is testament to that. Another project AfriKids is working on is trying to overturn the use of children down gold mines where they are asked to put dynamite in the mines leading to disastrous consequences. Education and providing meaningful alternatives for people are clearly key here.
- Enthusiasm & dedication of the staff. All the people I met throughout the organisation not only impressed but made me feel like a human being again. Perhaps this is best epitomized by Mama Laadi, the latter day Mother Theresa .
I learned many things about myself and Ghana on this trip with the celebrations of the independence contrasting sharply with what I saw in the north. Above all I learned that the human condition is fragile one but that we can all help in different ways.
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