Contributing Towards Global Development

CHILD LABOUR PROJECT PHASE 1 (UPDATE 2)

(Report from 15th July to 15th September, 2011)   to read previous report, please click here

Some members of the child labour rescue team

Since the last update in July 2011, things have been progressing rapidly in the Nyanyano community. The Child labour rescue team has now become part of the community, enabling us to work directly with the community to achieve the mission of our project. Schools were on vacation from end of July so the rescue team received a report on the initial six (6) children sponsored by the Cheerful Hearts Foundation. According to the Headmasters of their various schools their progress is going well and this is a great result since many of these children has not been to school before.

From the end of July to Mid-September, Cheerful Hearts rescue team have been constantly present in the Nyanyano community. The team (Cheerful Hearts Members, as well as interns from Australia and USA) were very busy, conducting more interviews with the community, and researching about child labour, the causes, the effects on the community, and the best ways to eradicate it. While preliminary research had already been carried out, these interviews were great to hear some different opinions, and to hear what the community thought about the child labour project in its early stages.

Some of the community members interviewed include members of the Fishermen association, fishmongers on the beach, interviews with children working on the beach, mothers of the six children sponsored, unit-committee members (local council) as well as opinion leaders of the Nyanyano community. Most were very vocal in their support and expressed their concern regarding children working on the beach. Many had ideas about the best ways to stop the practice, which the team took on board.

The team interviews the immediate past Chief Fisherman of the community

One advantage of the Cheerful Hearts Foundation in the success of this project is that 100% of our regular staff are native Ghanaians who  have experienced similar challenges as they grew up and also know much about the customs of the local people. It is always advisable to work in collaboration with the local or traditional council when undertaking rural projects in order to achieve absolute success. Due to this, The Cheerful Hearts team also had a meeting with the Chief Fisherman, his queen mother and elders of the Nyanyano community regarding the project and they were very welcoming.  The council was very happy about our good intentions and promised us their full support and involvement in this project to help end child labour in their community since it is a heart desire of the traditional council. The Chief fisherman and his queen mother gave the team more information about the cause of the child labour issue, gave advice to contribute to the success of the project and also promised to help us send messages within the community whenever necessary to assist the project.

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September 16, 2011 | Eric | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

FREE VACATION CLASSES IN SUPPORT OF CHEERFUL HEARTS CHILD LABOUR PROJECT, NYANYANO, GHANA.

Erin Callahan, intern from USA marking and correcting class exercise

As part of the Child Labour Project run by Cheerful Hearts Foundation, the team conducted free vacation classes for the children in the Nyanyano community. Our research revealed that most children engage in the fishing activities during the school vacation period and feel reluctant to go back to school when they re-open for classes.

The purpose of organising these classes was to train and increase their level of education, educate them on child labour issues and its effect, show them the benefits of education, and also to engage the children during the vacation period, as to ensure that they do not return to working on the shore. We have also realised that the zeal for education is low in these children. This, together with the lack of motivation by their parents (often uneducated) means it was necessary to keep them on their toes about schooling and learning.

The classes were held over a two-week period on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Nyanyano D/A Primary School. The class was free for any child in the community, but especially targeted at those in the child sponsorship program run by Cheerful Hearts Foundation.

Throughout the two weeks classes we recorded an attendance of 227 children, in addition to the initial 30 children targeted for the sponsorship programme. The classes were very beneficial to the children as they had the opportunity to revise all what they have learned during normal school sessions, learnt part of the new curriculum for September school session, and also experienced new teachers and new methods of teaching. Children who were not going to school were also challenged by their other colleagues who attend school.

Students at a closing assembly after class

Parents were intrigued by the vacation classes as a result of the excitement their children were showing, as compared to their zeal for normal school sessions. We also used the opportunity to educate some of the parents who came to the schools with the hope of getting their children listed for scholarships.  We talked with them about the value of education and the role they have to play as parents in ensuring a sound education for their wards.

It shows what a desire there is in the community to achieve an education, if only they had the means. While the project contributed to the overall level of schooling in the community, it also raised significant awareness regarding the child labour project and about Cheerful Hearts Foundation. We were able to raise these issues with both the children and the parents during the course of the two weeks. Overall, the vacation classes were a success and we hope to see the community continue to benefit from this project.

Please click here to visit our photo gallery to see more pictures of this project>>>

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2011 SUMMER PROJECT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, USA

The Faculty of University of Washington with some member of Cheerful Hearts Foundation on the last day to departure

During the 1st week of August 2011, Cheerful Hearts Foundation had the privilege of hosting a group of nineteen (19) students and four (4) of their faculty from the School of Social Work, University of Washington, USA. They spent over four (4) weeks in Ghana, learning the Ghanaian culture visiting many different parts of the country and many more. One of those weeks they spent volunteering with Cheerful Hearts Foundation.

They assisted with all our three main projects running during the summer. That is, assisting with our Child Labour Project, summer holiday school teaching project, as well as HIV/AIDS Awareness campaigns for students at the Raykon International School and Great Promise School Complex, Kasoa, Central Region, Ghana. Five students volunteered to assist with the Child labour project in Nyanyano Village, 5 students on the HIV/Aids awareness campaign, whilst 9 students assisted with the summer holiday teaching program.

Child Labour Project

For those not aware, the Child Labour Project is located in the fishing village of Nyanyano, and focused on rescuing children involved in child labour and enrolling them in school. During this stage of the project, we were focusing on interviewing some of the children on the shore that do not go to school. The students were teamed up in pairs alongside indigenous translators to assist in communication. While the first day was a little nerve racking for some, everyone soon got into the swing of things. The group conducted interviews over 4 days, and made a real impact for this project. As well as this, the group got to connect personally with many of the village children and other members of the community. From the feedback, the students found the whole experience incredibly rewarding, and were incredibly thankful for the opportunity. Cheerful Hearts really valued their input to the project as well, and the time they spent will certainly contribute to the overall project.

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DONATION OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT TO KASOA GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL

One of the main operational areas of Cheerful Hearts Foundation is Health. Due to our partnership with the Ministry of Health, we collaborate with local hospitals and clinics within the Awutu Senya district where we send interns and volunteers to learn and assist with health service delivery. As part of the collaboration, Cheerful Hearts Foundation also gets medical officers from the Health Ministry to assist us with educating people in our community health projects and HIV/AIDS educational campaigns.

Eliza Mette presenting the donations to Dr. George Asante at the Kasoa Hospital on behalf of Cheerful Hearts Foundation

Over the past years, Cheerful Hearts Foundation has been sending interns and volunteers to local Hospitals and Clinics within the Awutu Senya district to assist with health service delivery. One of such is the Kasoa Government Hospital. Till date a total of seven (7) interns and volunteers have served as health assistants in the maternity section of the Kasoa Government hospital, helping in a number of deliveries and other health services.

Besides learning and helping at the maternity ward, they identify needs of the hospitals and clinics and come up with reports highlighting suggested solutions on how to curtail such needs. In a collection of such reports, Cheerful Hearts identified that the maternity ward at Kasoa Government needs some basic medical equipment to aid in health service delivery to pregnant mothers at the maternity ward.

The Kasoa Government Hospital serves as the main hospital in the Awutu Senya district serving over 50 communities and does an average of 10 deliveries daily. The need to support the hospital came when two of our interns Eliza Mette and Alex Boulos from the USA who were working at the hospital identified the lack of certain basic materials needed by the maternity section to ensure adequate health care delivery.

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HIV/AIDS EDUCATIONAL AWARENESS IN GOMOA NYANYANO SCHOOLS

Sooji Lee, a past HIV/AIDS intern from USA answering questions on HIV/AIDS during the Awareness program at the Nyanyano D/A Primary School

HIV/AIDS is a critical issue across the developing world. This is especially the case in Sub-Saharan Africa. Experts have suggested that in Africa, HIV/AIDS places every millennium development goal in jeopardy. It is one of the leading causes of death in the world, with over 2 million people dying from HIV/AIDS every year.

Cheerful Hearts Foundation HIV/AIDS team saw the need for education and awareness amongst the school population in the Ewutu Senya District. Our educational sessions will be aimed at creating more awareness among the student population on the existence of HIV/AIDS, how to avoid contracting it and how to prevent its spread.

In achieving this aim we embarked on an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in some selected schools in Gomoa Nyanyano to start with. We devoted the month of July 2011 to this first phase and have been able to organise educational campaigns in three selected schools in Gomoa Nyanyano and recorded a total of five hundred and fifty (550) students and sixteen (16) teachers who participated in the awareness education.

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September 15, 2011 | Eric | Tags: , | No Comments »