(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.
The team meets the chief fisherman and elders of the community in their palace to discuss more about our project ensuring total community collaboration
Sitting down with these community members proved to be an invaluable time for the Cheerful Hearts Team. It is so important to listen to the community, rather than come into a place with your own ideas and agenda, and ignore the voices of the people that you are trying to assist. By talking with these people, we not only found many things that we weren’t aware of, but also heard some great ideas to improve the situation in the community. What became apparent during the interviews was that many of the fishermen and parents have never had access to education. Most had been involved with the fishing industry from a young age, and have known no other life. But there was a real desire to be able to read and write, and obtain basic knowledge regarding issues such as fishing practices, managing their finances, as well as social issues like child labour and the importance of education.
From the 5th to 12th August, we had a group of students and their faculty team from the University of Washington (School of Social Work) to volunteer with Cheerful Hearts. We had six students, paired up with each other, working with translators and conducting formal interviews with the children on the beach and were assisted by two faculty members, Juanita M. Ricks (Director of Admissions) and Zynovia Hetherington, MSW (Director of Child Welfare Training & Advancement Program) . It was a fantastic week, with over 25 interviews taking place. The students and faculty were overwhelmed by the child labour situation at the Nyanyano village and most of them felt sad (Kayla Huddleston, one of their students broke into tears) during their interviews with the children working at the shore, recognizing the dangers, traumas that these children are exposed to.
Kayla and Emmanuel interview children working on the fishing boats.
The rescue team continued to conduct interviews with children after the team from University of Washington left. During this time, many parents became increasingly interested in Cheerful Hearts Foundation, and the project that we were running. Many parents brought their children to be signed up, before realising what our actual purpose was. That is; to stop child labour and assist students financially to attend school. It shows what a need there is in the community for education, and how much it is valued, but outside the means of many families.
Throughout this time, the Cheerful Hearts team continued to work with Emmanuel (the child labour victim who is now a teacher in Nyanyano) and Joshua, who is a unit-committee member for the Nyanyano village. Having these two natives of Nyanyano to be a part of the team was invaluable. They hold sway and influence in the community, and their support in the initial stages insured that the project was well received in the community. Their contribution could even be more important now, as through them, we have been free to conduct interviews and be a presence in the community.
Abam is a 12 year-old girl and has been working on the fishing boats for 2 years. She came from another community about 1 hour away from Nyanyano just to work with her father. While working on the shore she has been badly treated and left with a big scar on her left cheek. She desires to attend school, but her father has a mental disability and cannot provide the means for her to go to school.
During the last two weeks on the vacation period (16th August to 1st September 2011) the foundation organised a free vacation classes for the rescued child labour victims but was opened to all other children in the community. The purpose of organising this class is to train and increases their level of education; educate them on child labour issues and its effect, benefits of education, and also to engage the children from working on the fishing boats since our research shows that most children work on the fishing boat during school vacations.
25 children attendances were recorded in the first and second day of the classes but during the 3rd day, we had over 200 children attend, which again, shows the desire for education. The children were split into two groups, depending on their ages, and covered areas including Mathematics and English. Though 50% of the rescue team are teachers we also had other local Ghanaian teachers (Linus Dusor and Rose Ahotor) who volunteered to teach these children during the classes including two volunteers from America (Erin Callahan and Emily Rodrique)who shared in the teaching duties, and were warmly received by the students as they contributed greatly in this teaching project.
Kojo began working on the fishing boats after he lost both of his parents 3 years ago. When the CHF arrived his grandmother was pleading with the rescue team to save his life and help him get a future.
As of now, another nine( 9) students have been selected to receive sponsorship in Nyanyano, taking the total number of students up to 15. These students will receive scholarships to the local schools, and also receive uniform, stationary and books, to ensure that they can make the most of this opportunity. These 15 children sponsored means 15 children not engaged in child labour, and the ability to receive an education and to have many more opportunities as a result. It will show the effects of education to the wider community as well, which will contribute to the overall awareness in the community regarding education and child labour.
The Foundation currently is seeking funding to expand this project and also to create more community awareness in schools, organised educational classes for fishermen, men and women in the community. Cheerful Hearts team warmly welcomes all individuals and organisations who wish to support or contribute to this project.
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Thank you!
Cheerful Hearts Foundation rescue team.
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