I am very excited to announce that I will be returning to Ghana at the end of February 2014 to continue the mission of Hope for Ghana … to create opportunity through education for the children of Ghana. This vision began at Ryvanz-Mia Orphanage, home to 28 beautiful orphans in Kpando, a small village in the Volta region of Ghana. Because of your generous contributions my vision culminated in the creation of a learning center that today provides a library, a home for reading and studying, and a computer lab for these children.
Today Hope for Ghana stands ready to build the next learning center in the nearby village of Keta that will serve as a library and eventually a computer lab to children who are hungry to learn, yet who do not have the adequate books and resources for their education and development. Keta is an impoverished Ghanaian village where hardly any books are found. Children go to school without textbooks and their lives are devoid of storybooks.
Along my journey in Ghana I became acquainted with Christian Platini Ashiagbor, a child advocate who shares my vision of the vital need for education in providing a future for these children. Platini is heard on radio and television weekly in Ghana speaking out against child slavery and against corporal punishment in schools. He counsels teachers, parents and children as he advocates for children’s rights and their well being in school. It will be a collaborative effort with Platini that will see the realization of Hope for Ghana’s mission in Keta.
Platini’s own creation, Future Leaders Academy, is a unique model in Ghana of a school that prohibits corporal punishment. This is a school sponsored entirely by Platini himself, where parents with little or no money can be assured of being able to send their children to school. So in addition to working with Platini on the library and computer lab, Hope for Ghana also hopes to assist Future Leaders Academy in providing desperately needed desks, books and other necessary educational tools at this institution.
I sincerely thank everyone who has been a part of my journey in Ghana. You help inspire my vision and I continue to believe that your contributions will forever change the lives of these children in Ghana. Please continue to visit www.hopeforghana.com as well as Hope for Ghana on Facebook and share the word of this mission.
With much gratitude,
Steve