December 2011 Newsletter

The following were the activities of Light for Children for the month of December, 2011.

First and foremost, Light for Children participated in the World Aids Day held at Obuasi on the 1^st of December, 2011.Red Ribbons were been made by us to be distributed among participants of the World Aids Day.

Secondly, there was an ICASA meeting which was an HIV Conference organized in Ethiopia on the 4^th to the 8^th of December, 2011.This was attended by the Project Coordinator, Mike Owusu Gyimah and Yukari Karai, the Japanese volunteer from Light for Children. This was sponsored by JICA.

Finally, there was our monthly socialization which was held on Saturday, the 24^th of December, 2011 in the morning at the Cultural Centre. The caregivers who attended the meeting were given their medicines and allowance for the month.

Mike, (middle) the Project Coordinator of LIFOC at the ICASA meeting.

Happy Holidays!

November 2011 Activity Report

The month of November saw a few activities for Light for Children. They were HIV Counseling and Testing and Peer Educators meeting.

HIV Counseling and Testing

A session of participant being counseled and tested.

 

The month of November saw 7 major HIV Counseling and Testing. The first one was held on the 16^th of November, 2011 at Ashanti New Town where 90 people were tested and out of this, 3 people were reactive.

The second and third one were organized on the 17^th  and 18^th November, 2011 at New Tafo.On the 17^th, 94 people were  tested and 4 people were reactive whiles on the 18^th of November,109 people were tested and 8 people were reactive.

Another one was organized on the 19^th of November, 2011 at Oduom where 101 people were tested and 8 people were reactive. There was another counseling and testing at Gyinyase on the 23^rd and 25^th of November, 2011.On the 23^rd, 100 people were tested and 2 people were reactive.Also on the 25^th, 101 people were tested and 5 people were reactive.

The last one was organized on the 30^th of November at Ayigya where 100 people were tested and 3 people were reactive.

 

Peer Educators Meeting

A group of peer educators at the meeting.

The month of November also saw Peer Educators meeting on the 28^th.This took place at the office premises where many pressing issues were discussed. The Peer Educators also submitted their reports and were also refreshed at the close of the meeting.

October 2011 Report

The month of October saw a number of activities for Light for Children. In the first place, the month saw the arrival of Ayse Nur Ozcan, a Turkish volunteer who resides in the UK.She took part in the Sexual Assault Preventive Workshop held in the Primary and First Cycle Schools. She also taught ICT at the Atonsu MA JHS B where the office was used for ICT practicals by making use of the internet facility.

On the 5^th of October, there was a School Health Programme at Atonsu MA JHS B where 100 people were attended to and medicines were given to them. This was sponsored by Joshua Poshen, a Canadian volunteer for Light for Children. The Headmistress of the school was very much appreciative.

Also, there was FHI review meeting on the 11^th to the 14^th of October, 2011 where the project and its implementation were reviewed. It was attended by the Director, the Project Coordinator and the Accountant.

There was HIV counseling and testing at four sites in Asafo on the 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd of October, where 459 people were tested for HIV. Out of the number, 9 people tested positive. Another CT was organized at Ayigya on the 27^th and 102 people were tested while 1 person tested positive.

The month of October came to an end with two meetings. The first one was the 2^nd stakeholders meeting on FHI/GAC Youth out of school programme on Friday, the 28^th of October, 2011 at the KMA Conference hall. The last one was the Peer Educators meeting which was organized at the office`s premises on Monday, the 31^st of October, 2011.

At the stakeholders meeting, many issues were discussed. Top among them include:

a)     Counseling and Testing

LIFOC had CT in different communities and tested about 1,342 people. Those tested positive were reffered to hospitals to get re-tested. It has been our goal to achieve 3,000 people by December, 2011.

b) Peer Educators Performance

The peer educator’s performances were also reviewed. It was seen that their work has been tremendous so far and were congratulated.

c) Condom Sales

Condom sales according to the peer educators have not been easy as people wanted to get them free.In all about 22,176 condoms have been sold.

The month of October also saw LIFOC`s Socialization at the Cultural Centre on the 29<sup>th</sup> of October, 2011. We had some German volunteers as visitors. Also, donations were made to two children of the group who has been sponsored by our Turkish volunteer Ayshe`s brother.The other one was Inger Brattner from Sweden. The two children were Yaw Asante and Traceybel who received 500 Euros each.Ilham Shakibu also received 500 Euros. There were also donations to Mavis and Mabel Mensah to the tune of 600 Euros each.

Ayse is teaching a student how to sign up for yahoo e-mail address.

Counseling and Testing at Moon Light.

 

All stakeholders and our Executive Director, Mr. Yaw, Mr. Mike, (Project Coordinator) and Mr. James (Accountant)

Yaw Asante receiving his donation from the Director of LIFOC.

LifoC September Report

The month of September saw a few activities for LIFOC which include:
a) Summer school completion
b) Peer Educator`s meeting
c) Visitation
d) HIV Testing and Counseling
e) Sexual Assault Prevention Program

 
a) Summer School Completion
The summer school program me which started at the early part of August came to an end at the beginning of September where Rachael Beach taught English and Integrated Science, Justice Appau taught Maths and Rebecca Kuntz taught ICT and Basic Design and Technology.

 
b) Peer Educator`s meeting
The month of September also saw two Peer Educator`s meeting on Wednesday the 7th and Friday the 30th of September. The meeting took place at the office`s premises where many pressing issues were discussed. The Peer Educators also submitted their reports and were also refreshed at the close of the meeting.

The Peer Educators at the meeting

c) Visitation

The month of September also saw a number of visitations. In the first place, Sayuri Nakatsuka, a Japanese lady came to visit us to discuss how best we can come together to bring volunteers from Japan. Secondly, on the 13^th of September, two Swedish Volunteers came on a visit. They were Maria Moller and Sara Hansson.

Sayuri, the Japanese volunteer in a discussion with LIFOC staff.

Also, one Japanese Volunteer from Gabon, Sachiko Miyake, an HIV controller and also a JICA volunteer came to visit us.

Sakyiko, JICA volunteer in a discussion with the Director of LIFOC

On 15^th September, two FHI officers also came to the office for monitoring. They went through the Peer Educators report sheets.

d) HIV Testing and Counseling

The month of September saw three major HIVtesing and counseling at Asuoyeboah on the 21^st, 23rd and 27^th of September. The first counseling and testing had 100 people being tested in the community of Asuoyeboah. The second one had again 99 people being tested for HIV. So in all 335 people were tested for HIV with 9 people testing positive. Again 576 male condoms were sold out in the communities.

LIFOC organizing Counseling and testing.

Blood pressure screenings

e) Sexual Assault Prevention Programme

The month also had 5 different sections of Child Sexual Assault Prevention Program me. On Thursday, the 22^nd September, 2011, there was a prevention sexual Assault workshop at Chirapatre Primary B and talked to about 80 people. On the 23^rd, another one was organized at Chirapatre Primary A where about 150 children were talked to. Furthermore, there was one held at Prabon JHS 1, 2 and 3 where about 60 people were talked to. On Wednesday, 28^th of September, there was one organized at Anglican JHS B, where 90 students were educated. Also, on Thursday and Friday i.e. the 29^th and 30^th of September, there were sexual Assault program at Anglican JHS A where about 170 people were talked to and Chirapatre JHS where 200 people were talked to respectively.

Light for Children August Report

The month of August saw lesser activities for Light for children. Rachael Beach, a volunteer from the United States of America arrived on July 29, 2011 and started the Summer School by teaching English and Integrated Science at the Chirapatre Junior High School. She was assisted by Justice Appau, a student of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology who had his internship at Light for Children. He was teaching Maths at the same school.

Rebecca Kuntz, also from the United States helped in the teaching of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). She taught the children how to browse the internet and even opened e-mail accounts for the students by making use of the internet facility in the office.

The month of August also brought in one person from the Trinidad and Tobego who resides in the United States in the person of Dnika Joseph. She came and showed interest in Light for Children`s activities and promised to partner us. She showed much interest in the beads-making and collected twenty (20) pieces to be sold in USA and promised to send the money later to us. She was given Light for Children`s T-shirt in appreciation of her kind gesture.

The latter part of August saw the departure of Justice Appau who left for school. He was given LIFOC T-shirt to show our laudable appreciation for his service rendered to us during his internship.

Rachael Beach teaching Integrated Science at Chirepatre JHS

Justice Appau exhibiting his Mathematical skills.

Rebecca Kuntz having ICT lessons at Chirapatre JHS.

Dnika Joseph (middle) in a pose with LIFOC staff.

Light for Children July Newsletter

Light for Children volunteers continued with the arrival of 6 new volunteers to undertake programs in summer school, baby care, medical internship, and architecture internship.
The volunteers were Keir Birch and Jordan Jones from the UK, Johanna Keilwitz from Germany, Rachel Beach from USA, and Sarah Kong from Canada.

Also the 4 interns from Hong Kong University left after the completion of their internship with the Sexual Assault Prevention Program.
The monthly organization meeting for the HIV children club came off with the meeting being sponsored by Rebecca Kuntz, who arrived in June.

The ongoing LifoC/FHI Youth is also on course with the community activities by the trained peer educators. The peer educators reached 1,119 persons with information on HIV/AIDS and safer sexual practices. They again sold 2,619 condoms in the community for the month.

Jordan Jones at Mampong Babies Home

 

Keir Birch playing at Mampong Babies Home

Light for Children June Report

The month of June saw a number of activities for Light for Children to further deepen the relationship between University of Hong Kong (HKU). Five students namely, Christina Kang, Sophia Chu, Liu Guoer, Cheng Hei Jung, and Chan Tsz Chung, arrived the 3rd of June to undertake an internship in child sexual abuse program for LifoC. Other volunteers who arrived for the same program include, Rebecca Kuntz from USA, Man Chiu Y from Hong Kong, Susanne Sandquist and Una Mether both from Sweden. Socialization meeting was held at the Kumasi Cultural Center as part of the care support activities for the children. The HKU interns as well as the BTP group of Hong Kong participated in this event.

Also as part of the FHI/GAC Youth in and Out of School HIV project, a pre-implementation meeting was held at the Metro Health Conference Hall to brief the stake holders on the project.

As part of the project Light for Children undertook voluntary counseling and testing activity in five communities around the Kwame Nkrumah Univeristy of Science and Technology (KNUST). The program was very successful and five hundred people tested to know their HIV status. The people who tested to know their status were also tested to know their blood pressure levels and were advised accordingly.

Hong Kong University Students

Stakeholders Meeting

Students participating in Sexual Assault Workshop

Light for Children April 2011 Report

Light for Children April 2011 Report
Written by Mike Owusu (inlawp5@yahoo.com), Light for Children Project Coordinator

The programmes of Light For Children continued in the month of April with a number of activities. As a part of the preparation toward impending HIV Family Health International project, familiarization visits were made to some of the selected institutions that LIFOC is suppose to work with. The first point of call was at the Wesley principal who is also the patron of the college’s HIV and Peer Educators’ Club. Again the allied communities around the college where our activities in the FHI project would be focused were explored.

From there we also went to the St. Louis Training College one of the partner institutions where they have planned an HIV educational and Know Your Status Campaign. We arranged for counselor and reagents from the Kumasi South Hospital to help conduct the campaign. One hundred students tested to Know Your Status.

The Light For Children monthly socialization meeting was also held. At the meeting two volunteers namely Victoria and Eric who has just arrived participated in the meeting and entertained the children by playing folkloric Swedish music with heir Violin.

A German lady who is in the country to undertake research into the impact of civil society organizations on their communities, as part of her project work a visit to the office of LIFOC to conduct interviews with the staff.

The HIV educational programme at St. Louis Training College.

Eric, a Swedish volunteer, answering questions during the meeting of the students.

The students waiting to be tested to know their HIV status.

Two Swedish volunteers playing violin and singing for children and their caregivers during the socialization meeting.

A German lady interviewing staff of LIFOC.

Light for Children May 2011 Newsletter

6th May

The two Swedish volunteers, Erik and Victoria did a drumming and dancing performance at Sawaba, a suburb of Kumasi with Lucas and the Agye Nyame Cultural Group.

Erik and Victoria’s performance with the cultural group at Sawaba.

Other students who danced with Erik and Victoria.

11th May

The staff from LIFOC, Millicent and Yukari embarked on a campaign on the need for people around the office area to do counseling and testing.

Yukari promotes the need for counseling and testing at a hairdressing shop.

20th May
In collaboration with the HIV/AIDS unit of the Kumasi South Hospital, LIFOC staff undertook an activity called “Know your status “at the office .In all thirty five (35) persons were tested. Most of them were from the area in which the office is located. They were mostly hairdressers, dressmakers and shop keepers. Five men and thirty women were involved. Nobody tested positive.

The “Know your status” activity in progress at the office.

Getting tested for HIV

A volunteer from Japan by name Hiroki arrived to undertake a two week voluntary service in HIV. He partnered with the staff to promote safer sex and prevention activities within the Agogo area.

Hiroki and Millicent demonstrating condom use and safer sex practices at a hairdressing shop.

As part of the FHI HIV project, a mapping and selection exercise was undertaken in the allied communities within six tertiary institutions namely; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Mancels Vocational Institute, Wesley College of Education, St. Louis College of Education and University of Education-Kumasi Campus.
In collaboration with the Assemblymen of these areas twenty (20) persons were selected to be trained as peer educators and condom distributors.
The Director of LIFOC attended a meeting on Thursday 26th May at the SSNIT conference Centre in Adum, Kumasi under the auspices of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. It was an interaction with UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
The special Rapporteur, Mr Anand Grover, a renowned lawyer headed a team of lawyers.
The purpose of the mission was to understand the spirit of dialogue, how Ghana endeavours to implement the right to health and its successful realization.
In attendance were other NGO’s in the region.