Light for Children July 09′ Report

14 August 2009

Light for Children July ‘09 Report

Ghana in the news: Ghana’s economy receives $600m boost from the IMF

On 17 July it was announced that Ghana is to get a $600m three-year loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – an organisation that oversees the global financial system and offers loans to developing countries.  The loan has been agreed amid concerns about the impact of the economic recession on developing countries.

In general the Ghanaian economy has proved “relatively resilient” to the economic downturn, as it is supported by the high prices of cocoa and gold. Ghana is the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer, Africa’s second-biggest gold exporter, and is also set to become the continent’s newest oil producer.

However, the IMF noted that Ghana has been hit recently by high food and fuel prices, and that the main political parties – the NDC and NPP – spent heavily before last year’s highly contested elections.

The IMF recommends the current NDC Government reduces its budget deficit and supports its currency by strengthening tax collection, keeping the public sector wage bill under control and avoiding large subsidies for petrol and utility bills. Unfortunately, if this advice is followed, it will likely mean higher electricity and fuel bills for Ghanaians in the near term.

On the topic of oil (600 million barrels discovered offshore by Tullow Oil in 2007) Takatoshi Kato, the IMF’s deputy managing director, said that the revenues expected to be received in 2011 could potentially bring Ghana into middle income status.

But he added: “The horizon for oil production could prove relatively short, and it will be important that the new revenues be used wisely.”

Peter Allum, the IMF’s mission chief to Ghana said, “The income from oil will make some differences to living standards in Ghana but not of a magnitude that you can afford to use it imprudently, and you need very strong budget mechanisms to make sure that money ends up in programmes where money is needed.”

Analysts fear that Ghana may fall prey to the “resource curse” – where an influx of money from oil can deter countries from diversifying into other economic sectors, and in countries where institutions are weak and governance poor, oil riches can also exacerbate corruption. Poverty and corruption are rife in oil producers such as Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Angola.

However, if Ghana’s record for good governance, as emphasised by US President Barrack Obama’s recent visit, continues, there is no reason why the IMF loan and oil discovery can’t propel Ghana into a new phase of economic progress.

July activities for Light for Children

July has been one of the busiest and most exciting months of the year so far for Light for Children. A combination of new arrivals, familiar faces and steady progress has made for extremely positive atmosphere in the city!

New arrivals

On 1 July British volunteer Kirsten and two Swedish volunteers, Elsa Ankar and Amanda Lundquist, arrived in Kumasi. Elsa and Amanda will be working at the Mampong babies home – an orphanage situated near the village of Nsuta, around 1 ½ hours outside of Kumasi.

On 7 July seventeen (yes, seventeen!) students from Hong Kong University and other universities in China arrived under the supervision of Ada, a past Hong Kong University volunteer. The students took part in an orientation session at the conference centre of the Kumasi Metro Health office on 8 July.

Volunteer Mareike from Germany rounded of this month’s arrivals on 18 July.

Monthly socialisation meeting

Light for Children’s monthly socialization meeting was held on 11 July. All volunteers, including the 17 new arrivals were in attendance. Misaki Asari, the JICA volunteer, made beads with some of the clients and they were sold to the new volunteers.

International co-operation

On 10 July the Light for Children team met with the school authorities of two senior high schools in Kumasi and Jachie Pramso – Yaa Asantewaa Girls Senior High School and Jachie Pramso Senior High School. The meeting was held to discuss the possibility of providing additional lectures in physics and mathematics online, through Hong Kong University

The 16 July saw a visit by the Japanese International Co-operation Agency coordinator to the Light for Children office to discuss co-operation issues. Present at the meeting were Yaw, Light for Children co-founder and director, Mike, Light for Children coordinator as well as volunteer Misaki Asari.

Mobilise Against Malaria (MAM)

A meeting of MAM stakeholders took place on 30 July. At the meeting, roles to be played by stakeholders like L.C.’s, sub metros, civil societies, etc were made known to other members and stakeholders.

The same day, posters and other learning materials donated by Swedish volunteer Tove and her friends, were presented to the Islamic school and orphanage at Aboaso.

Our group of Chinese student volunteers prepared to leave Ghana on18 July, and were treated to a send off party by their host mother who was also celebrating her birthday at the same time.

What Took You So Long.org?

On 20 July, Sebastian Lindstrom (Light for Children co-founder and director) arrived with a group of young people who make up part of the worldwide What Took You So Long movement.

The What Took You So Long Foundation is a movement to aid grass-roots NGOs in Africa that have no previous international exposure. Throughout the summer Sebastian and his young travellers (including a documentary film maker and photographer), have been trekking across Africa by local means, meeting workers and founders of ground level NGO’s. The aim is that during the trip, information, knowledge and skills can be shared, and upon the groups’ return, that the work being done can be reviewed and supported by sustainable development experts and international donors.

On 21 July the group visited Amankwaddai, a local village where Light for Children intends to build its own orphanage with the help of volunteers.  The team presented a selection of gifts and daily use items to children of the village and met with community leaders to discuss plans.

The 22 July saw the group take part in an activity day at Divine International School at Abuakwa Maakro. Members of the group gave Light for Children’s Journey of Hope presentation on HIV and life choices, then played a football game with the school team

Light for Children June 09′ Report

22nd of July 2009

Light for Children June 09’ Report

Obama stresses good governance is key

Written by Rhianydd Griffith, LIFOC volunteer)

After much anticipation Barack Obama has delivered his first speech in sub-Saharan Africa as US President. Mr Obama arrived in Accra late on 10 July, fresh from the G8 summit in Italy where heads of state agreed on a $20bn (£12.3bn) fund to bolster agriculture – the main source of income for many sub-Saharan Africans

The importance of Obama’s visit has been articulated no better than by the man himself who stated on arrival “I have come here to Ghana for a simple reason. The 21st Century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Ghana as well.”   And in Accra, Obama stood in front of assembled legislators and the gathered crowd to deliver a momentous message, not only praising Ghana’s progress, governance and economic growth but including the positive statement that Africa is in charge of its own destiny.

Focusing on internal development, Obama identified democracy, opportunity, health and the peaceful resolution of conflict as four key areas critical to the future of Africa and of the entire developing world. He emphatically stated that “Development depends upon good governance,” and highlighted to legislators that, “That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans.”  Speaking to Africans as a whole, Obama said “You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people,” emphasising that although the West can assist with aid and infrastructure, it is African governments who really need to step up and take charge of progress.

Nowhere in Africa has a population’s democratic power been exercised more clearly than in Ghana. An Obama spokesperson described Ghana as a thriving democracy and a truly admirable example of a place where governance is getting stronger. In such a country Obama indicated that the purpose of foreign assistance must be to create the conditions where it is no longer needed. His speech has been seen as a strong and inspirational message to Ghana that change will come, but will be most effective when made from the inside and out.

June Activities for Light for Children

New Arrivals

Light for Children has seen another stream of new faces this month as the Western summer (and Ghanaian rainy season!) begins.

On 3^rd June Heather Whyte arrived from Canada. Throughout the month, Heather has been working at a small medical lab in Nsutta – a village roughly 40 minutes from central Kumasi. As well as her lab technician work, Heather has also been taking part in an outreach program within the local community where she has used her medical background to help track babies’ growth, vaccinations and vitamin A.

On 8^th June four students from Hong Kong University touched down in Accra. The students took part in orientation sessions and a workshop arranged by the LIFOC team at the KMA conference hall on 10th, 11th and 15th June. Four more HKU students – Crystal, Jonnie, Kat and Elise – arrived on the 18th demonstrating that LIFOC’s long term relationship with the University remains strong. All students have been working at a local school helping Light for Children with its teaching and presenting activities.

On 22nd of June Crystal, Jonnie, Kat and Elise took part in an orientation at the LIFOC office with Ben, LIFOC’s ninth and final new volunteer from Hong Kong. This was followed on 23rd June by the orientation of 6 Swedish volunteers who completed LIFOC’s new arrivals group this month and have been working at Missionaries of Charity “New Life Home” – a home for disabled and/or abandoned children and adults.

Maternal and child health

On 18th June the LIFOC team attended a regional health forum organised by the the Ashanti Regional Coalition of NGOs at the SSNIT Conference Hall.

The forum was on ‘Maternal health: Concern for all, the role of civil society organisations’ and was in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service. The vision and mission of the Coalition is to build a strong and dynamic ‘Civil Society Umbrella’ Organization that will contribute to building Ghana free of diseases and ill health and to positively influence health policy. Some of the specific intervention areas of Coalition mentioned were community mobilization information, education and communication on health, sexual reproductive health, maternal and child care, HIV/AIDS, malaria and many others.

Dr Joseph Oduro, Deputy Director of Public Heath G.H.S. in the Region said maternal and child health are two important indicators used to determine the level of development in the country and that not only NGO’s, but other groups such as media broadcasters, the police and traditional leaders should contribute to addressing the problems.

Socialisation Meeting

Light for Children’s monthly socialization meeting took place at the Cultural Center on the 20th June.

Most children and caregivers on the LIFOC programme attended, and the children had a great time interacting with our new volunteers

Light for Children April 09′ Report

25th of May 2009

Light for Children April 09’ Report

Supporting Ghana is becoming a world-wide movement

Written by Sebastian Lindstrom, LIFOC Co-founder (Sebastian@lightforchildren.com)

Volunteer flows are at all time high; in these hard economic times around the world people are more and more dedicating time and funds to go to Africa and support our cause. Asia, especially Hong Kong and mainland China, have played an increasingly important role for Light for Children in the last two years. This summer a massive flood of Chinese volunteers will go to Kumasi to conduct volunteer work and internship programs to support the needy children of the  Ashanti region. One important partner for LIFOC have been the University of Hong Kong (HKU), now ranked number one University in Asia, who supports our activities and gives us space and tools to promote our programs. In April we had a booth at the University and the feedback from Hong Kong University students were amazing;  it is clear to these students are hungry to get out in the world, especially Africa, to use their education to fight poverty and assist the health and education sectors of the developing world. Thank you.

April Activities for Light for Children

Written by Mike Owusu, co-founder / Programme coordinator (inlawp5@yahoo.com)

2^nd April – Meeting at the Mobilize Against Malaria (MAM) headquarters in Kumasi.

This meeting was held to discuss and remedy problems that had heretofore been occurring during community mobilization events. Representatives from the MAM-Ghana headquarters in Accra were present, as well as those from the various NGOs and CBOs doing the outreach work in and around the Ashanti Region.  

 

The main issues brought to the table related to the focus of the message delivered. The focus of the MAM project is on prompt and appropriate treatment of malaria. In the past, volunteers had been mistakenly focusing on prevention, so a shift in focus was discussed. In addition, the representatives from the MAM offices in Accra implored that monitoring of one’s own volunteers was of the utmost importance.

 

Suggestions for improvement were also presented in an open-table format and the MAM contract was renewed for another two months with some minor changes to staffing and format.

6^th April – Arrival of 5 volunteers from Sweden – Therese Hörström, Johannes Danielsson, Nina Carina Romlin Falk, Sofia Melle, and Michelle Karlsson.

 

18^th April – Monthly Socialization Meeting.

The meeting was opened with a prayer by Mrs. Kate Asante. After taking the register (and finding near-perfect attendance), the children were dispersed to enjoy games and one another’s company.

 

Yaw then spoke to all of the caregivers about their own health and welfare and that of their children. Fortunately, everyone responded that they were faring well! After this, the caregivers were told about funding that was received by Light for Children from the Ghana AIDS Commission. Throughout the meeting, Yaw reinforced the idea that the group’s primary focus was to ensure that the children were faring well and were healthy.

 

After a nice lunch the group disbanded, though not before expressing that they were looking forward to the next meeting.       

24^th April – Presentation of MAM messages.

Mobilization of small groups to present the MAM message (Seek prompt and appropriate treatment of malaria) to community members around the Light for Children offices as well as at the Kejetia Freko Information Centre.  Through this intervention, many people were reached and given vital information about treating malaria and preventing deaths. 

 

27^th April – Presentation of MAM message via radio at the Kumasi Central Market. Another opportunity to reach people with vital messages about how to treat malaria.

 

30^th April – Meeting with Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) representative  to inspect prospective accommodations for a long-term volunteer.

 

30^th April – In-house Accounting Tutorial.

A meeting/tutorial at the Light for Children – Ghana offices with an accountant to help Light for Children and its staff increase accountability and keep better records of funds and expenditures.

Light for Children March 09′ Report

22nd of April 2009
Light for Children January 09’ Report 

 

We are progress; join our quest

Written by Sebastian Lindstrom, LIFOC Co-founder (Sebastian@lightforchildren.com)

We strive to constantly move forward by linking up with new partners, institutions and organizations to enable a steady and sustainable flow of funds and volunteers; this summer Light for Children will receive a bunch of volunteers who have signed up to various projects through our website. We are also getting  larger groups coming to Ghana from Uppsala University in Sweden, a cluster of mainland Universities and Hong Kong University. Exiting times; please email me if you have any thoughts or ideas how we can make Light for Children more efficient and effective – communication is everything.

March Activities

Written by Mike Owusu, LIFOC Coordinator (inlawp5@yahoo.com)

 

1st March – Welcome!
Arrival of Kirsten Litke from Canada arrives!
 
4th March – Familiarization Meeting
Familiarization Meeting with PLWHA Associations New Metro Focal-Person on HIV/AIDS:  A meeting with the various HIV/AIDS groups within metropolitan Kumasi. The goal of the meeting was to create a comprehensive list of local support groups whilst sharing experiences, frustrations, suggestions, and advice in an open, community forum.  This meeting left the door open for continued collaboration between Kumasi’s support groups. The opportunity to share problems, concerns, and to simply be heard by compassionate and understanding peers was felt to be of great value to those living positively with HIV.
 

11th March – Meeting at High Academy International School
- Delivery of a letter of intent to present both the Journey of Hope, and a new sexual assault prevention curriculum to JSS students at the school. We were welcomed to come to teach either programme on Fridays.
 
13th March – Presentation at High Academy
Presenters utilized the Journey of Hope programme in one JSS class, and the Sexual Assault Prevention programme in a second class. Over 100 students were reached with these important messages. The resultant homework illustrated a high degree of understanding and respect for the material.

 

 

18th March – Presentation at Chirapatre Junior Secondary School

Presenters utilized the Journey of Hope programme to teach about 150 students about avoiding HIV/AIDS, STIs, and teenage pregnancy in order to attain their future goals.

 

20th March – Presentation at High Academy

Presenters continued talks at High Academy, reaching the final two JSS classes with the messages associated with the Journey of Hope.

21st March – Monthly Socialization Meeting

 An opening prayer was given by one of the caregivers, once the majority of attendees had arrived. A high turn-out of children and caregivers added to the positive mood at the Cultural Centre. Lots of fun was had by all the children and volunteers. To the delight of all, a few children were shown to be improving (i.e. gaining weight, looking better) from previous months.

- While the children were playing, Yaw spoke to the caregivers about reliable and sustainable income-generating activities. Small-sized t-shirts were given out to some of the children, and medication and allowances were distributed to all. After lunch, everyone departed, looking forward to next month.

Light for Children February 09′ Report

10th of March 2009

Light for Children February 09’ Report

The future is now

Written by Sebastian Lindstrom, LIFOC Co-founder (Sebastian@lightforchildren.com)

I just spent 6 weeks in Ghana working with the Light for Children team. The country has now a new government; the opposition’s slogan ‘change’ echoed louder than the defeated  NPP parties ‘moving forward’ approach . Ghana is, however, moving forward and changing at the same time; Oil will soon be exported and Sino-Ghana trade is picking up. Will Ghana be the first African nation to reach “middle income country”-status on the continent?

9,600 children under the age of 15 are living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana at the end of 2003. Nearly 170,000 children under age 17 have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Only a few of these children receive assistance such as food aid, health care, protection services, or educational or psychosocial support – Light for Children wants to change this. 

Thanks for your ongoing support; progress is just around the corner. Together by fighting HIV/AIDS and promoting education we can move Ghana into a new era of growth, strength and unity.

 

 

 

What is takes to be a volunteer

Written by Patricia Kelly, LIFOC Volunteer (pgkelly17@gmail.com)

Arriving to Ghana as a volunteer you will be met with many rewards, but also with some challenges. In Ghana the approach to work is different from what you have likely experienced at home. There is no exact time schedule, things will get done at an easy pace and no one is any rush. People here are some of the nicest that you will meet, and when you first start at your placement they will not want to push too much work on you, instead you will be asked to relax. As a volunteer you will need to have the motivation and persistence to find where you fit best, and where you can contribute the most. There are many areas and opportunities for you to offer assistance and to make an impact, but you need to be willing to push a little and look for those places. Patience will be one of your most important attributes as well, you will need to be able understand that things will take some time; you need to just lean back and enjoy the process.

There are so many great opportunities to help in Ghana, and if you arrive with an open mind, the enthusiasm to help and the flexibility to change with the situation, you will find that volunteering in Ghana is one of the most rewarding and worthwhile experiences of your life.  

 

Me and Ghanaian culture

Written by Juuso Raunio, LIFOC Volunteer (juusor@welho.com)

I’ve always been interested in African culture, especially the music, and it was also one of the reasons I came to Ghana. Being a musician myself, it has been exciting to meet many musicians here and to learn to know the culture in an authentic environment.

In Ghana music is everywhere, it is a major part of everyday life. Anywhere you go you can hear big sound systems playing the latest highlife, hiplife and reggae hits, and even when someone is making fufu, the local food, there is a rhythmic way to pound it. You can see taxi drivers honking their horns and it sounds like music. It is also common to see people dancing on the street, often alone, just because the vibes were too hard to resist.

The best way to know the culture is to get in touch with the locals. I have met interesting people from traditional drummers to Rastafarians, and I have seen many different sides of Ghana and realized the diversity of her culture.

When I talk about African Vibes, it’s not just words.

 

Street Children

Written by Joanna Bevan, LIFOC Volunteer(joannita@hotmail.co.uk)

Light for Children has been recently looking into the social phenomena of street children in Ghana. Mike along with a group of volunteers went to the central Kumasi Market to investigate the situation.  Poor conditions in the north of the country and an agricultural industry relying on just one harvest as opposed to two elsewhere in the country has led many people to migrate south in search of work. Many end up working as ‘kayayoo’s’ carrying things in the market. The only place to sleep is in the market once the stalls have closed.  We were in the market from around 10pm and we found many people sleeping on the streets, children included. Often they become trapped in this situation and are forced to rely on ‘susu’ collectors to look after their small earnings. It was very strange to see the usually busy market quiet and sleeping and It was surprising just how many people live on the streets. Light for children is looking into setting up a program to help street children providing them with skills to achieve a better future.

 

 

Journey of Hope

Written by Patricia Kelly, LIFOC VOlunteer (pgkelly17@gmail.com)

In Ghana the rate if HIV infection in the population exists at about three percent, a rate lower than that seen in many other African countries. At Light for Children one of the most important activities for the volunteers is the presentations about HIV which are given to children in the classrooms called the “Journey of Hope”. The goal of these presentations is education to ensure that the HIV rate remains low in the future generations. As volunteer with Light for Children for seven weeks one of my roles was to give these presentations to Junior Secondary School students. 

The” Journey of Hope” gets the children to begin to think about their futures, asking them to consider what they want to do and how they want to get there. In all the schools that I had the opportunity to visit I found that the children all have very high ambitions, in every class there are multiple future doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, scientists, etc. They have amazing dreams, and in the presentations we encouraged the children to consider how their choices in life may affect them reaching these goals.

In the “Journey of Hope” we would teach about consequences along with HIV prevention by visualizing their goals as an island, the three major methods of HIV transmission prevention as boats, and the obstacles to their future goals (ex. being HIV positive) as crocodiles in the water. The children are then given a cast of characters and asked to put each in a boat. This is usually the most enjoyable aspect of the presentation as there was always lots of laughter, with everyone wanting to volunteer and contribute their opinion. The presentation would conclude with a question session. This was when I feel I offered the most valuable contribution, to be able to clear up common prejudices that are held about HIV. Confusion was usually about the different ways that HIV can be transmitted, as many of the children feared that they could become infected in a variety of ways which they could not.

I was extraordinarily impressed by the children; every class that I meet could answer many questions about the virus, showing that education programs in the country have been quite successful. Hopefully through “The Journey of Hope” presentations I was able to reinforce to the children what they already knew about responsible choices and avoiding HIV, and to clarify aspects of HIV they did not understand to reduce stigma against those who are infected

 

Monthly Socialization Meetings

Written by Joanna Bevan, LIFOC Volunteer(joannita@hotmail.co.uk)

Saturday 21^st February saw Light for Children’s monthly socialization meeting. The event gives everyone  involved with the organization a chance to interact, give updates and voice any concerns. We were pleased to have Marius de Bryun, representatives from JICA  (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) as well as many volunteers from Sweden, UK, Canada, US and Holland among our guests.  The children enjoyed playing games with the volunteers, whilst the caregivers and families held meetings and listened to a pharmacist. We all shared a meal of Jollof rice and agreed the meeting was a great success.

 

 

 

Football Coaching in Ghana

Written by Ludvig Leffler, LIFOC Volunteer (monstret_ludvig@hotmail.com)

My name is Ludvig and I am 23 years old and I’m doing volunteer work as a football coach.
The boys in the team are aged between 13 to 15 years old, hence it’s a difficult age to work with.
We start practice around 6.30-7.00 am, just before the sun rises. At this time it’s not too hot, however, the problem is that many of them are late!

 We practice from Monday to Thursday and on Fridays we have games against other schools.
One of the constraints I have had was that at first the team only had one football. We then bought 5 new ones for them,  after two weeks we only had two left cause the other balls were ‘gone’.(?) One of the most important things I am trying to tell the children is not to use any drugs. I think being a part of a team sort makes this mission much easier.

 

HIV Clinic

Written by Patricia Kelly, LIFOC Volunteer (pgkelly17@gmail.com)

I worked as a volunteer at the Chronic Care Clinic in the Kumasi South Hospital for five weeks. The clinic treats patients which are HIV positive and those who have diabetes. This may seem like a random mix of conditions but it is purposefully done. Due to the huge stigma which is associated with HIV, the patients who are HIV positive would not come to a clinic which was known to the general public to treat only those infected with HIV. The patients risk losing their families, friends, jobs; essentially their major support systems if those around them were to find out that they are HIV positive. This devastating truth was one of the first things that I learned at the clinic. Everyone there knows and understands this major problem, they are extremely caring and supportive to all the patients, being there to listen and offer any help which is needed at any time.

My role as a volunteer was to come in on the clinic days when the doctor was present to have consultations with patients. All the patients want to see the doctor to share their complaints and get in depth personal treatment. So on clinic days dozens of people of all ages would be lined up for hours just waiting for their chance to speak with doctor. On these days the entire staffs of nurses and assistants were always on their feet, running around getting all the information that was needed to ensure that everyone got their opportunity to see the doctor. No matter how many people were waiting and how long it would take, everyone gets a chance to be seen. No one will be turned away for any reason. My role on these days was to take the patients’ vitals and record them in their files. It was a simple job, but important because it kept the flow moving and freed up the nurses to take all their other information in Twi while I worked.

The part that I enjoyed the most was interacting with the patients and staff at the clinic. Everyone was very open and kind, willing to take time to answer my numerous questions. The clinic functions as a safe environment, where the patients do not have to be afraid of their status, and can truly understand that the disease does not define who they are. I felt as a volunteer my most important contribution was interacting with and touching the patients, helping foster the sense of security that the clinic offers to them.

 

 

Light for Children January 09′ Report

21st of February 2009

Light for Children January 09’ Report

Written by Mike Owusu, LIFOC Coordinator (inlawp5@yahoo.com) and Catherine Charles, LIFOC volunteer (catherine@lightforchildren.com). Prepared by Sebastian Lindstrom (sebastian@lightforchildren.com)

 

Welcome 2009

Well 2009 has kicked off with an extremely busy month with a lot of visitors from far away countries including our Swedish Director Sebastian and his Father Matt.   We would like to personally thank everyone for visiting and for all efforts shared this month, we feel a very positive energy for 2009 and welcome as many volunteers and visitors from afar that would like to visit.  We wish everyone a happy 2009

 

Call to action

Our main focus for 2009  is still MAM project (Mobilise against Malaria) and making sure we re-educate the local community in Kumasi on prevention and treatment of Malaria.  We are still also keen to get as many volunteers this year and are aiming to make it our record year.  We count on our volunteers to grow our organization and its capabilities and put a lot of our success down to the input of many of our past volunteers. If you are considering our organization please do not hesitate to contact us for any references of past volunteers or information that may help determine your visit to Kumasi.  For any further information please contact Sebastian at sebastian@lightforchildren.com

 

Goodbye to the old hello to the new

Well what an amazing month we have had with volunteers at Light for Children.  Many thanks to Sebastian our hard working Swedish Director who sent us many volunteers from Hong Kong as well as himself and friends and family from Sweden.  We welcomed the arrival of eleven volunteers from Hong Kong University, a British volunteer, Canadian volunteer, a volunteer from finland and America as well as Sebastian, Ludgvic and Mats Sabastian’s father from Sweden.  We also had two volunteers who arrived in advance from Hong Kong University to work on the programme of activities before the others arrival.

 

Meetings

We had a MAM Project two day workshop on malaria with the eleven volunteers from the university of Hong Kong, as well as our volunteer from Canada, Britain and Finland.  The idea was to bring everyone up to speed on the programme we are focusing on and the outreach and support that needs to be continued in order to reach all members of the community in Atonsu and Kumasi at large.

The volunteers also visited  Esereso Calvary Methodist Junior High School and held a two days school programme on HIV AIDS and STD’s.  We then took them on home visits to a number of families in our programme to check on their living conditions and well being and sent them to visit the children at Missionaries of Charity orphanage which houses children with severe mental and physical disabilities.

A Cultural Exposition was also held at Yaa Achiaa Girls Junior High School with all volunteers and staff and the volunteers then went on a trip to Wa, Tamale and Hain to do activities with three local NGO’s in the north, making January jam packed full of activities for all our volunteers.

 

7 day Trip Report                                                                                                                             

 In February an International group of Light for Children Volunteers and employees boarded the Obruni Tro-tro complete with Swedish flags and pro Obama slogans. It was a tight squeeze inside the tro tro but with Mike and Sebastian at the helm we set off on our adventure to the North of Ghana. Our purpose was to visit 3 NGO’s to see how they are working and to exchange ideas.

Our first stop was Tamale one of the fastest growing cities in West Africa, due in part to the large presence of NGO’s. We were hosted by CID Ghana a Dutch Organization. There success had been thanks to their mentality of starting small with community led practical projects. We saw a pre school, and a filter water project currently still in progress. Light for Children put on an improvised ‘Journey of Hope’ presentation teaching HIV awareness in the school, the team’s performance went down well with the audience.

As we journeyed further north the landscape got drier, the road bumpier and the LiFC crew increasingly dustier. The harsh environment did nothing to deter our enthusiasm and spirits were high as we arrived at the remote village of Hain. Our Hosts were RAAP, who showed us a very impressive project of the micro finance loans empowering women to become financially independent. We visited several small villages and introduced ourselves to the respective chiefs. Much dancing and drumming followed until eventually all that could be heard was the sound of the African bush.

A brief but amazing visit to the Weichau Hippo Sanctuary was defiantly a highlight we saw several Hippos from our boat. Our final stop was WA to meet Eric Coomans organization Child Support. Eric has achieved a phenomenal amount in Wa having created several aspects to the project addressing health care issues and social needs. We were lucky enough to join him in a small village where he takes volunteer doctors and nurses to attend to those in need who could not otherwise access health care.

On our return it was time to reflect on the tour and what we had learned. The Northern part of Ghana is certainly poorer and suffers with a greater number of associated problems poverty brings; however we saw several brilliant ideas that we could possible use at LifC in the future. The NGO’s showed that starting simple and growing with the initiative of the community can lead to positive development.

 

Monthly Socialization Meetings

January the 17th saw our first socialization meeting for the year of 2000.  After the standard checks an updates on the children, Mike and Yaw speaking with the caretakers of the children and distributing funds and medication, a small party was organized for the children and their caregivers with lots of food, drink and stickers for the kids, everyone had a lot of fun.

Thank you again to Sebastian and all the volunteers particularly all the students from Hong Kong university you made the pilgrimage over here to assist our organization.  We look forward to a long at fruitful friendship with you all.

 

Light for Children December 08′ Report

20th of January 2009

Light for Children December 08’ Report

Written by Mike Owusu, LIFOC Coordinator (mike@lightforchildren.com) and Catherine Charles, LIFOC volunteer (catherine@lightforchildren.com). Prepared by Sebastian Lindstrom (sebastian@lightforchildren.com)

End or year message to all

From everyone at Light for Children we would like to say a huge thank you for a very successful and full 2008. We thank each and every one of our volunteers for coming to our country and our small but hardworking and growing organization and for contributing to another year of growth. The difference you all make to help us in building a better world for our local children in need is beyond our expression so we simply say thank you. We look forward to another year ahead full of volunteers and ask all that have joined us in the past to spread our message and recommend to anyone our organization as the help of all volunteers is the foundation and growth of our organization. We wish you all a very healthy and happy 2009.

Call to action

Our main focus at the moment other than the MAM project (Mobilise against Malaria) is to grow the amount of children in need, in our program. We have over 40 children currently in our organization however over 40 new children from our local VCT clinic (voluntary counseling and testing) is also in need of support. Our problem lies within our current financial limitations that are supported 100% by sponsors, donations and a percentage of the volunteers programme payment.

Therefore we call out to all past volunteers and sponsors to please spend time in the next year to think of the children and maybe have a small fundraising party or gathering to contribute to our cause. Please email our assistant administrator Catherine Charles at Catherine@lightforchildren.com for any help and assistance with fundraising ideas. There is also opportunity to gain from us a presentation if you wish to spread the word of LIFOC through speaking at your local schools, universities etc. to prospective volunteers or your local community groups e.g. Lions Club or Rotary. Again for the presentation please contact Catherine on the above address.

Goodbye to the old hello to the new

Light for children volunteers Rhi and Craig who spent the last 3 months volunteering at the Missionaries of Charity orphanage and made a huge impact with some new paintings both personally painted and some done by an artist they commissioned, to brighten the place. They will be sadly missed but will continue to work for Light for Children as the UK’s point of contact, willing to meet with any future volunteers from the UK to go through a small orientation before they arrive in Ghana.

Catherine Charles our Light for Children Administrator who has also been here for the last 3 months has left for her home country Australia. After a very busy time here with lots of new initiatives starting to be formed Catherine will also continue to work for LIFOC from her home country in an assistant Administrative position assisting Sebastian, Mike and Yaw in order to free their time to do more important work for LIFOC. Catherine will also begin campaigning within her state of Australia and to country wide NGO’s to hopefully get some assistance from Australian NGO’s and some representation in her home country from volunteers and sponsors alike.

In other news; Tamara Zwick a new volunteer from the USA arrived safely in Kumasi on the 22nd December for a 3 week stay working at the Missionaries of Charity orphanage.

Meetings

On the 17th of December the trained local community based volunteers for LIFOC in the MAM project (Mobilise against Malaria), met at the office of the organization to review their outreach activities in the communities in the 3 sub metros of focus being Asokwa, Subin and Bantama. Each volunteer then submitted their activities for the past month for the out reach activities.

Monthly Socialization Meetings

December the 19th saw our last socialization meeting for the year of 2008. After the standard checks an updates on the children, Mike and Yaw speaking with the caretakers of the children and distributing funds and medication, a small party was organized for the children and their caregivers with lots of food, drink and stickers for the kids, everyone had a lot of fun.

Light for Children November Update

3rd of December 2008

Light for Children October 08’ Report

Written by Catherine Charles, LIFOC volunteer (catherine@lightforchildren.com), and prepared by Sebastian Lindstrom (sebastian@lightforchildren.com)

Goodbye to the old hello to the new

This month we said goodbye to our Canadian volunteer Chelsey who left us on the 14^th of this month, British volunteers Craig and Rhi who have been working at Missionaries of Charity Disabled Orphanage in Kumasi and Catherine, our Australian volunteer who finished on the 28^th of this month after working for the LFOC project based out of our head office .

The three have been with us for just over 3 months and continue the next two weeks travelling the coast of Ghana before heading to their respective homes.  We also welcomed Josephine, Pernilla, Victoria and Charlotte who visited from Sweden and worked at Missionaries of Charity for one week.  We thank those who are leaving us for all the hard work they have put in as a part of our organization. We wish them well and welcome all our newcomers.

Call to Action

We have a family in our program whose is in a dire situation and they are looking for someone who is willing to help.  They are a family of six, all living with HIV; mum, dad, two girls under the age of 10 years and twin boys both 9 months old.  They live in a wooden hut roughly the size of an average family bathroom next to the local tip together with other members of the local “poorer” community.  The father struggles to care for the family as he is regularly ill himself and therefore cannot work fulltime. The mother is also rarely in good health and one of the twins, Edward, is particularly ill. Our volunteer from Australia, Catherine, has donated $600 to the family. However she is aware that this is merely a band aid solution after seeing their circumstance for a second time before leaving LIFOC.  We therefore require any other possible donations as we wish to produce a sustainable long term outcome.  Please go to the donate part of our website if you wish to contribute as we assure you that not a penny will go to waste but to the family.

 

 

MAM Project – Initial Stakeholders Meeting (Mobilize Against Malaria)

Recently LIFOC won a grant to work on behalf of the State of Kumasi in training and rolling out a Malaria project that will effectively teach our local Licensed Chemical Sellers to identify Malaria symptoms and focus on pregnant women and children.  With a recent up rise in deaths caused by malaria it is of major concern that the community at large has become complacent. Because of this we want to ensure that we minimize the amount of deaths caused by malaria. Earlier in the month LIFOC held its first stakeholders meeting at the Metro Health Conference Centre in Adum, Kumasi.  Attendees included Assembly men, Sub Metro office members and other identifiable groups who hold a vested interest in the cause.  The Metro Health Director chaired the meeting which was deemed a huge success with everyone coming together to recognize need for the program and its next steps moving forward.

 

MAM Project – Local Volunteer Training

Also as part of the MAM project there is a strong focus on educating local members of the community in order to get them to recognize early signs of malaria and act immediately.  In order to reach the community we engaged 30 local volunteers and trained them for 3 days on best ways to communicate and effectively send out their message.  The training was held by our very own Mike Owusu and Yaw Otchere as well as local doctors and health practitioners from the Metro Health Clinic. It was conducted at the Teachers Hall in Amakom, Kumasi.  Again, this was deemed a success and all volunteers were sent out to the community with measurable targets to reach and a timeline of December. However the program will pick up again in January and continue for another 12 months

 

School Presentations

School presentations have continued throughout the month at Esuaso Secondary School and the Methodist school with great results.  Teaching abstinence, condom use and faithfulness as a way for the students to remain safe from Teenage pregnancy, STI’s and HIV/AIDS, has been taught all through the teaching aid “The Journey of Hope”.

Each volunteer, Craig, Rhi, Chelsey and Catherine, took turns teaching. They called for assignments and rewarded the children with posters designed by the volunteers along with treats for the best ones. After reading through the assignments it seemed most of the children received the message we sent them and we can only hope that they put it into practice.

 

 

Socialization Meeting

This month saw the last socialization meeting for out volunteers. The meeting was held on Saturday November 16th at the National Cultural Centre but unfortunately only our Australian volunteer Catherine could attend as Rhi and Craig had Typhoid (both are now on the mend).

Nearly all members of our organization attended, the children were weighed and taken to a play as Yaw and Mike spoke to the parents or caregivers. Medications were handed out and the whole group shared in Jollof Rice and juice before the meeting concluded.

 

In Progress

The MAM project remains a strong focus of our organization moving forward, as does the care and support for the members of our organization.  Unfortunately tales of our family at the beginning of this report are not the only ones in need, and we continue to work towards reaching more sponsors and volunteers to assist with our cause.  Heading towards Christmas we are hoping to get some more volunteers locked in for 2009 and hopefully more sponsors for the remaining 35 children in our group that still needs support.  Missionaries of Charity orphanage had a tragic turn of events towards the later part of the month with an outbreak amongst the toddlers. It was believed to be a bad spread of food poisoning  and our hearts goes out to the whole team and volunteers Rhi and Craig who suffered a terrible loss of little Kofi.  All children are now thankfully on the mend.

Light for Children October Update

12th of November 2008

Light for Children October 08’ Report

Written by Catherine Charles, LIFOC volunteer (catherine@lightforchildren.com), and prepared by Sebastian Lindstrom (sebastian@lightforchildren.com)

Call to Action

We are now nearing the end of the year and winding down with volunteers. It is very important to continue bringing volunteers to work with us for both the children and the organization as we are small but extremely busy. If you know of anyone that is thinking of traveling and doing some volunteer work please email us at lightforchildren@yahoo.com We have volunteers organized for December, January, March, May and June but the more the merrier so please call your friends and put them onto us ASAP.

Good bye to the old and hello to the new

This month we said a sad farewell to Amy, David and Laura from the UK who left us on the 16^th for a 2 week trip around Ghana before leaving for home. We also welcome 7 Swedish volunteers who arrived on the 27^th of this month for a 2 week stay.

Ghanaian Health Fair – Kumasi 2008

October has been a big month for Health in Kumasi. The annual Ghana Health Fair was held at Prempeh Hall and Jubilee Park and LIFOC played a leading role. Both Mike and Yaw were involved in the organization of the fair and volunteers Catherine, Chelsey, Rhi, Craig, Amy, David and Laura all participated in events. The fair started off on Saturday the 11th with the “Walk for life” which left from the Post office square in Adum and finished around one hour later in Jubilee Park. Mike, Yaw and the volunteers all helped out ferrying children from their schools and seamstresses and hairdressers from pick up points to the Post office square. Once at the park the 1500 participants all joined in with group exercises before partaking of snacks that the volunteers distributed. The Monday following was the official opening again leaving from the Post office square with over 2,000 involved. There were floats and clowns and once all seated at Jubilee Park there was entertainment of traditional African dancing, drumming and singing, some acting and official speeches. There was a representative of the President and the message was sent about making the right life choices to affect your health.

The official proceedings were finished again with snacks handed out by the volunteers before everyone headed to Prempeh Hall for the opening of the exhibition. The week ended following activities such as exhibitions, local school rap dancers and other entertainment, health seminars and free health tests. LIFOC helped all week with Yaw and Mike working tirelessly day and night with the organizers and the mobilize malaria organization.

Monthly socialization meeting

The monthly meeting of the HIV positive care and support group took place at the National Cultural Centre of Kumasi on the 18^th of October, 2008 at 9:30a.m. Most of the children and their caregivers were present and participated actively. While all the formalities were underway the volunteers took the children to the football grounds and played. Rhi had brought along many bits and pieces and the children were delighted in the seemingly endless (and messy) supply of bubbles and glitter as well as balloons. The girls covered themselves with the glitter, danced in and out of the bubbles and fought over the balloons as the boys played soccer, much fun was had by all.

After returning to the mothers who had been issued their medication and funds, the children all lined up and were given teddy bears that had arrived from the mother bear project www.motherbearproject.org Each bear has been hand knitted with love and wears a tag around its arm stating the name of the lady that made it. 100 bears have been sent by the organization working purely for the enjoyment of children and LIFOC can not express our gratitude to them enough. The bears were given out to all of the children and a group photo taken and all the mothers clapped.

Everyone then had lunch of Jollof Rice and juice before we all said our farewells until next month.

Meetings

This month also saw a NGO fair at the Ghana University to students from Trent University Canada in ACCRA. Catherine traveled to the fair to represent LIFOC and presented with another 15 NGO’s to encourage the students to come and volunteer at the end of their course in January. The competition is stiff with the group going to another Ngo fair this week in Tamale where another 16 NGO’s will present making a total of 32 NGO’s and only 25 students so fingers crossed. After the presentation the students stopped on their way through to Tamale to visit the LIFOC office and meet with Yaw and Mike so we are hoping to get at least one volunteer to join us in January.

Trip to Green Turtle

On Friday the 24^th of this month the volunteers headed off for the much talked about Green Turtle resort. Here we met up with David, Laura and Amy who had been traveling all week and got acquainted with the resort. The place is owned by a British couple who have set up an eco resort, run by solar power, compost toilets that use ash and a lot of the profits are used to save the leather back turtles.

It sits on the Atlantic Ocean lined with palm trees and beach umbrellas made of bamboo poles and grass thatched tops. It was a great 2 days of relaxation after a busy week at work with lots of swimming, sunbathing, beach volleyball, reading, eating and traditional African dancing, singing and drumming. A great time was had by all and at reasonable prices to cater for the volunteers a definite recommendation on any trip to Ghana.

In Progress

As usual there is a lot of work in progress at the moment at LIFOC. We have been offered a grant to assist and roll out a program in Kumasi called Mobilize Malaria. The program involves training local volunteers on recognizing early signs of malaria and taking action by referring them to the necessary health clinic. This program starts at the end of October and runs until December with the possibility of becoming a part of our LIFOC program for another 2 years depending on its success. School presentations also started at the end of this month with Catherine, Rhi, Craig and Chelsey all taking part. The presentations will run until the end of November ensuring the volunteers have a full working calendar.

Rhi and Craig are also making headway at the Missionaries of Charity orphanage with the painting of the orphanage to brighten the children’s lives and their somewhat drab surroundings.

Light for Children September Update

4th of October 2008

Light for Children September Report

Written by Catherine Charles, LIFOC volunteer (cathcharles05@hotmail.com), and prepared by Sebastian Lindstrom (butchieenorsk@msn.com)

Urgent call to Action

We have an urgent need for new sponsors coming into the new sponsorship year in October. Starting off the year we have dropped from 7 sponsors to only 4 with some of the old sponsors not renewing this year and 2 new sponsors being Edmond Leung from Hong Kong and Catherine Charles from Australia. Any past volunteers or people wishing to donate and help out are encouraged to participate. If you are wanting further information or ideas on fundraising activities please contact us ASAP on lightforchildren@yahoo.com

There are many different ways you can support Light for Children.  Please join our facebook cause named ‘ Save the AIDS orphans of Ghana’.  Just click this link (http://apps.new.facebook.com/causes/102026?recruiter_id=16674170) and after joining make sure to invite your friends.

We will have a fundraiser for the HIV positive children of Ghana and at the same time launch the movie ‘Obruni: Where are you going?’ at China Club in Hong Kong on the 26th of November. The movie teaser can be found at http://www.lightforchildren.com/film/obruni.html We plan to organize screening s of the movie at 25-30 different Universities from around the world in the week following the World Aids Day (December 1st). If you are interested in organizing a screening of the movie at your University please contact Sebastian Lindstrom at butchieenorsk@msn.com – only together we can make this happen; the future is now.

Good bye to the old and hello to the new

September saw the arrival of 7 new volunteers and the depature of Christian our German volunteer after his 3 month stay and Nicole from Canada after her 2 month stay.  The new volunteers include Catherine from Australia, Rhi, Craig, Amy, Laura and David from the UK and Chelsey from Canada.  Rhi and Craig are placed at the Missionaries of Charity Orphange in Kumasi, Amy, Laura and David are in Mampong at the baby orphange, Chelsey is sharing her time between LIFOC and Missionaries of Charity Orphange and Catherine is working for the LIFOC project.  Christian assisted in the orientation of the new volunteers before departing himself on the 14th of September and Nicole departed for home on the 24th of September.

VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing)

September has been a big month for the VCT program, where we go to various shops and stores and talk to the employees about HIV/AIDS and its dangers and then take them for testing.  Christian and Catherine finished at the local Hairdressers in Atonsu with 14 girls in total all being tested and thankfully negative.  We then spent the following weeks talking to a local dressmakers school and a local hairdressing school about HIV/AIDS, prevention, stigma and the need for testing.  On the 12th September LIFOC then organized the VCT nurses to come to the office in Atonsu and conduct the counseling and Rapid HIV Test and invited all the girls to come.  We ended up testing 34 girls and gave out over 5 referrals in the following days for those who couldn’t make it.  Again we were delighted not only in the turn out of girls but the fact all presented negative.

On the 19th of September Yaw, Catherine and Chelsey went back to the hairdressers to follow up on the girls after their testing.  This was to reaffirm the importance of using the uneasy feeling they had prior to the testing, to make the right choices from now on.  We took the girls through the Journey of Hope presentation and received positive feedback that following their testing they will use their experience to influence friends to be tested and to make good life choices.

Home Visits

On the 7th of September we conducted 5 home visits between our group of volunteers.  Yaw, Christian and Catherine visited the family of the twins Edwin and Edward Astu.  The twins who are 9 months old also have 2 sisters who are infected with HIV and both parents also have the disease.  They struggle day to day to make ends meet and spoke of issues in obtaining food from the Nutritional support centre and maternal and child health clinic. They then visited Kofi Adu and his mother who spoke of issues whith getting monthly doses of medicine as they were only receiving fortnightly rations.  Mike went with Rhi and Craig to visit Christiana, Yaw and Kwadwo.

On the 28th September the whole group visited  children Hilda and Kwaku Mensah and their mother Catherine in Adiembra, Monica Hene and her parents in Ohwin and twins Phillip and Phillipa Mensah and mother Teresa in Ohwin also.  All children are doing well however we need to ensure that there is enough food and medicine being distributed and will take up with the clinics to ensure this is being done.

Meetings

This month has seen many meetings.  Yaw and Mike attended a week long conference on Malaria at Anita Hotel in Egisu.  They discussed the need to roll out programs within the community educating children and their parents through the use of volunteers and organizations such as LIFOC.  Malaria is a huge problem in Ghana and claims 45 children under 5 years of age, everyday.  Many families have problems identifying the disease, often it is not until the child has reached critical stage until they are diagnosed and by then it is too late.   LIFOC has been selected to implement this program starting October through to Christmas this year.

Catherine and Chelsea attended a meeting on Violence Against Children (VAC) in Adum on 23rd September on behalf of LIFOC.  They found the meeting very beneficial and the committee spoke of a need to curb corporal punishment at school as well as physical punishments and violence in the home.  The department of Children’s Services plans on implementing a 5 year plan (2008-2012) in order to monitor and identify acts of violence against children.

Monthly socialization meeting

The monthly meeting of the HIV positive care and support group took place at the Center for National Cultural Centre of Kumasi on the 20th of September, 2008 at 9:30a.m.  Most of the children and their caregivers were present and participated actively.  After updating the photos of the children, recording all their weights and distributing biscuits and Koala toys from Australia, the volunteers took the children to play football in the park while Mike and Yaw spoke to the parents about any current issues, health care and distributed medicines and school fees.

Last month new introduced child Memuna Abu was also present again with her mother and spoke of the hardship of having no one to confide in or be her guarantor in order to get medicine for her and her child.  Unfortunately this is a common scenario as the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS stops people confiding in loved ones or family.  The meeting ended after the traditional joint lunch of Jolloff rice and water at around 12.30pm.

Trip to Mole

After the socialization meeting Mike took volunteers, Catherine, Rhi, Craig, Chelsey, Amy, Laura, David and 2 other Canadian Volunteers from Volunteers Abroad Taylor and Julie to Mole for the weekend.  Hiring our own Tro Tro we travelled up the 8 hour trip to Mole stopping on the way for fresh fruit from the street stalls and Jollof rice dinner at Black House restaurant before arriving at the park at 11pm that night.  Sunday started with a 7am walking safari with an armed guard where we saw animals such as Deer, Wart Hogs, Elephants and Monkeys.  It was then off for breakfast of eggs, toast and tea and a swim and bake by the pool for a couple of hours.  At 2pm we headed off again to go canoeing just outside the National Park.  We picked up paddlers on the way and split into 2 groups (the British and the Canadians and lone Aussie) and paddled around a calm swamp looking for crocodiles.  Although we didn’t find any crocodiles it was very Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in “African Queen”.

Back on the Tro Tro we headed back to a small town half way back to Kumasi to spend the night in order to get to the Monkey Sanctuary and Waterfalls the next day.  After breakfast of omelets and bread and tea we headed to the beautiful waterfalls where we took photos and had a lovely morning walk.  Next stop, Monkey Sanctuary where the volunteers had a guided tour of many species of Monkeys before heading back home to Kumasi.  Although exhausted in the end, everyone had a great trip and saw a lot of wildlife and beautiful scenery of Northern Ghana.

In Progress

There is a lot of work in progress at the moment at LIFOC.  We are in the process of starting to write a new program for schools built around Soccer and involving children in sports to provide a new forum for learning about HIV/AIDS, it’s effects and preventions.  We are also updating all the children’s profiles in order to pass them onto volunteers wishing to present back in their home countries in order to get more sponsors for the children and more volunteers from their home country.  We have made alliances with a community group called Mother Bear Projects (http://www.motherbearproject.org) who have sent us 2 boxes of hand knitted bears for the children and are going to place LIFOC on their website.  All this is part of building awareness of LIFOC and our organization.  We are also excited that school is now back in full swing and we are to start school presentations 1st week of October.