News

Diary Dates

On the evening of May 24, there’ll be a fund-raising concert of classical music at St Pancras Church, corner of Euston Road and Woburn Place, London, NW1 2BA. Performers will include Henry Roche, former Head of Music of the Royal Ballet, and Jonathan Reid. We’ll give more details of the programme as and when they come through.
 
On July 23, Ashanti Development’s summer party, A Taste of Ghana, will take place in Holborn. The sponsored walk will be on September 10, and a swimmarathon and gospel choir concert will be fitted intothe gaps.

Job Vacancy – Teacher-Trainers

We’re looking for volunteer teacher-trainers to spend three terms in Ashanti helping develop our teacher-trainer work.

A few years ago, retired teacher Dave Banks set out to improve the quality of teaching in Sekyere Central District.  After observing lessons and talking to teachers, he documented a method of improving their performance, and at first was inclined to publish it.

But then he realised that the programme might well be seen as a foreign invention, created by an arogant foreigner who thought he knew it all.

So Dave decided to work with the eight top supervisors in the District.  Together they revised the work, and then the supervisors cascaded the information to all the local schools.  Since then, exam results have dramatically improved, and Dave is under pressure from neighbouring Districts to extend the programme to them.

We’re now looking for more people to join him – to work with District supervisors to amend and improve the programme so that local people can take ownership of it, and then to cascade it to large numbers of teachers.

This might be a great opportunity for recently retired people, or people looking for a change in life-style. No pay, but you’ll get free board and lodging, the knowledge you’re making a big difference to the life chances of many children, and the undying gratitude of some of the nicest people in Africa.

BIG News

BIG NEWS. If you go to www.ashantibespoke.com, you can order a shirt or blouse or dress, to be made to your exact measurements. And of course you can choose the material too.
 
It will be made up by Kofi and his dressmaking school in Gyetiase, and the picture shows him with two very happy customers. They asked him to make a shirt and a jacket in the 24 hours before they left Ashanti. He must have been up most of the night, but he did it.
 
Students of the dressmaking school are mostly single mothers, very poor, and their studies are highly subsidised by Ashanti Development, so it will be wonderful if this turns into a way of helping the school to stand on its own two feet.
Richard, Aki, Kofi

Racing The Rains

We’re building latrines now in seven villages – more than we’ve ever worked in before at one time. One of them, Abuontem, is also the largest village we’ve worked with and has at least nine different religions – Catholic, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Methodist, Anglican, Muslim, Church of Christ, Seventh Day Adventists and Traditional. The Chief is also the fetish priest.

Our Country Director is anxious to get the work in Abuontem started quickly, so as to get a good headstart before the rains come. At first progress was stalled because he couldn’t find a mason, but luckily the local assemblyman has now found one in Pentem village, which isn’t too far away.  So now it’s all systems go.

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tem, which isn’t too far away, so it’s all systems go.

Getting To Know You

In Gyetiase, we recently managed to set up Skype in Gyetiase and Bonkron Primary Schools. Their twinned schools in the UK are now planning to connect with them.

We also showed children’s films to both schools. The photos were taken while the children were waiting for the films to start, and show David W making friends with the locals.

 

David Williamson 4 David Williamson 3 David Williamson 2 David Williamson 1

A Thank-You Letter

Mpantuase-Nkwabrim has sent a lovely thank-you letter for some teachers’ latrines. I can’t get it to photocopy reasonably, so here’s what it says: –

Dear Sir/Madam
A LETTER OF APPRECIATION
The Headteacher, Odikro, Assemblyman, staff, Parent/Teacher Association /School Management Committee … wish to express their profound thanks and gratitude to you for accepting to construct a six-seater toilet facility for us.
The Headteacher as well as the people are highly delighted for your financial support …
We are, therefore, writing to honour appreciation and pray that the Almighty God bless you greatefully (sic).
We hope this humble letter would be accepted in good faith.

And here are a couple of photos of the work in progress.

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Too Far To Walk

Although there’s free primary school education in Ghana, the two little girls in the photo can’t attend. This is because their nearest school is at Kwamang, which is at least five kilometres distant. However, thanks to a generous sponsor, at least they’ll soon have household latrines.

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Latrines for Villagers Plus Settlers Groups

Esereso Village is quite remote from any town. It consists of a local community and separate settlement of Tuaregs – settlers from the north. Tuaregs or Fulanis are quite warlike and aggressive, and local people tend to keep their distance.
We’ve recently found a sponsor to develop Esereso and everyone, including the Tuaregs, is very happy. It looks as if the newcomers will at last start to integrate, as otherwise they may miss out on the latrines.

 

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Gyetiase Technical School

The Technical School is Gyetiase is well underway, providing training mainly to single mothers and offering them a way out of the extreme poverty many are currently suffering. Here are some pictures of the school with its teacher, Kofi Marfo from Nsuta.

 

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Clean Water At Duomo

Nicholas, our Country Director, is busy distributing Aquafilters to villages where we believe boreholes would never succeed. Here he is, giving them out to Duomo village. At present, each household has to pay Ghc.5 (just under £1) for a household filter, but from now on we’re going to sell them on microcredit terms. Like that, we’ll have money to replace them when they break.

 

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