School sessions during the holidays

Over the holidays, children around the world took a break from school and celebrated various religious and government supported holidays. For the children in Kpuliying community, their holidays were spent catching up to those children more fortunate than them. The children of Kpuliying are not so fortunate, getting them in school requires overcoming the financial barriers as well as the incentives their parents have to keep them out of school and have them help out at home and on the farm.

Children washing clothes -
a daily task usually assigned to the younger girls in the household.
A small girl carries water to her home -
another task that is usually divvied up to young girls.

Once the children of Kpuliying are able to get to school, there still remains the challenge of receiving quality education. Teachers in rural areas have little incentives to show up to class regularly and to ensure their students learn and progress. Most teachers come from urban areas and are less than pleased with a rural post that means less amenities such as accommodations, electricity, water, and school buildings. This, along with the feeling of being an outsider in the community affects teacher motivation and leads to disappointed children (http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_848.html)

Over the holidays, Dan was busy taking advantage of the school break. He was able to coordinate a team of skilled and committed individuals to start offering opportunities for the children of Kpuliying to not only get into school but to receive quality education. He organized 25 children (10 females, 15 males) to start attending school over the holidays. The building used was graciously opened up to Dan by the community pastor and other community leaders. Two teachers volunteered to put their college education to use. Books were provided by the 'School For Life' which has similar goals to Dan (http://www.ghanavenskabsgrupperne.dk/index.php?id=26).

School Book written in local language (Dagbani)

Pastor Danaa - one of the amazing people supporting this program.

The aim of the program was to give the children a sort of sneak peek into what school is all about. Most children really enjoyed the experience and many took their studies seriously. The teachers have been quite impressed with the students' performance and are surprised at how some have excelled and progressed through the material. With enthusiasm from both teachers and students, the training is still on-going, with a meodified class schedule to accommodate for the resumed regular classes.

Moses - one of the two volunteer teachers hard at work.

The children, although they may not look excited (it's Ghana culture to look serious for photos), they are both serious and proud for the opportunity to attend school.

Next, Dan says he's planning to work with the paid teachers of the school and see if he can't help encourage them to do a better job. Well keep you posted on this next effort.