Child sponsorship update from Tema, Ghana

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Tema, Ghana from Summer 2008.

I am happy to inform you of the latest developments of the SOS Children’s Village in Tema. The Village is currently supported by the following facilities which serve the community as well as the children in the Village: SOS Nursery School, SOS Primary and Junior High School, SOS Vocational Training Centre & SOS Medical Centre.

THE VILLAGE
The Tema Village is currently a home to 140 children, including 10 youth who are students at the SOS International College (HGIC). Five (5) children have also gained admission to the SOS International College this year. This brings the number of children from the Tema Village studying at the SOSIC to seventeen (17. With the exception of one baby, all the children are either in the Crèche, Nursery School, Primary, Junior and Senior High Schools in the Village or outside the Village.

THE YOUTH HOMES / DEVELOPMENT
The children in the two youth homes are doing well. At the moment there are 13 girls and 16 boys in the youth homes. A good number of them have completed their basic school and are waiting to go to senior high school when their results are released sometime in August. The total number of youth in semi-independence accommodation is 32. Out of this number, 11 are in tertiary institutions including universities and polytechnics while the others are either working or in skills training. Two girls from the Girls’ Youth Home have completed their skills training and will soon start working on their own.

The youth in the youth homes had a seminar on ‘Adolescent Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education’ at the Girls Youth Home to sensitize the youth on very salient issues that affect their reproductive health. The youth also continued their monthly outreach visits to assist the HIV/AIDS children and adults at the Missionary Sisters Charity Home in Ashaiman a community close to Tema. Transition education for the youth in the youth homes and the family houses is ongoing to prepare them for the next stage of their lives within the structures of the SOS Children’s Villages childcare system.

NEW YEAR AND EASTER PARTY
The village ushered in the year 2008, with a grand New Year party at the village car park. This was sponsored and organised by a philanthropist. He also made donations of food items to the village in addition to the party. He again feted the whole village on Easter Monday with a grand party. He pledged that the New Year and Easter parties for the children in the village will be a regular feature of his relationship with the village.

Children's education at Tema, Ghana

EDUCATION
In April this year, 22 children from the village completed their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). Some of them are helping out at the SOS School and the SOS Nursery School as teaching assistants while waiting for their results, while others are spending time with their biological families. It is our hope and expectation that they will all gain admission to the Senior High Schools in October.

Five (5) youth, one girl and four (4) boys from the youth homes completed their senior secondary school education in May and are waiting their results in order to proceed to universities and other tertiary institutions to pursue further studies; while three children, two boys and a girl, also completed their International General Secondary Certificate Education (IGSCE) examinations this June. It is our hope that they will go on to International Baccalaureate (IB) studies in August.

TEACHING STAFF UNDERGO EDUCATIONAL REFORM
A five day workshop on the new educational reform which was introduced by the Ghana Education Service (GES) was organised for the teaching staff of the SOS schools. The reform emphasised on the active involvement of the child in the teaching and learning process. The new subjects added to the syllabi are Natural Science, Creative Arts (Arts and Music), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Basic Design Technology (BDT), Pre-Technical Skills and Pre-Vocational Skills. Teachers were also advised to make good use of pictures during their teaching to give clear pictorial presentation of what they are teaching to ease boredom and help the students to remember better.

SOS SCHOOL WINS NATIONAL SPELLING ‘B’ COMPETITION
The SOS School has won the maiden edition of the National Spelling Bee competition which was held on March 22, 2008. The keenly contested nine round competitions began with 30 finalists from schools in Accra. An eighth grader at SOS School beat twenty-nine students and emerged winner with another SOS student following closely at her heels as the 2nd runner up. The winner represented Ghana and for that matter, the African sub-region in Washington DC in May. She competed against 287 other students from all over the world. She was the first African to ever compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Competition.

Events at Tema, Ghana

STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The village has continued to enhance the skills, efficiency and effectiveness of the SOS Mothers and Aunties through the organisation of ‘Mothers Classes’ every other Tuesday. These classes which are aimed at equipping and sharpening the skills of the mothers and aunties are held every other Tuesday and subjects that are relevant to their work discussed and dealt with.

The village also held Child Development Planning meeting in May and June during which all stake holders discussed the development issues affecting the children. It was an insightful and learning experience for all participants, particularly the teachers who took part in the process for the first time.

SOCIO/CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
The Tema Village witnessed and celebrated the marriage of one youth on the 3rd of May. Her darling husband is from the republic of Togo. Three other youth resettled and married, outdoored their new born babies on the 7th and 14th of June and 29th May respectively. One gave birth to a set of very beautiful twin baby girls while another had a beautiful baby girl also. One also gave birth to a baby boy. The village was fully represented at all the naming ceremonies. We wish the three families every success in their parenting efforts.

The village baseball team continues to chalk very impressive victories in the Tema Municipal Area Little League competition. The team won the 2007 competition and was given the championship trophy which is proudly displayed in the Village Director’s office.

During the Ghana 2008 football tournament, children from SOS Children’s Villages had the privilege to serve as escorts to the players who played their matches at the Sports Stadium in Accra. The children escorted the footballers to the pitch. These children did not only perform as football escorts but were source of motivation and encouragement to some of the players.

VISITS
The village continued to play host to many visitors, both local and international visitors. Notable among them was President Helmut Kutin and the new Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

Members of Parliament (MPs) Football Club from the United Kingdom made a familiarization tour to the SOS facilities in the Tema Village. They presented a worthy sum of amount in pounds sterling and 20 footballs to support the Village sporting activities. In addition the club donated stationery to the children.

Donors from Sweden and Netherlands visited the children’s villages, during the latter part of 2007 and early this year. The purpose of the visit was to acquaint themselves with the locations where they will be sponsoring the construction of the new villages in Ghana.

CONSTRUCTION/RENOVATION
Renovation of ten (10) old family houses is underway in the Tema village to give it a facelift. The ten family houses which are among the oldest buildings in the village were built in the late seventies and the early eighties. Three families have already been relocated to the retired mothers’ quarters and renovation work has started on the old houses. The renovation is expected to be completed within nine months.

Caring for orphans in Ghana

CONSTRUCTION OF NEW SOS VILLAGE IN KUMASI
SOS Children Ghana had laid the foundation stone for commencement of work on the third village in Kumasi. The Village would consist of 12 family houses, nusery school, primary school, junior high school, and social and health centres.

HEALTH - SOS CLINIC (MEDICAL CENTRE)
All the children in the village with the exception of those in boarding schools have been registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Registration of the other children is in progress. Efforts are also being made to register the medical centre in the village with the National Health Insurance Scheme. All the children are in good health.

The medical centre this year has continued to play the role it was set up to play. Patronage of the centre remained as high as that of the previous year; as its core business is taking care of the health care needs of the village children, mothers, other staff and their dependants, including the students, staff and dependants of the SOS International College. It also served as the main health care centre of the beneficiaries of the family strengthening programme.

Family Strengthening Programme (FSP)
The Family Strengthening Programme a project under SOS Children Ghana, which aims at preventing children from falling out of their family and community care, has been supporting 86 families in Tema and 108 families in Asiakwa. Since January this year the programme has extended its activities to Kasoa in the Central region. 132 families are receiving support from the programme, increasing the overall number of families and Orphaned and Vulnerable (OVCs) to 323 and 1210 respectively. Beneficiaries have received various forms of support; these include monthly food packages, clothes and housing. 90% of families have been registered under the National Health Insurance Programme (NHIS). OVCs are also been given educational support through the payment of fees, provision of stationery and school Uniform. The programme is jointly implemented with support from chiefs, opinion leaders and community volunteers. 50% of families have received financial support for Income Generation Activities and it is expected that by the close of the year 30% of the families will be self reliant.

The Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) organised maiden edition of inter-community games at the Comm-Ce beach at New Ningo. The event was organised for about 270 children who were from six of the FSP communities.

GHANA’S ECONOMY
Economic growth of the country has increased steadily since 2000 with Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increasing from 3.7 % in 2000 to 6.35 in 2007. Receipt from gold has helped sustain GDP growth in 2007 along with recorded high prices for Ghana’s cocoa to date. However the rising cost of fuel and food has threatened to undermine the micro stability of the economy, culminating in the level of inflation rising to 16.5% as at June. It’s against this background that the government has announced some mitigating measures to reduce the cost of fuel and other food items, but the effect has not been significantly felt as at now.

Your generous contributions over the past years have made it possible for the successes that SOS Children’s Village in Tema has been able to achieve.

We cherish greatly your support and on behalf on of all the children and mothers, I say a big “thank you.”

Best wishes.
Yours sincerely,

Kojo Mattah
National Director.