CHILD RIGHT AND CHILD LABOR TALK AT NYANYANO

TO CREATE MORE AWARENESS ON CHILD LABOR ISSUES CHEERFUL HEARTS FOUNDATION  IS GOING TO BE  GIVING TALKS ON  CHILD LABOR AT VARIOUS SCHOOLS IN THE SENYA BREKU DISTRICT.

  WE STARTED WITH FRANKLIN MEMORIAL SCHOOL ON  JULY 6TH 2012,AT ABOUT 11 AM.MR ERIC,ALI,JOSH,ADAM,SOFIA  AND MYSELF GAVE THE TALK,WITH EACH ONE US TACKLING A PARTICULAR ASPECT.MR ERIC STARTED BY INTRODUCING US TO THE PUPILS AND THE TEACHERS PRESENT AND THEN CONTINUED WITH THE PURPOSE OF THE TALK.HE TALKED ABOUT THE ISSUE AT HAND AND ALSO EMPHASIZED ON THE NEED TO PLAY A VITAL PART TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE ERADICATION OF CHILD LABOR IN THEIR COMMUNITY.
   SOFIA CONTINUED WITH THE MEANING OF CHILD LABOR,FORMS,STATISTICS OF THE NUMBER OF KIDS ENGAGED IN CHILD LABOR, AND THE STATUS OF CHILD LABOR IN THE WORLD.SHE THEN HANDED OVER TO JOSH WHO ENLIGHTENED THEM ON THEIR RIGHTS AS CHILDREN OF GHANA AND THE WORLD.HE ALSO TOLD THEM ABOUT SOME OF THEIR BASIC RIGHTS AND HOW IMPORTANT THESE RIGHTS ARE AND HENCE CANNOT BE INFRINGED UPON.ADAM CONTINUED WITH A STORY OF A KID THAT WORKED FOR ONLY 50PESEWAS A DAY AND HOW TIRESOME AND HECTIC HIS WORK WAS.HE THEN WENT ON TO ASK IF THEY KNEW OF ANY KIDS THAT WENT THROUGH SUCH DIFFICULT TIMES AND MOST OF THEM SAID YES.HE TALKED TO THEM ABOUT THE RISK INVOLVED IN ENGAGING IN SUCH ACTIVITIES.ALI TALKED ABOUT EDUCATION,THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION,SOME OF THE PERSONAL BENEFITS OF EDUCATION AND PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH NOT HAVING AN EDUCATION.I THEN ENCOURAGED THE PUPILS TO FOCUS ON THEIR EDUCATION,ASPIRE FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE THROUGH A GOOD EDUCATION,HOW IMPORTANT EDUCATION IS TO BECOMING LIKE THE PROMINENT PEOPLE THEY SEE IN SOCIETY AND ALSO PLEADED WITH THEM TO ADVICE THEIR PEERS TO COME TO SCHOOL AND SHUN WORKING AT DANGEROUS WORKING SITES.MR ERIC THEN ASKED IF ANYONE  EXPERIENCES TO SHARE AND ONE BOLD BOY SHARED HIS EXPERIENCE ON HOW HE USED TO WORK AT  THE SHORES AND SOME SAD EXPERIENCES HE SUFFERED.
      MR ERIC CONCLUDED BY ENCOURAGING THEM TO TALK TO THEIR FRIENDS AND THAT CHEERFUL HEARTS FOUNDATION IS PREPARED TO SUPPORT ANY KID THAT GENUINELY WOULD WANT TO SCHOOL.ONE OF THE STAFF MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL SHOWED APPRECIATION FOR OUR KIND GESTURE AND SAID THEY WERE QUITE HAPPY WE DID THE TALK SINCE THEY HAVING DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINING THIS ISSUE TO THE KIDS.
     AFTER ,UPON HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH ONE THE TEACHERS HE WAS ALSO HAPPY WE DID THE TALK AND SUGGESTED WE DID MORE OF THE TALKS SINCE WE GETTING CLOSER TO THE FISHING SEASON AND THAT MOST KIDS EVEN THOSE THAT WERE IN SCHOOL GET ATTRACTED TO THE SHORES SINCE THERE IS BOUNTIFUL HARVEST IN THESE TIMES.HOPEFULLY WE WILL BE DOING MORE TALKS IN THE SCHOOL TO CREATE MORE AWARENESS AND SPREAD THE WORD "STOP CHILD LABOR NOW"

OPERATION STOP CHILD LABOUR IN SENYA,GHANA

        CHEERFUL HEARTS FOUNDATION HAS BEGAN ITS OPERATION IN THE FISHING VILLAGE CALLED SENYA WHERE THE KIDS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 7 AND 15 WORK IN FISHING BOATS AND ON THE FISHING SHORES.
      WE ARRIVED IN THE VILLAGE ABOUT 10 AM TO START WITH THE INTERVIEWS AT THE SHORES.WE ACTUALLY ARRIVED AT A CASTLE WHICH IS NOW A LODGE.WE DID THE INTERVIEWS IN GROUPS OF THREE,THAT IS MYSELF AND ADAM,ALI AND VIVIAN, AND BRIGHT AND SOPHIA.

 

after the interview ali and sophia help pull a boat to the shores

THE PEOPLE AT THE SHORES WERE KIND OF RELUCTANT TO LISTEN TO US AND PARTAKE IN THE INTERVIEWS BUT LATER ON WHEN THEY GOT TO KNOW WHAT OUR INITIATIVE WAS THEY GOT INTERESTED.AFTER DOING A FEW INTERVIEWS I REALIZED THAT MOST OF THE KIDS ARE OUT OF SCHOOL BECAUSE OF FINANCIAL PROBLEMS OR THEIR OWN DESIRE TO MAKE MONEY AT THE BEACH.WE ALSO GOT TO KNOW THAT THE KIDS ARE SOMETIMES NOT PAID AT ALL IF THEY DON'T HAVE A GOOD CATCH.ALSO MOST OF THE KIDS DON'T HAVE AN ASPIRATION TO HAVE A CAREER THROUGH EDUCATION SINCE MOST OF THEM WANT TO DRIVERS,CARPENTERS,MASONS AND OTHER TRADES.BUT NONETHELESS ALL THE KIDS WOULD LOVE TO BE IN SCHOOL.THE KIDS ALSO MOSTLY COME FROM FAMILIES WHERE NONE ARE EDUCATED AND HENCE DON'T SEE THE NEED TO HAVE AN EDUCATION.MOST OF THEM STARTED AND THEN STOPPED SCHOOLING AND HENCE MOST DON'T EVEN KNOW THEIR AGE ,DATE OF BIRTH,PARENTS NAMES ETC.AFTER WE HAD FINISHED WITH THE INTERVIEWS WE SPENT SOME TIME AT BEACH TO HANG OUT WITH THE KIDS AND GET TO KNOW THEM MORE.IT WAS REALLY A NICE TIME AT SENYA AND WE ALL LOVED IT.

 AFTER WE CAME BACK TO THE OFFICE TO UPLOAD PICTURES,CREATE PROFILES FOR THE KIDS WE INTERVIEWED,EVALUATIONS,CORRECTIONS ETC.

YOU CAN DONATE THROUGH


http://www.globalgiving.org/donate/5319/cheerful-hearts-foundation/.

ALMOST A MONTH AT CHF

                 Its been almost a month since I started my internship with cheerful hearts foundation,and i must say its been awesome here.Since the last update at the celebration of the child labor day at NYANYANO ,myself and fellow interns Grace and Jenn from the USA and Vivian from UCC continue to do the malaria awareness campaign at schools nearby.We have been to schools such as Raycon internation,Jarfar Saddiq Academy,and State preparatory .In these schools we give the the talks in groups that is the primary one day and the JHS on another day
.The response from the students has been quite impressive and the introduction of the gifts for students that can summarize also seem to motivate the kids to participate very well.
Apart from the malaria awareness campaign,CHF is going to be resuming work on the child labor at the Senya Breku District,covering Gomoa Nyanyano,senya and Fete.This time around CHF intends to introduce more child friendly activities to encourage the kids to live the fishing shores and enroll in schools.We had a meeting with our caretakers at nyanyano to discuss how we would do that.
.A lot of suggestions were raised and hopefully will be very effective in solving child labor issues in the district.According to the executive director MR ERIC OPOKU AGYEMANG more work needs to be done especially in senya where some of the kids are sold to Yeji in another region.

              CHF has new interns from the UK Sofia and Adam and Also Emily ,Megan and Josh, they are very happy to be in Ghana and working at CHF and we are all having a great time together.Hopefully students and some some senior staff members will be helping as with the child labor project from university of Washington, which will start probably in JULY.
I should say i have learned  quite a lot these few weeks and hope to learn a lot more before I go back to school.

WORLD CHILD LABOUR DAY 2012 CELEBRATION

The celebration, launched in 2002 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), provides an opportunity for governments and other stakeholders to give further support to the campaign against child labour.

This year's celebration on the theme: “Human Rights and Social Justice... Let’s End Child Labour,” seeks to highlight that child labour does not only constitute a violation of the rights of the victims, but put their future into jeopardy and undermines national development.

Cheerful hearts Foundation  commemorated the world event by visiting our rescued kids from child labour at Gomoa Nyanyano.Fishing,farming,stone query,and sand wining are the major sources of income for the community,and as a result most kids are found at the shows engaging in such hazardous activities.Our main mission was to educate the pupils on the importance of education,solutions to child labour, and also to entertain them.


Mr. Eric Opoku Agyemang began the celebrations with a brief talk on the importance of education,the current status of child labor in the community,role modelling, and the rights of children in Ghana.

boy sharing his story

Mr Bright Fiatsi also advised the pupils to also behave very well at their various homes to encourage their parents to support them in their education.He advised them to take their education very serious, and show a difference in attitude due to education.

The pupils were there after allowed to give contributions and also share experiences on child labor.One bold student called Emmanuel shared his sad experience of how at the age of about 10 he could not write his name since he was always at the shores.He told us how happy he was  to be going through education now and hence can now spell his name.

The pupils then asked various questions about child labor such as

• what do you do if your parents still insist on you working with them during school hours
• how do you talk to your parents about child labor
• what  do you do if the income from work is what your parents use to pay your fees

having a brief talk with our kids

a group picture after the  celebration

we then distributed some soft drinks to the kids to mark the end of the celebration.The kids were very happy about everything that happened and so were their tutors.After the celebration we had a brief talk with the kids that are under our project,to encourage them and also advise therm.We received a good responds from the caretakers of the kids.

FRIDAY 8TH JUNE 2012

today,thus Friday 8th June 2012 the team was supposed to continue with our malaria awareness campaign at STATE PREPARATORY SCHOOL.after a brief meeting at the office,we departed for the school premises.as usual the kids were so exited to us,probably because of Jenn and grace.after a brief meeting with the director we went to the classroom to begin the talk.this time around,grace gave the talk while Jenn and Vivian assisted her and myself and Mr. Eric took pictures and a videos.

vivian giving her talk

she started with the meaning of malaria,then the causes,signs and symptoms,effects,and treatment and prevention.afterwards the kids were  given the chance to ask questions and also to give contributions.the pupils responded quite well and after the presentation , Vivian gave a brief talk,telling the pupils to do well to inform their parents,friends,peers,and everyone around them about what they learn t

taking a video of mary summarizing all that was said

Mr Eric (the director of cheerful heart foundation)  then asked the students to give a summary of every thing they had learnt,for a price.He insisted that one male and one female should do that.one of the female pupils named Mary,gave quite an impressive summary of everything that was said,but surprisingly none of the male students was prepared to give his summary.Mr Eric decided that any other female could give her summary but none were ready to do that so Mr Eric decided to give only Mary her price,which was GHC50, that is about $30 to motivate the pupils.The pupils were kinda surprised and one could see the regret on their faces.This shows a true example of the lack of confidence in our kids mostly due to being shy,scared of teasing by peers,etc. which is a quite a a problem in all schools.

We departed from the school and went to the office to continue with the days activities.

FIRST DAY AT CHEERFUL HEART FOUNDATION

 

having a meting at the office

  I began my internship programme at cheerful heart foundation on monday 4^th june 2012.i arrived at their main office at kasoa, and was warmly welcomed by mr eric opoku agyemang (executive director and co-founder).after a brief interview and briefing about the ngo and its activities, i was entreated to read more about the organisation on their website at www.cheerfulheartfoundation.org .later i was introduced to other staff members,such as the secretary,programme cordinators etc and also to my co-interns;vivian from university of cape coast and jane,grace and amanda from universty of washinton.

            at about 2 o’clock noon,i was informed that the ngo will be having a talk on malaria at maranatha  preparatory and jhs,which i will be a part of.vivian,jane,grace,myself and mr eric arrived at the school premises at about  30 minutes pass 2,and we first went to the directors office.the head teacher informed as that the pupils in the uppert primary that is stages 4,5 and 6 would be our audience.after the students were gathered at their assembly hall and prepared for the talk,we then moved in.

            the talk was to be given by jane and grace,while vivian and i, talk the video coverage and pictures.the talk was the causes of malaria,effects,signs and symptoms,treatment and prevention.after the talk the students were given the opportuinity to ask questions and after to summarise every thing they had learnt.we then left for the office  to start with a report on the event and to have lunch.at about 4 pm i closed for the day and was driven home by mr eric.

children participating in the talk

jane giving an introduction to malaria

          
 i should say  my first day at cheerful heart foundation was nothing like i anticipated.it was educative,involving,and entertaining as well.hope to learn a lot.