Monthly Archives: June 2020

Annual General Meeting 2020 – Summary of Minutes

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Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the meeting was held (on Thursday 25th June) on Zoom.  This allowed people who are normally not able to attend, to be present.  We were delighted that 22 people joined us, from across the UK, from Accra, Tamale, and even Myanmar!  This is a summary of the Minutes prepared by Jo Hallett.

The Chairman’s report and the Secretary’s report can be read on this website.

It was particularly pleasing to listen to our Patron, Lord Paul Boateng, who visited Ghana in March and noted positive changes in education, such as free secondary education.  But he also noted the underfunding of education in general, and the neediness of the Northern Regions.  He had praise for Ghana’s public health system – hospitals were not overwhelmed and there was an effective testing system in place.  However, Ghana struggles with basics such as good nutrition and sanitation.  He was very appreciative of the achievements of Ghana School Aid, and ended by saying “the Ghana you all love remains”.

Penny reported a new fund-raising initiative consisting of sending appeal letters, under the guidance of a professional fund-raiser, to suitable Charitable Trusts.  We live in hope…  She is always keen to have feedback re the website.  Rita described the Facebook page she has set up.  We are all encouraged to “like” it!

The Committee was reelected nem con and William will take on the official role of Vice-Chair.

We heard from Kofi Ohene in Accra.  He has worked with GSA since its inception in 1986 and his help in transferring funds, visiting schools and advising the committee is invaluable.  We also heard from Salifu Baako who has worked with us since 2009.  He is Headteacher of a JHSchool in Tamale.  He visits schools on our behalf, helps schools with their appeals and offers the committee his very welcome advice.  Finally, Reginald Quartey, who now works in the Curriculum Department of the Ghana Education Service, was very supportive of our work.  He said that some secondary pupils were back in school, but primary pupils would return in September.

The meeting, much appreciated by all, closed at 4.10pm

Secretary’s report AGM 2020

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Our AGM was held on Zoom on 25th June 2020.  Jo Hallett, our Honorary Secretary, gave us this report:

Ghana School Aid is still a thriving charity!

We were recently asked to calculate the number of lives impacted by our grants.  In a 12-month period, we regularly support projects in 32 schools.  At a rough estimate the average number of pupils in a school will be 200 – so that’s 6,400 new children and adults who benefit in one year!

The wide range of projects supported is reflected in the wonderful 2020 Newsletter, and page 3 of the Treasurer’s report lists all of them.  Projects included cement to replace mud floors, the roofing of classrooms, fitting windows and doors, building a toilet block and, above all, furniture for pupils and staff.  The need seems to be infinite!  And we have had a growing number of applications.  We decided to limit the timing of requests to “application windows” and to specify the theme each time, in a bid to make the situation more manageable.

However, this well-intentioned strategy backfired!  In October 2019 we had over 60 applications for Water and Sanitation Projects in schools, across Ghana, but sadly few from the northern regions (where access to the internet is limited).

Clearly, we could not help all of them.  The applications were sorted on to a large spreadsheet, according to size of school, nature of project, number of pupils, and so on.  We found (predictably perhaps) that the borehole projects were too expensive for our budget.

We then prioritised the requests from schools in the north, and schools that had not had a grant previously.  Finally, we chose the schools asking for the smallest grants in order to impact the largest number of schools.  Twenty schools received grants for toilets, urinals, rehabilitation of a well, veronica buckets and dustbins.

Much as we would like to be providing clean water as well as toilets, this is not within our financial capacity.  The next topics for applications are Sanitation Projects (October 2020) and School Furniture (March 2021).

This really is a team effort!  Different members of the committee in the UK take on different roles, from looking after our finances to keeping us in the public eye with the GSA website and a Facebook page.  In Ghana, Salifu Baako is our representative in the north, overseeing a number of schools in and around Tamale, and Kofi Ohene, in Accra, is absolutely key to our distribution of grants to schools.  A huge thank-you to everyone!

The committee has adapted well to the challenge of the coronavirus epidemic, and, like many organisations, we have been meeting on Zoom.  Schools in Ghana have been closed, but many are still in touch with us by email.

I look forward to another year of the important task of supporting education in Ghana.

Chairman’s Report 2020

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We held our AGM by Zoom on Thursday 25th June 2020 (see separate report).  Here is the Annual Report, given by our chairman, Ted Mayne:

AKWAABA !

We have had a testing year, what with the Coronavirus Pandemic and the extensive requests from rural schools in Ghana.  I do not really know where to start, but I can confirm that, thanks to our representatives on the ground, we have managed to support more projects than ever before.  This is because we have received nearly £35,000 in donations from generous donors and legacies.

When I first went to Ghana in 1987, I became conscious of the thousands of children who had received little or no education.  1987 was a hard time for Ghana:  there were food shortages and the country was very slowly climbing out of a severe recession.  The World Bank was there to lend a helping hand and slowly but surely things improved.  It was around this time that Ghana School Aid came into existence and this dedicated team of old Gold Coasters were able to see where the schooling deficiencies lay.  Francophone Africa appeared to be so much ahead of the game and Ghana was likely to be left behind. However, things did change and by due diligence and hard work the country has risen from the ashes and moved forward.

There was much to do and very quickly funds were raised to finance education in the rural schools.  The grants were only small but our efforts made such a difference to these rural schools.  Over the next 30+ years the charity grew and we were able to finance several major projects.  This was an achievement in itself and once our website was built, we were able to “show the world” what we were doing.  Originally, we only raised £3,000 and this slowly increased, and I am pleased to report that in the 12 months up to 27th March 2020 we raised almost £35,000.  This is amazing and our recent Newsletter contains up-to-date information on our achievements so far.

Our fund-raising methods have been revolutionised:  gone are the small raffles and small cheques from donors, to be replaced by 4 to 5 figure legacies from individuals who have discovered our existence through the internet.  I can report that our hard-working committee keeps the show on the road.

In spite of “lockdown”, information technology has enabled us to have our quarterly committee meeting thanks to Zoom and for the first time ever, this AGM, .

Patrick Heinecke, who now no longer attends our meetings and no longer travels to Ghana, is still active with the Sandema Project.  This means that we shall continue to support this project.  Patrick has not been to Ghana for two years, but he remains as passionate as ever about the work in the upper regions.

Coronavirus has left much of our work in Ghana in the balance.  Most of the schools remain closed, which is not good.  So many of them have seen their funds dry up and it will take a long time to restore their finances to their previous level.  We are fortunate that we have Kofi Ohene who can manage our funds in Ghana, so our projects can survive.

The GSA committee has been fantastic.  Every member has remained on fire for the people of Ghana.  I cannot let this report pass without mentioning Jennifer MacDougall who produced a marvelous Newsletter.  I am sure you will agree that it is a true work of art.  It is creative and full of articles describing exactly what we have achieved over the past year.

I am sad that we will not be meeting up for our AGM, but I am pleased that we have Zoom to act as a substitute.  I hope all will be well for 2021.  There is much to achieve and I end by quoting the much-maligned Cecil Rhodes who said, “so much to do, so little done”.  In real terms, our efforts have been small, and there is much to do.  However, the little we do does make a huge difference to the impoverished schools that we support.

We have had encouraging comments from one of our longest-standing members,  Lalage Bown, who went to West Africa in 1949.  She sent glowing comments on our recent Newsletter.  I spoke to her last week and, at the age of 93, she is as bright as ever.  Eric and Auriol Earle, who can no longer attend our meetings remain avid supporters.  Both are well into their nineties and I have enjoyed visiting them and updating them on our work.

This concludes my report and I hope we shall regroup next year.  God bless you all.

Project reports from schools

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I try to post as many of the wonderful reports we get back from schools in receipt of grants from Ghana School Aid as I can.  At the moment I would like to refer you to our excellent Newsletter 2020, which is available on this website.  Here is a list of schools featured in the UPDATE ON PROJECTS section.

Esinianim District Assembly Primary School, Brong Ahafo;  (Akim) Batabi Primary School, Eastern Region;  Asunsu No 2 Roman Catholic Primary School, Brong Ahafo;  Kwaboanta D/A JHS, Eastern Region;  Kenyasi No 2 Methodist School, Brong Ahafo;  Asanteman L/A Primary, JHS, Brong Ahafo;  Aboabo L/A Basic School, Brong Ahafo;  Suponso-Onomabo Basic School, (also referred to as Akim Anamabi), Birim Central District, Eastern Region;  Assin Asamankese TI Ahmadiya Basic School, Boameso, Central Region;  Techimantia TI Ahmadiya Basic School, Brong Ahafo;  Asikaso D/A Basic School, Eastern Region;  Yilonaayili Anglican Primary School, Northern Region;  Tibung D/A JHS, Northern Region;  Kenyasi No 1 RC Basic School, Brong Ahafo;  Dumso-Bethel Primary School, Brong Ahafo;  Kumosa M/A Primary School, Brong Ahafo.

That’s sixteen of the schools helped in the very recent past.  Many are from Brong Ahafo.  That is because many schools from Brong Ahafo applied to us, and were successful.  We do, however, like to spread our grants right round the country.