Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 14th June 2018 in the South Crypt of St. Mary’s Church, Islington, London N1 2TX, 11am to 4pm. Invitations to supporters will be sent out by post and email shortly. The cost per head will be £32. The AGM is open to anyone. If you do not receive a written invitation with reply slip, please register by contacting [email protected].
Category Archives: News
Grants awarded 15 February 2018
At our committee meeting we awarded grants of varying amounts to Amoamang Methodist Primary School, Sekyere; Eshlem AME Zion, Birim; Siawkrom D/A Primary School; Asanteman B D/A School; Dzetorkoe D/A Basic School, Tongu; Nkwakom D/A Primary School; Akrodie Saviour Primary School, Brong Ahafo.
We hope to work with a partner charity to support several other of the applications we considered.
PAUSE IN APPLICATIONS
AS FROM 1ST DECEMBER 2017, GSA VERY MUCH REGRETS IT CANNOT ENTERTAIN ANY MORE APPLICATIONS UNTIL 1ST MARCH 2018.
The reason is that we are overwhelmed by requests coming from Ghana schools, and do not have the resources to meet the costs of projects we are being asked to fund. We are very sorry.
Stanley Anthony
Ghana School Aid is very sad to announce the death, on 25 June 2017 of Stanley Anthony, one of its founder members, and always a supportive presence. Stanley was for many years our Honorary Treasurer who carried out the role with great efficiency. His contributions to committee meeting discussions were always to the point and helpful. The picture shows GSA committee members and Stanley’s widow, Ann, at his funeral on 14th July.
STANLEY ANTHONY
Ghana School Aid is very sorry to record the death of one of our founding members who served as Hon. Treasurer for many years, and whose good sense guided us in many difficult decisions.
Tributes to Stanley and Condolences from GSA committee members
Please give my condolences. We are in Ghana at the moment and I am sure all those people Stanley supported in Ghana will be eternally grateful. A big thank you on their behalf.
Dear Stanley, his contribution to the well-being of humanity (at least those people he could affect) has been immeasurable, if GSA is anything to go by. My deep condolences to his family.
This news is very sad. I knew Stanley less well than others but I really liked him. There was a certain comforting peace about him. It’s good that he is indeed at peace now.
I am so sad to receive this news. Stanley contributed so much to GSA and was a charming wonderful person.
It is so sad about Stanley. May his soul rest in perfect peace.
Sandema wishes to express deepest condolences on the death of our Stanley Anthony.
AGM 2017 and Chair’s Report
Thirty-two people had booked for the AGM and Reunion Lunch on Thursday 15 June, and twenty-eight people attended. It was a joyous occasion with heart-warming reports on the various projects in Ghana that GSA supports and the prospect of being able to support more projects in the coming year. We had some lovely raffle prizes to offer and made well over £100 on that! Apart from the important business conducted, the event is a good fund-raiser for us, as many supporters make a donation at this time and the attendance charge includes a margin for GSA funds. The committee was re-elected nem con and will continue to work tirelessly to promote children’s education in Ghana. We were delighted to welcome several representatives from the Ghana High Commission and the Ghana Universities London office, and see below for a note about the presence of Mr. Kofi Ohene and Lord Paul Boateng.
Here is the text of Chairman Ted Mayne’s report.
ECOMONIC SECURITY, DECENT SANITARY HOUSING AND QUALITY EDUCATION IS A RIGHT TO EVERYONE. These are words of Martin Luther King Jr at one of his rallies in the 1960s and it is what we have used as a base to the work of Ghana School Aid has achieved since its foundation in 1986. We set out knowing where we were going because our founders were all aware of the importance of a good education. there was a fear that Ghana’s progress could be hindered following independence and this determined group of former Crown Servants set out to make a difference. When we look back at the past 31 years we can see how we have touched the hearts of so many by providing much needed resources and assistance for schools in rural areas. Yes, Ghana School Aid has achieved so much and as each day passes demands for our resources continue. Over 50% of Ghana’s population is under 21 and there are simply not enough schools to cope with with the schooling of the country whose population has tripled in 30 years. Demands are high and the costs are spiraling. It was Clement Attlee who said in 1943 that if we can education any population we can go a long way towards eliminating both sickness and poverty. This quote by clement Attlee is one we as a charity take seriously. I propose to use this occasion to express my sincere appreciation to the current committee for all they have done over the past year. I cannot thank them enough and our activities are nicely presented in our glossy publication – which all of you have received – put together so well by Jennifer Macdougall. Our main projects are well-presented in this brochure which Jennifer has produced so tastefully so I will not enlarge on what has been recorded. Thank you, Jennifer.
You will be getting a report from our hardworking treasurer, Nigel Dennis. He has put in a monumental amount of work since succeeding Stanley Anthony and during this time our finances have increased hugely, hence giving us considerably more money to dispense to our needy projects. Nigel has been ably supported by William Spooner who has made quite an impact since joining us recently.
Jo Hallett, our secretary, has worked tirelessly with zest and enthusiasm throughout the year, monitoring meticulously every request for assistance. These have all been discussed openly by the committee and I cannot praise her enough. She manages to visit Ghana regularly and is on site to monitor our work. Her contribution has been massive. Kate Regan has been another lynch pin within the committee, helping out whenever needed and providing much-needed support. I have just named a few, but I cannot thank Penny Sewell enough for all she has done with the website and co-ordinating this occasion. She has been active with the two large projects in the Volta Region. Thank you, Penny.
In Patrick Heinecke we have a person who has worked tirelessly in the Northern Regions, spending several months working in difficult conditions. He has monitored the Sandema project with adept skills, and recently ensured that the project could progress now that solar energy panels have been installed.
Last year I celebrated 10 years as Chairman of GSA and recently I advised the committee that I have been thinking of passing on the chairmanship to someone with new ideas. I must emphasise that I am not throwing in the towel, but if anyone here would like to take over my duties, please could they let me know. I must add that I am more than happy to continue for a little longer.
I started this report with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr and I will end with another by this great man. He said: EDUCATION IS THE PASSPORT TO DECENT ECONOMIC POSITIONS. We will continue our work with this quote in mind. thank you everybody.
Nigel Dennis, Ted Mayne and Jo Hallett
The AGM in the crypt at St. Mary’s church, Islington.
We were especially pleased to welcome Mr. Kofi Ohene who is one of our valued representatives in Ghana, covering the area in and around Accra. He told us that schools varied from the “good” to the “middle-ranking” to the “poor”, that the government expected communities to support their schools, but that some communities did not play ball. Education is free for 3 to 5 year-olds, and the plan is for it to be free up to age 16. However, the budget is very tight…
Lord Paul Boateng, one of our esteemed Patrons, managed to pay us a flying visit between two other engagements. His address lifted our deliberations to a higher level as he talked about his work for Africa Enterprise Challenge which manages a fund of some 260 million dollars. It focuses on agribusiness and the empowering of rural farmers whose priorities are proven to be, firstly, education, and secondly, health. Lord Boateng emphasised the need to build the capacities of local communities, sustainability, ecology and not least, the need to promote centres of science in Africa. The latter can only happen long term if we foster science teaching at primary level, thus initiating a pipeline of students who will eventually promote development from within the continent. He said he was proud that the UK gave 0.7% of its GDP to overseas aid, and he re-stated his support and delight at the vital help that GSA gives to schools in Ghana. His visit helped link our efforts to the wider context of long-term strategy and national politics.
ACTION THROUGH ENTERPRISE
In February 2012, Sarah Albeboure left her job as a primary school teacher to spend a year as a VSO in Lawra in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Sarah was so struck by the needs of people in that area, their efforts hampered by lack of resources, that she founded a charity she called ACTION THROUGH ENTERPRISE. The main aims of the charity remain, they are -to improve school attendance; -to provide free school meals, -to help disabled children integrate into community life, -to provide skill training for owners of small businesses. Responding to an application from ATE, GSA has provided funds for Gombele JHS to buy textbooks (see the entry under GOMBELE JHS). ATE’s website is ateghana.org
Mrs. Barbara Baddoo
Barbara Baddoo spent many years in the Gold Coast/Ghana, as the GSA Newsletter 2010-11 feature shows. She recently passed away, and money was raised both at her funeral and online to be given to Ghana School Aid. We thank all those who remembered Barbara in this way and assure them that the £1500 (including GiftAid) will be wisely spent to bring improvement to the education of young Ghanaians.
Eric Cunningham
We are very sad to report the death on 19th June, after a short illness, of Eric Cunningham. Eric was one of the group of four former education officers in Ghana who organised the gathering in 1986 which led to the founding of Ghana School Aid.
He was a committee member for a number of years and was the editor of Gold Coast and Ghana Memories, published in 2006.
His funeral will take place in Chichester on 11th July.
We will post a fuller tribute to him a little later on.
AGM and Reunion Lunch, St. Mary’s, Upper Street, Islington, London. 9 June 2016
Thirty enthusiastic people attended our Thirtieth Anniversary Reunion. The Chairman’s address is reproduced below. We also heard reports from the Hon. Sec., the Hon. Treasurer (the 2015-16 accounts are available on this website), and the Hon. website administrator. The existing committee was re-elected, nem con. Carluccio’s provided a good lunch, and the afternoon was devoted to short presentations about projects we support in Ghana. A specially-iced anniversary cake was duly cut and enjoyed. We also held a raffle and a mini-auction for pieces of lovely kente cloth. Thank you to everyone who made the occasion such a positive one. We were especially pleased to welcome three delegates from the Ghana High Commission.
The mini-auction
Lunch in progress
Mary Owusu and Patrick Heinecke
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
This time last year, when we met up for our annual gathering, there were doubts as to whether the meeting would proceed. This was because of a train strike which clashed with our meeting. Fortunately this industrial action was called off at the very last minute. This year we were faced with an even bigger problem because the charity Redr who had made their premises available for this occasion, suddenly cancelled our booking (without telling us! Ed.). This meant we had just three weeks to find an alternative venue. This explains why we are assembled here today.
Once again we have had an eventful year. We welcomed William Spooner on to our committee, and he has brought our average age down a little, and we are lucky to have someone with fresh ideas. I have said before that we always welcome new committee members: the door is always open.
Our latest newsletter gives detailed accounts of most of our projects. The website is forever being updated and all of our activities are displayed there. We receive numerous enquiries from log-ins on to our website and our activities are reaching more and more enquirers searching for assistance. Earlier this year I was fortunate to spend most of January in South Africa. There I witnessed a country striving to improve. I became aware of the nation’s desire for education whether it be in rural schools, township centres or the universities. Many reports on South Africa are negative, but I did see a positive side with the students there striving to achieve. The quote from Nelson Mandela that “EDUCATION IS THE DOOR TO FREEDOM” rings clearly. Ghana is very similar, especially as half the populations of the two countries is under 21. South Africans are doing what they can and Ghana the same.
Every time I settle down to prepare my annual report, I realise how active we have all been since our previous gathering. This year, my address will be slightly shorter because most of our projects have been given a high profile in our newsletter. This is thanks to Jennifer MacDougall who has put together another splendid publication which nicely illustrates what we have achieved. The newsletter comes as we celebrate 30 years of Ghana School Aid. Since back in 1986, when the charity was born, we have come a long way and we have been blessed by an influx of enthusiastic supporters, many of whom joined our committee.
As a charity, we shall continue to concentrate on our projects in the North – a much neglected area. We are very active in the Upper Regions which we shall never neglect. The North has been an issue which governments have neglected since the colonial days. In his book, “My Africa”, Frank Ward, a former head of Achimota College, wrote:
Schools were very few. But the government had at length decided that education must be brought to the North. It had opened three or four government primary schools, with a technical school at Tamale; and it had given grants to the handful of Catholic mission schools near the northern frontier. To push ahead with these developments, it created the post of Superintendent of Education, to which it had appointed a most capable man named Candler, a former Anglican missionary with long experience of the country.
Sadly this has not changed, but our efforts continue.
One milestone we have recently passed is the money we have raised, which exceeds £250,000 over the 30 years. This may not seem much these days, but I can report that it has made a difference and the committee will continue with the same degree of enthusiasm which was there in 1986. Thank you all for your support.
Ted Mayne, Chairman
AGM 2015 Chairman’s report
At every Annual General Meeting since I took over the chairmanship of Ghana School Aid, I have said “Where has the past year gone?” Time passes by so quickly, yet when we analyse the work of Ghana School Aid we can see how far we have progressed. When we last met we were updated on the schools in the Volta Region which are being closely monitored by Penny Sewell. We can see just how much progress both of them have made. From being little more than a couple of empty shells, the two schools have taken shape and have grown into centres of academic excellence. Our efforts have ensured a good education for so many and hopefully they will progress and take in even more pupils. The same can be said for the Hartley Trust Foundation School at Kasoa which we have supported for 15 years. We recently provided them with a new generator which means that lessons are guaranteed, even when the electricity supplies fail.
One point on which I wish to put emphasis is the education of women in Ghana. We have always made an effort to channel our resources into projects where girls can benefit as well as boys. An ancient Ghanaian saying says, “A woman is the home and the home is the basis of society”. It is as we build our homes that we build our country. If the home is inadequate – either inadequate in material goods and necessities or inadequate in the sort of friendly loving atmosphere that every child needs to grow and develop – then that country cannot have harmony and no country which does not have harmony can grow in any direction at all.
That is why women’s education is as important as the education of males. Most – not all – countries in the world have neglected women’s education. Now we have education there is a debate (it’s the same all over Africa) whether the education we have is adequate for the needs of Ghanaian society and the young people’s future. Ghana’s system is not bad. It produces very fine men and women, especially scientists and experts in different fields who are in great demand all over the world and even in the most affluent countries. Many of Ghana’s young people sadly leave and go abroad because they get better conditions of work. Take just one look at Germany which has more Ghanaian medical doctors than there are in the whole of Ghana. This needs to be changed.
One of the biggest responsibilities of the educated women in Ghana today is how to synthesise what has been valuable and timeless in their ancient traditions with what is good and valuable in modern thought. All that is modern is not necessarily good, just as all that is old is neither all good or all bad. We have to decide, not once and for all, but almost every week, every month, what is coming out that is good and useful for Ghana and what of the old we can keep and enshrine in the society.
Now for Ghana tomorrow to become what we want it to become, a modern, rational society and family, based on what is good in its ancient traditions, we have to have a thinking public, thinking young women who are not content to accept what comes from any part of the world, but are willing to listen to it, to analyse it and to decide whether it is to be accepted or thrown out, and this is the sort of education we want, which enables our young people to adjust to this ever-changing world and to be able to contribute to it.
Our projects are few, but looking at a map of Ghana they are situated all over the country. From the Greater Accra Region across the areas close to the sea, to the Volta, Eastern Ghana and the Northern Districts. Throughout we concentrate on providing the best education our limited funds can provide. But considering the constraints we face, we manage to do a good job. Having the likes of Patrick Heinecke, Joe Hallett, Kate Regan, Penny Sewell, Sue Hewlett and Letitia Boateng regularly visiting Ghana, these projects can be well-monitored. We get up-to-date reports on all of them and full details are posted on our website. In every project we see progress and I want to use this opportunity to put emphasis on the works of Patrick Heinecke who is dedicated to the work of the Sandema project. This project is in the harsh, hot, dry region of Northern Ghana. Conditions there are not easy, but Patrick has persevered over the years to bring about a better life for so many. Here we have seen how is trying to put women first and he has sown seeds in what is fertile ground, and we are beginning to see the results.
The next 12 months will be challenging, but we are all up for it and our efforts will continue. There is no job that is too small. There is no person who is too small. What we want to do is to make a better world by putting into perspective Ghana’s problems and the need for education for its people.
In conclusion, I must hank you all for your help and support.
Ghana School Aid 