2015 Ghana – Project Report
We are happy to announce that the study-center project and scholarships our donors recently helped fund are a great success. Months ago we asked for that help; this September we traveled to Ghana to distribute those scholarships and to create a study center for the students of the rural Talensi district in the Upper East Region of Ghana, Africa.
Three of us (Ryan, Rajeev, and Kirstin) spent two weeks with the local community in Tongo converting a storage building into this bright and inviting after-school study center. Local craftspeople knocked out walls, installed windows, and electrified the structure. Leveraging the power of community cooperation, we energized students and mothers to clean, paint, and assemble the space. We encouraged them to take pride in their work and respect for this small treasure in their community.
It was a busy two weeks, and we finished the day before we flew home. Look at some of the pictures: you will see books for students of all age’s in fiction, non-fiction, and school curriculum books; Laptops loaded with a typing lesson, national geographic magazines files, a student encyclopedia, and a word processor; and furniture to encourage quiet study or group activities. We had a lively opening ceremony and a chance to watch the students use and enjoy their new space. Keeping track of its progress, we are delighted to hear that demand for its use is strong. Maybe too strong, currently students are allowed only a few hours every twelve days…because of limited supply of books, computers, and capacity.
However, now that we have a community space in Ghana, our next goal is to fill it with more books and more laptops. If you would like to be an ongoing part of our projects, or would like to join us on a future trip to Ghana, please contact us. Continued financial and material support for our past and future projects are appreciated. But please, we’re not asking you for money if you don’t have a little extra. Instead, we prefer support finding corporate sponsorship/collaboration. Or, donations of used books, laptops, and tablets you have tucked away without a purpose. Soon we will be announcing a request for more books and computers to fill up the shelves for the students that are hungry for education. And, why not join us on our next service adventure in October 2016?
Here are a few of the many many “thank yous” you have received from the students:
Want to keep reading? A brief History of why we chose this year’s project:
In the northern Talensi district of the Upper East Region of Ghana, deep in the Tongo hills, lives a community of several thousand subsistence farmers, laborers and their families. People live in mud & thatch homes surrounded by farmland tended by the entire family. With great encouragement from their parents, the children endeavor to achieve excellence in one of twenty-plus primary schools in the region. However, it is a struggle to meet the demands of home life and school. Many students quit school and fall back into near-inescapable poverty farming the land. It has been our goal at Community Wings to make the small critical changes in the lives of these students to help them succeed and progress through school to achieve brighter futures.
Over the past ten years, Community Wings founders Kirstin Green and Ryan Allmandinger have developed a strong and lasting relationship with the families in this region. In 2006, Community Wings helped found one of the first Community Based Organizations (CBO) in the region, called Peal Deng. Peal Deng remains active to this day, serving as a link between residents and those outside the region. Since then, Community Wings has lead five service trips, composed of adults and students, to engage in cultural exchange with the people of Peal Deng and surrounding communities.
Several years ago we learned from community leaders that most students in the region have no access to a computer. Because of this complete lack of computer knowledge, most students were unable to pass computer-related state tests qualifying them for continued education into high school. We made it our goal to raise money and build the first computer lab in the region. Hundreds of students, and parents alike, came to use a computer for the first time in their lives. It was an extraordinarily rewarding project that continues to impact the lives of students and their families. Graduation rates into high school have gone up dramatically because of this small addition to the community.
Afterward, we again asked community leaders what their children needed most to succeed in school and in life. Their answer: a learning center (outside of school hours) where students have access to books, laptops and electricity. The reason for this request is not complicated: students have almost no access to books & computers after school. When the sun goes down after their daily work on the farm is complete, there is no electric light to study from and few books to read from…certainly no computers to access. The solution is simple: build a well-lit room full of books and computers and give the students access.
That is what we have started, and you are invited to help us continue.