|
Life in Rural West Africa
Among the world’s most urgent problems remains the wholly unacceptable poverty that darkens the lives of hundreds of millions of people in Africa. In Ghana, 8 million people, about one third of the total population, are caught up in a situation that might be termed ‘absolute poverty’ – a bleak condition that holds no realistic hope for people to improve their lives beyond a subsistence existence.
By far the largest numbers of such people live in rural areas, where poor nutrition, poor healthcare and sanitation, inadequate shelter and illiteracy affect the productivity and development of the rural poor and their quality of life. It is difficult for these people to escape the poverty cycle because they remain beyond the reach of many of the well-minded development initiatives that catalyse growth and productivity elsewhere.
However, education is a key element that can provide a path out of poverty for people in developing countries. Education has a major positive impact on human development and economic growth, and is also a fundamental requirement for stable democracy.
In spite of the considerable efforts being made by the Ghanaian Government, about half of its children remain without prospects of a suitable education that would enable them to escape the poverty trap. This is mainly because it is very difficult for many rural dwellers to provide their families with three square meals a day, let alone the cost of paying school fees, books and other educational necessities for their children.
For many children in rural communities, receiving a decent education is a very remote prospect indeed.
What is Supporting Education in Ghana?
Supporting Education in Ghana (SEG) is a registered Scottish charity aimed at supporting Secondary shool pupils in Ghana. The charity focuses on the Ashanti region and provides three types of funding:
- Full or Partial funding for school fees for a full year
- Contingency fund to meet unforeseeable and urgent needs
- Infrastructure fund to provide a covered area for a classroom
How did it start?
Supporting Education in Ghana (SEG) was funded in 2002 by Dr Robert Gardner. Robert went to ghana for 6 months in 2001 to teach Mathematics in two secondary schools in the Ashanti Region:
- Adventist Secondary School - Ntonso
- Gyaama Pensan Secondary Technical School - Aboaso
During his stay, he taught many pupils who had a strong desire to learn and fully appreciated the impact of education on their own lifes and on the development of their country. Unfortunately, Robert witnessed a lot of pupils dropping out of school for financial reasons as their family could not financially support them as their primary concerns was to get enough to eat.
Robert decided he needed to do something to prevent all this talent to be wasted due to financial constraints. He started by sending some funds to Pastor Odomse (head of the Ntonso Adventist School) to fund 1 pupil in the Adventist School. He also sent some funds to Mr Feller Alex Tawaiha, head master of Adventist Secondary School in Ntonso.
Robert then formelly setup the Scottish charity Supporting Education in Ghana in 2002.
How is SEG doing today?
The managing trustee went to Ghana in March 2008 to visit Mr Tawaiha, who is now the program manager on the ground. The managing trustees went to meet headmasters of the schools as well as families that have previoulsy benefited from this scheme. The benefits of SEG were obvious as some pupils that were previously supported have now started a course at University and are doing extremely well.
Given the current level of funding, SEG expects to support nearly ten pupils of different secondary schools in the Ashanti region in the 2008-2009 academic year. | 
