Havilah Academy, Ghana

In a tiny village in Ghana in West Africa there is a school - a new school. The children are learning to read and write for the first time.
Many are 12 years old and have never been to school before.

My name is Caroline Johnston. I was a volunteer English teacher in Ghana. When I arrived at the school none of the children could read or write. When I left (3 months later), the children where beginning to read simple words and sentences.
They where so excited. So was I! Each day a different child made a breakthrough and started to believe in his/her abilities.

Havilah Academy was started in May 99 with 9 pupils. It now has over 200, a mixture of boys and girls. The school was started by Nana Kwa Budu III in his back yard. The classrooms are planks of wood nailed together with a metal roof. They look like garden sheds. It is a village called Gomoa Ojobi.

The children are very poor. Most of their parents are farm labourers. They exchange crops at market but have little cash for schooling or healthcare. They do not have electricity or piped water.

The children need to provide their own desk and chair, uniform, slate, pencils, notebooks and textbooks. They also pay small tuition fees and for their lunch. For many it is their only meal of the day. Many cannot even afford a pencil which makes conducting examinations very difficult! Nana heavily subsidizes the school but cannot do it alone forever.

Please can you help provide basic equipment? A little money goes a long way in African. These are typical costs:

Pencils 2p/3cents
Notebooks 20p/30cents
Slates 25p/40cents
Textbooks £1.50/$2.40
Uniforms £3.50/$5.60

Nana Budu is a dynamic and charismatic man and I admire his ambition to educate otherwise deprived children.

The school is well run. It has a nursery, a kindergarten and stages I-V. The children are aged 2-14. They are so happy. They are always smiling. They love singing, dancing and marching. In many families there are ten children, but only one is able to attend school due to finances.

They are taught three languages: English, French and Fanti (the local language). As it is an English medium school, all other subjects are in English. They learn Math, Science, Social Services, Cultural Studies, Drawing, Games and have an hour's Worship (Christian) every week.

The school has a Principal, seven teachers, four non-teaching staff and two overseas volunteers. The children are keen to learn and if a teacher is absent through sickness, one child stands at the front of the class without prompting and runs through the last lesson!

Havilah Academy has a sister school called Inkum Memorial Academy in a village called Gomoa Amoanda. It has 100+ children, and is also in need of help.

Nana Budu's long term plan is to merge the two schools to take advantage of economies of scale. He has a potential site but no funding for the new concrete structure. He would also need to purchase a vehicle to transport the children. In the meantime, he adds wooden structures if funds become available.

I hope you will feel moved to help. I know from personal experience that any money or resources given will be well used and greatly appreciated. All support is a great boost to the morale of Nana and his staff as well as a direct help to the children.

Caroline Johnston.