In 2023, Ghana Beyond Subsistence (GBS) had 13 travelers go to Ghana with our Immersion Experience: Six who received travel grants through GBS, and seven self-paying, including four board members who paid for 100% their own travel. GBS Board members are volunteers who do not receive any financial compensation.
Digital Connectivity Project
It’s common for Ghanaian students to learn about computing and internet research without ever touching a computer. In partnership with ArtMediaCorp., the national Ghana Education Service, and the Ghanaian International NGO, Communities of Thinking, our Digital Connectivity Project focuses on the demonstrated internet needs of 12 public schools: Ho Dome R.C. Primary, Ho Dome R.C. Junior High, Ho Dome EP Basic and JHS Complex, Kpenoe MA Junior High, Ho Nuriya Islamic Primary and JHS Complex, Regional Model Primary and JHS Complex, Ho, Ziavi Dzogbe Junior High, Ziavi Dzogbe EP Primary, and Ziavi Dzogbe Methodist Primary.
To date, GBS has raised $16,600 toward our goal of $57,300—not including computers. Eugene Ababio with ArtMediaCorp, has agreed to contribute in-kind computers, laptops, and iPads. We also have pledges for $50,000! So far, have raised enough to cover the cost of equipment, materials, and installation of internet connections to each computer lab. However, we are still raising funds to cover data charges. To this end, we continue to discuss data charge forgiveness with national service providers.
In 2023, GBS outfitted each computer lab with a portable digital video and audio system with all the required connections for school use. Each school also received gifts of computer mice and flash drives for students, teachers, and administrators. Our contractors, EMESH, are currently installing data connections, with a completion date of April 2024.
Ghana Education Service teachers and administrators with GBS teacher-travelers after the 2023 Education Workshop.
Education Workshop
GBS provides annual continuing education workshops in project-based learning for teachers and their administrators. In 2023, our workshop introduced the concept of choice boards to 50+ participants. After the workshop, pairs of US teachers visited two schools twice to observe and interact with teachers and students. Based upon teacher feedback after the school visits, they are planning to double the number of school visits. In 2024, the focus of the workshop will foreground the Digital Connectivity Project with an emphasis on strategies for independent learning. After the workshop, the increased number of school visits will help build relationships that will be critical for digital virtual exchanges between Ghanaian and U.S. schools.
Other Support for Schools
Because Ghanaian girls cannot afford feminine hygiene supplies, at the request of local leaders and teachers at the Nuriya Islamic School, we supplied 4 pairs of underwear for each of 69 girls and 3 pairs each for 21 schoolteachers at the school. An obstetrician who had traveled with us in 2023 (and will again in 2024), created a survey assessing the satisfaction and adoption rate. If this pilot project is successful, we will consider extending the project to other schools in which we work.
Schoolchildren playing outside a classroom at Adaklu Have Primary.
Adaklu Have Primary School is an extremely poor rural school. Annually since 2016, GBS board members have provided all the necessary school supplies for students, such as notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, art supplies, teaching supplies, and playground equipment. In previous years, GBS Board members have generously contributed to the installation of whiteboards, teaching supplies, and playground equipment. In 2023, the Crook Family paid to have doors built and installed on the school.
Sarakofe Primary School is another extremely poor, rural school located on the Ghana-Togo border. For several years, GBS Board members have provided reading books, notebooks, pens, art supplies, and playground equipment. One of DE’s most enjoyable activities is to play kick ball and four square with the teachers and students at Sarakofe.
At Royal Praise Primary School, GBS Board members paid to have playground equipment repaired so it is no longer a health hazard for the students to play on.
At the end of the 2023 trip, the group had $900 of surplus travel funds. They voted to give $100 to nine schools to use toward their greatest need. One example is where a school decided to replace broken toilets in the student washroom.
GBS Website
In 2023, we solidified our web presence by writing and developing the Ghana Beyond Subsistence webpage that details our rural development and educational projects, provides periodic news updates, and offers ideas and pathways for donors to contribute to our valuable efforts. Please visit us at: https://www.ghanabeyondsubsistence.org/
GBS Farmers, Kpenoe Schoolchildren, and representatives of the school feeding program.
MLS Groups
Growing food and self-provisioning continues to be a major concern for our farmer groups due to extreme changes in weather patterns. In 2023, we added a fourteenth group of farmers to our Microloan and Savings network. This newest group of 10 women farmers in the town of Wegbe-Kpalime brings our total number of farmers to 123. While the number of farmers can be counted, the benefits to their families and communities cannot. Loan top-ups for 113 farmers, where each farmer receives a loan increase of approximately $25 each, were a total of $2775. We also continue to provide subsidized immunizations and treatments for goats, sheep, and chickens.
To us, a major success is that the five microfinance groups in Kpenoe took the initiative to donate four bags of locally grown rice to their town's school feeding program. They had also hoped to provide beans but their crop was limited due to heavy rains. GBS decided to add to (but not outshine) their donation with a donation of 50 pounds of dried beans purchased from one of our other MLS groups.
Togbe Samuel Aquency blessing the site of the future Togbe Kotoku XI Agric Maker Space.
Agricultural Maker Space
In 2023, GBS secured land for the Togbe Kotoku XI Agric Maker Space, held a listening meeting with representatives from the MLS groups that will be part of this project, community leaders, our advisory board, and architects, to determine needs and priorities. Based upon broad input, we are now in the process of finalizing architectural plans so the facility will meet the most pressing needs.
From the listening session, we learned that the farmers have agricultural equipment needs that can be met prior to the construction of the Ag Maker Space. Nine out of our 14 groups requested and received knapsack-style agrochemical pump sprayers. Each group received two, one for herbicides and the other for pesticides. Along with this in-kind donation of equipment, GBS provided personal protection equipment, and is in the process of providing extension training for safe agrochemical usage and integrated pest management. For the remaining five groups, GBS provided each farmer with a pair of PVC work boots. Funding for this important equipment came through the Agric Maker Space Project.
There are many more ways that board members and travelers have pitched in to help meet some of the critical needs of our many friends in Ghana. Such as business startups, funerals, medical bills, education tuition, and apprenticeships. There are so many needs that it is impossible to meet them all—but we try!
We appreciate all your support in the past and we look forward to our continued partnership in the future. Thank you!
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