International Educational Services

 I.E.S. NEWSLETTER

SUPPORTING VILLAGERS IN GHANA

Vol.1 No.9                         May 2010                    Brooklyn, NY

IES Director, Natalie Gray, accompanies sick villagers to hospital in Ghana

     Akwaaba! Welcome!  We've just returned from our 11th trip to Ghana, West Africa, which was packed with the usual mix of expected issues intertwined with new (at least to us) problems requiring immediate attention.  Thus, our work over the past month was intensely concentrated on health, education and our outreach program activities.

Health Issues Affecting Villagers in Brong Ahafo

     Although the primary focus of IES is to provide the educational materials and infrastructure for rural children that will encourage parents to enroll all of their school aged children in school and keep them there, we also feel compelled to address a wide range of health issues.  For example, the lack of iodized salt in certain regions of Ghana has resulted in the presence of hypothryoidism, made evident by the growth of goiters in the neck area, predominantly in women. We have, so far, met four women in our newest village, Degedege, suffering with goiters which had never been treated.  We, therefore, have been funding treatment costs for all of them since 2009.  At this point, two of the women have been successfully operated on, while the other two have been deemed ineligible for surgery due to the severity of their respective conditions.

     IES has also stressed to the Degedege villagers the necessity for including iodated salt as well as fish in their regular diet.

Yabraso junior high students await treatement at Wenchi Methodist Hospital

     As part of our continual concern for insuring that villagers send their children to school in a healthy state, we always ask sick students to identify themselves.  During this visit, six students came forward with serious complaints; two boys had hernias, one boy had bilharzia, two boys and one girl had poor eyesight.  Sylvester, IES long-time Coordianator and Natalie accompanied the kids to the hospital, where they were successfully treated. IES paid all medical expenses.

Educational Progress in Degedege Village

     After 15 years working in Ghana's rural communities, we have-to some degree- become used to educational progress as measured in baby steps forward or, in some cases, backward.   Case in point:  Last year's effort by IES to open the doors of a HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) sponsored junior high school project in Degedege was successful.  That is, the local government authorities at last completed work on the building's infrastructure in August 2009-five years after the start date.  However, it was not until we visited in March 2010 that IES witnessed the deplorable condition of the structure, especially the lack of classroom furniture and teaching and learning materials. 

     IES quickly ordered suitable desks for the school and supplied new educational materials for all student levels from kindergarten through junior high.  Photos will be forthcoming within the next few weeks.  A small step forward...

The deplorable conditions inside the classroom of a village school

     The villagers in Degedege asked IES to construct a new primary school block, and that issue has been our main focus for the past year.  Unlike other villages IES has partnered with, this one is devoid of leadership, which has hampered community organization.  Even the resident chief has just resigned his post in Degedege. 

     Thus, IES is in the process of bringing in workers from our Yabraso Village projects(2005-2010) to help "school" the Degedege residents concerning their role in project implementation et al.  Ground-breaking for the new eleven-room school will begin in May.

IES Donates to Akwapong School for the Blind

     An ongoing IES concern over the years has been the educational progress of blind students in Ghana.  One project in our Outreach Program has centered on the work at the Akwapong School for the Blind in Akwapem.  This year we visited the school and, together with some of the staff, we headed to Accra for some much needed school supplies and crafts materials: braille sheets, styluses, drill, and cane for making furniture. If needed funds are donated, we hope to help Akwapong complete a school block that has remained incompleted for several years. 

Elias, the partially blind crafts instructor at Akwampong School for the Blind

     There is much more news to impart, but I think this brief but concise document gives a suitable introduction to what IES does on a daily basis to meet the needs and desires of a small subset of people who are largely outside the view of most people. This is a privilege for which IES is grateful.

International Educational Services (IES)