International Educational Services

I.E.S. NEWSLETTER

SUPPORTING VILLAGERS IN GHANA

Vol.1 No.8                          July 2009                     Brooklyn, NY

Teacher Mante Village Students  2009

Akwaaba! Welcome! This year's exploratory visits to two remote villages in Ghana was another great opportunity for International Educational Services (IES) to form partnerships with people who are consistently overlooked by most of the world.  Although travel to both communities proved arduous on rainy season rural terrain, the mission of IES is to serve the needs of subsistence farmers who live in relatively isolated areas of the country.  Our tenth trip to Ghana in the last fourteen years was yet another validation of our belief in the  crucial role that a small non-profit organization can play in the lives of so many.  And there will always be more challenges ahead...

Invited to Degedege Village (Brong-Ahafo Region) in 2008 by Cecilia Mansa, District Inspector of Education, who found us working in a nearby village, IES made good on our promise in 2009 to make an initial trip to assess villagers' requests for help.  Traveling over almost impassable roads, we found Degedege deeply embedded in the bush among other equally empoverished villages. 

Some of the problems facing this small community were almost immediately perceptible: many school-aged children sat quietly in classrooms devoid of teachers, while others roamed aimlessly around the village.   We toured the village with Ms. Mansa, accompanied by the District Assemblyman, after which IES and a representative group of community members discussed the most pressing issues facing them. Subsequently, IES pledged support to improve school infrastructure, increase teaching and learning materials, and to create a Batik Workshop. We will return to Degedege in April 2010.

Teacher Mante Village Batik Workshop Participants 2009

Cynthia Brakwa (far right in above photo), IES Batik Instructor, was born in Teacher Mante, a sprawling, linear village in Ghana's Eastern Region.  She told IES about the extreme poverty affecting most of the inhabitants, who are small scale farmers with little or no formal education.  Although our primary concern this year was another village, Cynthia and Natalie, IES Director, headed next to Teacher Mante after our visit to Degedege.  Our visit this year was of an exploratory nature, but we agreed to initiate a Batik Workshop immediately as a good place to start.  Participants were readily available and eager to advance their prospects for additional incomes. 

While Cynthia taught the Batik classes, Natalie conferred with the local sub-chief and visited the village schools. We continued to fund as well as teach the classes, which will be ongoing until our next visit in April 2010. IES also pledged to send school supplies and teaching and learning materials to one of the schools.  We will follow-up next April after more comprehensive discussions take place Between IES and Teacher Mante representatives.

One of Three Women IES Met in Degedege Afflicted With A Goiter  2009

Degedege Villagers Welcome IES in June 2009

Augustine Djan, recipient of IES Graduate Scholarship in 2007, at graduation ceremony at City College of the City University of New York, May 28, 2009.

Augustine as an IES Project Co-ordinator in Yabraso Village 2005-2006

International Educational Services (IES)