The Starfish Blog

I've been in Kumasi for a week now, and this is the first chance I have gotten to sit down and blog!

I'll start from the beginning. I got to Germany and had a really long layover, not much internet so I couldn't blog. Took the plane to Accra and waited at baggage claim. I was amazed when all three of my bags showed up with no trouble at all! As usual, I (a white girl by herself... in africa) was swarmed by ghanians trying to push my cart for me or hold my bags. They were taken aback when I would shout at them in twi, telling them to stop it and to leave me alone. It's always funny to see their faces when I speak their language! Some people burst into laughter and then bring their friends over to show them. Anyway, when I got to see my family, it was great! It was nice to finally have some familiar faces. We spent the night in Accra and left for Kumasi the next day at 6AM.

Emanuella (our youngest host sister, 17) had a one week break, so I got to spend some time with her. That was really nice. I started at the orphanage on Tuesday. I was overwhelmed by the response I got from the staff. They immediately recognized me welcomed me again and again. Children ran up to me and said "Where is your mother? Where is Pengy?" (Pengy is a word for twin, they meant Dani). I met with the principal of the school and she paraded me around the school and introduced me to every single one of the teachers. She showed me the new school. NEW SCHOOL. WOW! I didn't even know they were building one, and within 7 months they have completed it start to finish! The school is gorgeous!

IF YOU DONATED TO THE BUS PROJECT YOU SHOULD READ THIS:
Shirley (the principal) explained that they had built the new school so that they could expand with their special needs program. The Kumasi Children's Home Primary School integrates the special needs children into the mainstream classes. This is great, because it allows the special needs kids to learn more and reach their full potential, instead of being held back. SO, they will move the old classes into the new school, and the old school will serve as a "transition school" for the special needs kids who have never been to school before (maybe not even out of their house). The government will provide teachers to assist the children in learning basic skills like going to the bathroom, self control, non violence, and other important behaviors. Once they have acquired those skills, they will move into the new school block with the mainstream children.

We have found multiple busses. They range anywhere from $13,000-$16,000 USD. We have $6000 raised and waiting with the NGO to be released. Shirley has been so grateful for this money, and she has been very hesitant to ask anything more from me. She has been working really hard the past week to find a Ghanian company who would be willing to contribute, in exchange for their logo or company name on the bus. This would have been no problem a few years ago, many companies would be willing to help. But recently, the economy has been in the gutter for Ghana. Their currency value has just plummeted in the past year. So this is proving difficult to find a sponsor. Shirley keeps telling me that I have done enough, and that it is her turn to help. She really has been amazing. I always see her playing math games with the children at recess and really caring for the special needs children. I can tell she truly does this out of the kindness of her heart. I'm thinking of putting a fundraising page up to raise an amount of money to give us a boost. If I were able to raise $5000 then many companies may be willing to fill that remaining $2000-$4000 space. I will post later about this.

On another note, the children who will be riding the bus will have to pay fees. This is a problem. Their parents generally don't see the point in sending their special needs child to school. It often takes convincing the parents to send him/her to school EVEN if the school is free. If we also asked for a bus fee, there would be no way the parents would say yes.

The bus fee is about twenty five cents.

Twenty five cents a day. The parents cannot afford this.

I am going to set up a page so people can sponsor a child to go to school. Heres how it will work-

We will have the profiles of waiting children. Once a child gets a sponsor, we will notify the parents and enroll the child in school. Sponsorship will be $8 per month, per child. You will literally be sending a child to school and changing their lives with $8 a month. THATS INSANE. Think about this, as soon as we get a notification from the website, as soon as you click the sponsorship button, those parents get that phone call. The phone call that tells them someone has paid for their child to go to school, and it will totally change their lives. And who can't afford $8? I'm going to create a page for the sponsorships, and sometime in early April we will do the outreach where we will scout out the special needs children in the rural areas surrounding Kumasi. I will take their information and profiles, and hopefully they will have a sponsor before September, so they can start school.

There is a LOT going on here. Between working full time at the orphanage, managing the Deaf project, and figuring out this bus situation, I am exhausted, but have never felt better!

It feels good to be busy.