Ghana
Map of Ghana
The first Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM) volunteers travelled to Ghana in 2016. Since then, many have volunteered at the Street Advocacy Project run by the Daughters of Charity in Kumasi, the second biggest city in the country. Ghana is located in West Africa, bordering Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo. It has a population of nearly 34 million people.
A Few Facts
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- Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence from colonial rule.
- Ghana is known for its colourful music, dance and art.
- Ghana was previously known as the Gold Coast due to the large amounts of gold found there. Today, Ghana is the largest producer of gold in Africa and 6th biggest in the world.
- In Ghana, the day of the week a child is born will form part of their name.
- In 1991, Ghanaian Ferdie Ato Adoboe set the world record for the fastest run backwards. He ran 100 metres backwards in 13.6 seconds.
- The Ghanaian flag is a simple horizontal tricolour of red-white-green with a central black star. The red signifies the struggle for independence, the yellow the wealth of the country, and the green represents its forests and farms. The black five-pointed start is known as the ‘Lodestar of African freedom’.
Ghanaian flag
-
- Kejetia Market in the city of Kumasi has 11,000 stalls and over 40,000 people working there. It is claimed to be the largest market in West Africa.
- Kofi Annan is probably the most internationally known Ghanaian. He was the UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006 and is Ghana’s only Nobel Prize Winner, receiving the Peace Prize in 2001 for his ‘work for a better organised and more peaceful world.’
Kumasi Safe Child Advocacy Project
The street children project is located in a suburb of Kumasi, which is the second largest city in Ghana. Many children from poor families in the city and in the north of the country end up on the streets in Kumasi. The Daughters of Charity set this project up primarily as a response to this. They work mostly with girls who have been on the streets. The project has three parts to it –
- Vocational training centre – this caters for over 50 girls providing training to enable them to gain employment. Classes in sewing, life skills, personal development, IT, etc.
- Drop-In Centre – children can come in here to seek support in trying to get off the streets
- Day Care Centre – this kindergarten caters for children of young mothers who have become pregnant living on the streets
The project also does outreach work on the streets daily. This enables staff to have educational conversations with street children and to invite them to the drop-in centre.
The project has a website and a Facebook page.
Getting to Kumasi involves flying to Accra, the capital of Ghana, and then an internal flight from there to Kumasi. The climate is dry and hot, roughly between 20 and 30 degrees. Accommodation is with the Daughters of Charity.
Luke Hogan
During my time in Ghana, I had the incredible opportunity to work on the Safe Child Advocacy Project run by the Daughters of Charity. This is a vital initiative dedicated to safeguarding children and providing skills training and education. Here’s a glimpse into my journey:
My first role was at the Drop-in centre. This is where street children come for a rest to escape their street jobs and simply be kids. The drop-in centre is also seen as their first step to moving off the streets. Here, I played board games like ludo and Mancala, building friendships. In the evening, I helped them with literacy and numeracy skills through worksheets and trying to play games in English.
Another role I had was in the outreach programme. This involved going onto the streets and identifying girls that were new to the streets and connected with street children at the Kumasi trading centre. We spoke to them and asked them about their day. Usually, the children would be in the same spots every day. Our goal was to offer them alternatives to street life, fostering relationships and guiding them towards better opportunities.
To ensure continuous support, I participated in follow-ups with former programme participants. We provided essentials like shoes and checked on their well-being, reinforcing that they were not forgotten.
When I wasn’t at the drop-in centre, I was at the Vocational Training Centre, where girls learned skills like sewing and hairdressing. I taught English classes focused on reading, writing, and video analysis. The girls loved watching short films and discussing them. Before evening classes, I played football with them, and they were very good, clearly enjoying the game. After class, we had fun playing board games like Guess Who, Uno, and Snap.
The Safe Child Advocacy Project is making a real difference, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it.
English class in progress
Fun playing games
Map of Ghana
The first Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM) volunteers travelled to Ghana in 2016. Since then, many have volunteered at the Street Advocacy Project run by the Daughters of Charity in Kumasi, the second biggest city in the country. Ghana is located in West Africa, bordering Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo. It has a population of nearly 34 million people.
A Few Facts
- Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence from colonial rule.
- Ghana is known for its colourful music, dance and art.
- Ghana was previously known as the Gold Coast due to the large amounts of gold found there. Today, Ghana is the largest producer of gold in Africa and 6th biggest in the world.
- In Ghana, the day of the week a child is born will form part of their name.
- In 1991, Ghanaian Ferdie Ato Adoboe set the world record for the fastest run backwards. He ran 100 metres backwards in 13.6 seconds.
- The Ghanaian flag is a simple horizontal tricolour of red-white-green with a central black star. The red signifies the struggle for independence, the yellow the wealth of the country, and the green represents its forests and farms. The black five-pointed start is known as the ‘Lodestar of African freedom’.
Ghanaian flag
- Kejetia Market in the city of Kumasi has 11,000 stalls and over 40,000 people working there. It is claimed to be the largest market in West Africa.
- Kofi Annan is probably the most internationally known Ghanaian. He was the UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006 and is Ghana’s only Nobel Prize Winner, receiving the Peace Prize in 2001 for his ‘work for a better organised and more peaceful world.’
Kumasi Safe Child Advocacy Project
The street children project is located in a suburb of Kumasi, which is the second largest city in Ghana. Many children from poor families in the city and in the north of the country end up on the streets in Kumasi. The Daughters of Charity set this project up primarily as a response to this. They work mostly with girls who have been on the streets.
The project has three parts to it –
- Vocational training centre – this caters for over 50 girls providing training to enable them to gain employment. Classes in sewing, life skills, personal development, IT, etc.
- Drop-In Centre – children can come in here to seek support in trying to get off the streets
- Day Care Centre – this kindergarten caters for children of young mothers who have become pregnant living on the streets
The project also does outreach work on the streets daily. This enables staff to have educational conversations with street children and to invite them to the drop-in centre.
The project has a website and a Facebook page.
Getting to Kumasi involves flying to Accra, the capital of Ghana, and then an internal flight from there to Kumasi. The climate is dry and hot, roughly between 20 and 30 degrees. Accommodation is with the Daughters of Charity.
Luke Hogan
During my time in Ghana, I had the incredible opportunity to work on the Safe Child Advocacy Project run by the Daughters of Charity. This is a vital initiative dedicated to safeguarding children and providing skills training and education.
Here's a glimpse into my journey:
My first role was at the Drop-in centre. This is where street children come for a rest to escape their street jobs and simply be kids. The drop-in centre is also seen as their first step to moving off the streets. Here, I played board games like ludo and Mancala, building friendships. In the evening, I helped them with literacy and numeracy skills through worksheets and trying to play games in English.
Another role I had was in the outreach programme. This involved going onto the streets and identifying girls that were new to the streets and connected with street children at the Kumasi trading centre. We spoke to them and asked them about their day. Usually, the children would be in the same spots every day. Our goal was to offer them alternatives to street life, fostering relationships and guiding them towards better opportunities.
To ensure continuous support, I participated in follow-ups with former programme participants. We provided essentials like shoes and checked on their well-being, reinforcing that they were not forgotten.
When I wasn't at the drop-in centre, I was at the Vocational Training Centre, where girls learned skills like sewing and hairdressing. I taught English classes focused on reading, writing, and video analysis. The girls loved watching short films and discussing them. Before evening classes, I played football with them, and they were very good, clearly enjoying the game. After class, we had fun playing board games like Guess Who, Uno, and Snap.
The Safe Child Advocacy Project is making a real difference, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it.
English class in progress
Fun playing games