Recently returned from a visit to Lawra in North West Ghana.. my first since becoming a Trustee just over a year ago. What an experience…challenging in many ways, but very interesting and inspiring to see ATE’s work on the ground. So what did we do?
On the education front we spent time in Karbo Primary School where ATE has been feeding more than 400 children for over two years. We visited all the classrooms and spoke to the teachers and children; we listened to their songs of welcome and thanks; we admired the new kindergarten block which ATE has financed and which was built by the local community and we saw the vegetable garden fenced by the Ramsbury Horticultural Society, and then we watched the feeding programme in action. As the children queued for the nutritious meal provided for them every day by ATE, it was impossible not to be moved by their smiling faces. On a separate day I helped Luke, Sarah’s Assistant, to weigh and measure all the children so that we can monitor and evaluate how they are doing…anecdotally they all look healthier and livelier but we want to back it up with proper evidence. Attendance has also improved significantly which was one of the major objectives of the feeding programme. We then visited the Junior High School where ATE has just started a second feeding programme for its 170 pupils. Still early days but looking good!
We were also active on the business development front. Since its inception ATE has provided grants and support to some 30 small businesses in Lawra from weavers to petty traders, from bicycle repair shops to basket makers. The day after our arrival we briefed our local Ghanaian consultants (previously our translaters) to carry out a survey of these small businesses. The consultants were then each allocated a number of businesses and the following day they visited the small business owners in their homes to carry out the survey. From their findings we devised a training workshop later in the week. It is great to see how well most of these businesses are doing with just a small bit of help from ATE, how well they respond to the training and how they interact with and support each other. I was also very impressed by our group of consultants who will provide a source of expertise and knowledge, should ATE need to develop its infrastructure in the coming years and particularly with the commitment and authority of our local Project Manager, Habib who worked tirelessly in at least 2 languages to keep the whole programme working effectively. I also very much enjoyed meeting some of the business owners at their work, particularly the three Karbo women weavers who produce such beautiful fabric
And finally, a word about ATE’s Special Needs programme, SNAP, for me the most emotional part of the whole trip. We have come a long way from a position two years ago where parents would hide their mentally and physically disabled children at home because of the stigma attached to disability, to the wonderful morning when 50 or so mothers brought these children to the SNAP meeting …the children playing together and with us on a large mat and the parents talking to each other, singing and dancing and telling us how they appreciated the programme and how we might help them in the future.
So a very busy time, but so worth the effort. It reinforced my feelings that ATE is doing a wonderful job in North West Ghana; that it really is changing the lives of lots of very poor but very deserving people in this community; that our activities are being well managed locally ; and that there is real appreciation of what we are doing. Yes there are challenges…the fifteen hour express overnight bus journey, the intense heat and dust, the mosquitos and snakes and scorpions, not to mention the hard work required to raise funds back in the UK…but I am very clear in my own mind that it is worth it and that it is a privilege to work for an organisation like ATE.