SOS Children’s Villages-Ghana, a non-governmental organization, has embarked on a project as part of its Family Strengthening Programme.
The project is aimed at sending about 100 children to school. Thus, it is dubbed ‘SOS 100 children go to school project’.
Living in Zuozugu, a small community in the Tamale Metropolitan District, until recently was a challenge.
More difficult was it for an average peasant farmer who could barely make ends meet.
The rains hardly set in and the unavailability of stable irrigation facilities makes farming a non-sustainable income generating venture.
This obviously puts the children in these families at the receiving end since parents cannot adequately fend for themselves and provide the needs of their children especially their educational needs.
In view of this social issue, SOS Children’s Villages Ghana embarked on the project.
Sanatu Inusah, a proud mother of four and wife of Inusah Wumbei, recounts her family’s encounter with the project.
“Prior to this project, most children in our community were not in school because parents could not afford educational materials. They either accompanied their parents to the farm or migrated to neighboring communities in search of non-existent opportunities,” Sanatu recounts.
Sanatu recalls the ordeal she went through in convincing her husband Inusah, who was bent on giving out their first daughter Fatimata Inusah into early marriage.
“I proposed she joins her colleagues to trade in a neighboring town in Kumasi,” says Sanatu.
This was her own way of addressing their inability to provide learning materials for their daughter.
Indeed, the situation at Zuozugu until the introduction of the project was disheartening.
The only community-based school was a three-unit dilapidated structure that could hardly accommodate the children from Kindergarten to JHS.
The lack of trained teachers was a challenge and the few who were available had to teach the children under trees. This discouraged children from going to school.
‘SOS 100 Children go to school project’ was introduced in 2011 to address this problem.
Its footprint thereof has left lasting impressions on the children and beneficiary families.
The first major intervention of the project was to provide school bags, sandals, books and other writing materials.
The impact was immediately seen as school enrollment increased and eventually led to overcrowding at the only school found within the community.
To address this, SOS CV in collaboration with partners built a six-unit classroom block immediately to address the issue of overcrowding in the school.
Obviously excited by the impact the project has made in her family’s life, Sanatu had this to say: “My children are in school because of this intervention. The first child Fatimata Inusah is in Al-Khartoum Senior High School outside the community, the second Rashida Inusah is in Bagabaga Junior High School and the last two Asana and Fuseina Inusah are in primary six at Zuozugu community school”.
Many residents in the community have described the project as a lifesaving one which has helped them in their dire moment.
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