Guest speaker Dr. Godfrey Bacheyie brought home the importance of this initiative as he spoke about education in Jirapa. "Education is not a natural process in all parts of the world, like it is here [....] We take formal education for granted here". 60 years ago, he was one of only 5 children from his village selected by the village Chief to attend school. People thought it was a waste of human resources to go to school, instead of helping out with farming tasks. It's difficult to change the mindset of people, but change has been steady, especially having Dr. Godfrey as an inspiration and mentor. Our Club, together with heads of the education system in Jirapa, conducted a needs assessment. It became apparent that the #1 priority was Infrastructure. To date, our Club has built 4 schools and Rotary Club of Plymouth AM has built 1. #2 was an inadequate number of teachers. Through the efforts of Rotary Clubs and individuals, more than 20 teachers have now been trained, with 6 more in teachers college. The #3 priority was the lack of water available in schools. Thanks to our Club, Windsor-Roseland Rotary Club, Plymouth AM and individuals, boreholes at schools have been installed, providing clean water for children to drink and wash their hands.
Dr. Bacheyie asked people to really take a look at the pictures that were being shown on the screen. "If you look carefully, the tables have no books. No teaching aids". This fundraising initiative will help teachers by providing pens, pencils, rulers, chalk, books and everything teachers need to teach their classes. Nine people from the Vocational Training Team will be travelling to Jirapa in May to do teacher training and distribute the supplies. Thanks to everyone involved for supporting this important initiative.