A section of the men, women and children in the Teshie/ Mammle community in Accra will in the next one year benefit from free skills training and scholarships from Starlight Foundation, a Non Governmental Organisation.
The project, dubbed “Meso Meka Hobi”, to wit “I am also privileged”, forms part of the Foundation’s vision of building the capacity of the less privileged to enable them succeed in society. It is being funded by Adanfo Ghana.
A total of 17 children will benefit from an educational scholarship, which will include the payment of school fees, learning materials, feeding and daily stipends for a year.
Parents of these children will also be enrolled in various skills such as pastries and baking, soaps and detergents, and drinks and ice cream.
Speaking at a short ceremony organised at the Calvary Ressurection church at Teshie/Mammle, to officially kick-start the project, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Foundation, Mr Issac Opoku, said “the whole idea is that we want to take the children off the streets and take them back to the classroom, while equipping their parents with income generating skills.”
Mr Opoku indicated that some of the kids in the vicinity have not been enrolled in school whilst others who were enrolled have also dropped out due to financial hardships being faced by their parents or guardians, “so that’s the reason we decided to offer them the opportunity to also get some education and become good persons in society.”
Mr Opoku also noted that in order to maintain the children in school when the program ends, the parents who took the training will be given start-up capital to commence business so that they will be able to cater for their wards.
“The uniqueness of this project is the fact that one, we are taking care of the child comprehensively….and two, we are giving their parents skills that will fetch them money so that when the program ends, they can take care of the kids themselves.”
In an interview with a beneficiary of the project, Gifty Ashing, a single mother with one child, she expressed her excitement about being selected to be a part of the project.
According to her, the hardship in the country requires that one gets multiple streams of income in order to survive, hence her excitement about being part of the project.
She indicated that after the training, she will volunteer to train other women in her community so that they can also earn extra income to cater for their children and themselves.
Elizabeth Ajokor, a widow with three children and a beneficiary of the project expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the Foundation for the support.
She noted that life has not been easy since the death of her husband and said she believes that the program will help her to bounce back.
Mr Emmanuel Paapa Baah, a trainer from Skills Impact Training Institute, the organisation booked to provide skills lessons to the children’s parents, also noted that he was happy about the impact the Foundation is making on the lives of the children in the area of education.
He said his organisation will ensure it gives the best training to the parents so that they can earn good money to take of the children.
