Name:                         Rachel Carter

Volunteer Period:         January 2013

Project:                       Street Library Ghana

My experience as a volunteer at VPWA in January 2013 was eye opening and rewarding. I worked on the Street Library Ghana project with another volunteer, Sarah. Our main role was to get support from businesses for a book drive to raise the resources needed to establish permanent community based street libraries.

I was surprised at the generosity of the publishing firms that we contacted. During one month we received over 700 books including comics, textbooks and storybooks. Much more work is however needed to get very basic books suitable for teaching children to read.

A highlight of my time in Ghana was the opening of the first community based library at J’Ann Royal International School. Joseph, the Principal of the school is clearly dedicated to improving the education of children in his community and it was amazing to see the varied program that the school runs on a very limited budget.

Travelling during the weekends was a good chance to see more of a very diverse country and learn about its history. I went with some other volunteers to Mole National park, which I found most interesting for gaining insight into rural life in Ghana, and to the Cape Coast.

As a small, locally run NGO, VPWA has a personal approach to its volunteers. People were matched to roles that suited their interests and Hayford and his wife, Portia hosted us for dinner each week. As Hayford included me in meetings with local organisations, I got a sense of the Ghanaian business environment.

These aspects helped make my time in Ghana very worthwhile. I think that in order to make the most impact to local communities during your time volunteering, it is useful to keep an open mind about which projects need the most help from foreign volunteers.

Although I originally planned to do a placement more related to my current studies (nutrition), I feel that I gained a lot from working on tasks that are really core to the success of a NGO, such as proposal writing and sponsorship, while also having opportunities to interact with locals through the library opening at J’Ann.

I hope that this short volunteer experience will not be my first and last time in Ghana!

Marie Ann (USA Volunteer) and Rachel (NZ Volunteer) meeting students at J’Ann Royal International School

Joseph (School Principal) and Sarah (Canadian Volunteer) sorting books for the opening ceremony

Hayford (Street Library Ghana President) speaking at the opening ceromony

Accra, Ghana – Street Library has launched Ghana’s first nationwide book drive, an initiative to encourage

The book drive is to encourage individuals, corporations, religious institutions and any other bodies to donate children’s books, text books, novels or any other reading materials. Donations can be made individually or in bulk by a free-of-charge shipment from any post office addressed to Street Library Ghana, P.O. Box OF 75, Ofankor-Accra.

Street Library Ghana hopes to raise a sufficient book stock to roll out its literacy enhancing programs across more regions of Ghana, enabling children and youth frequent access to reading materials. The book drive initiative will bring the street library programs many steps closer to the team’s ambitious goal of raising 1,000,000 books to establish 2,000 libraries benefiting more than 100,000 children across the country.

 About Street Library Ghana

The Street Library Ghana is an initiative by Ghanaian Social Entrepreneur Hayford Siaw with seed funding from Reach for Change (Sweden-based non-governmental organization) and telecommunication company Tigo. It aims at addressing Ghana’s severe literacy problem – with a literacy rate estimated at 67.3%, emanating from a lack of educational infrastructure and general difficulties in accessing reading materials.

Currently, the program serves eight communities in the Akuapim South and GA West Municipality by setting up a mobile library out of a book-stocked van. Moreover, Street Library Ghana volunteers provide tutoring, mentoring and encouragement for the over 1,200 children enrolled on the program.

In a second phase, volunteers – predominantly local teachers – will install a street library in their individual community three times per week. Each street library will be equipped with a local stock of books and a marquee providing shade and rain shelter for children to gather and read.

Street Library Ghana currently has three-year funding from Reach for Change and Millicom Ghana Ltd(operators of Tigo). Tigo and Viasat1 also  provided the program with Marquee to support our community roll out. Collaboration with current partners and additional funding support are to enable Street Library Ghana to be rolled out across the whole nation.

 For more information about Street Library Ghana,

Visit http://www.streetlibraryghana.org.

''In most communities, it is very difficult to find a location to run the library away from the scotching sun and with the beautiful durable tents, we will have no problem with rain or sun'' said Hayford Siaw , President of Street Library. He expressed gratitude to Tigo Ghana for their continuous investment in Ghanaian children through organizations like his.

Tigo Ghana's Brands Manager, Madam Linda Narh advised parents to make the education of their children a major priority and take significant interest in the educational needs of them. She further advised  the community to take advantage of the street library and encourage their children to participate. The presentation took place in the small village of Ahwerase in the Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality of Eastern Region-Ghana.

A Ghanaian Social Entrepreneur, Hayford Siaw has been selected along Felix Uzor and Sharron Nestor as Playmakers for 2012. The selection by Playing for Change, a non-profit organization founded by Kinnevik-Sweden, supports social entrepreneurs who improve the lives of children and youth. Kinnevik believe that the best way to create a social change is to give the right tools to people who are passionate about their task and who has the entrepreneurial driving force to make a change.

The chosen entrepreneurs call Playmakers; get financial support but also advice and mentoring from a network of employees within the Kinnevik Group of companies. The goal is to help the entrepreneurs build sustainable operations that will have a great social impact. In Ghana, the Kinnevik Group includes, television station Viasat 1, telecom company Tigo, financial institutions Bayport Financial Services and Consumer Finance Company (CFC).

This Friday, out of 900 ideas, they had come down to only four, who got to pitch their ideas live in front of a jury consisting of Obefemi Banibge (CEO and acting GM, Tigo), Charlotte Gustavsson (CEO Viasat1 Ghana), Justice Boahen (CEO, CFC), Kofi Adu-Mensah (Bayport Ghana), Letitia Adu-Ampoma (Integrity manager, Tigo) and Johanna Hallin (Director Strategic Planning, Playing for Change)

Hayford’s idea is Street Library – a solution to bringing mobile libraries to rural communities, promoting literacy and educational curiosity to disadvantaged children. Felix and Sharron’s innovative idea is Sports for Life – a program for promoting water safety and preventing drowning, the number one cause of death among children in Ghana.

According to Hayford Siaw, the street library is a social purpose initiative that aims to foster sustainable social transformation and participation through education. ‘’Literacy is a key component of strategies to support long-term economic and social value creation. As a result, the Street Library aims to be ‘the means’, and not ‘the end’. Particular emphasis will therefore be given to creating a setting that should enable targeted groups (especially children and youth) to acquire skills and interest for the long-term development of their literacy level.’’ He added.

Knowledge of malaria transmission low, prevention and treatment options limited. 

25th January  2012, Accra, Ghana– Volunteer Partnerships for West Africa has released the results from its most recent case study, Knowledge, Treatment and Prevention of Malaria in Rural Ghana: A Case Study of Darmang.

The study was conducted from May to July 2011 in the village of Darmang Anhuntem, located in the Akuapim South Municipality of the Eastern Region of Ghana. The objective of the study was “to assess the effectiveness of anti-vector interventions taken by the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), as well as availability of treatment and means of protection in rural communities.” A series of qualitative interviews with local people in Darmang revealed limited knowledge about malaria transmission and symptoms, lack of affordable protection options, and financially and geographically inaccessible treatment for the disease within the community.

Misconceptions about malaria transmission are still widely prevalent in Darmang.  According to the report while “[m]ost of the respondents (92%) knew that malaria is caused by mosquitoes…. more than half (52%) of the respondents gave additional sources for the disease which included working close to a heat source like fire or in the sun, eating too much oil or starch, contaminated houseflies on food, cold temperatures or airborne particles.” When asked about malaria symptoms, “More than half felt that malaria and fever is the same thing,” including one of three local chemists whom was interviewed.

When asked about first response to a suspected malaria infection “more than two thirds of the respondents reported not seeking hospital care for treatment of malaria due to lack of financial means and geographical access.” An overwhelming 73% of respondents said they would self-medicate with traditional herbs or over-the-counter drugs . Meanwhile, only 17% of respondents would go to a hospital.

However, “Despite the low numbers seeking first response treatment at a hospital, when asked the majority of the respondents (64%) believed that being diagnosed and receiving care at a hospital is the best way to treat malaria. Reasons for not seeking such care were in all cases financial reasons; the main obstacle being a lack of financial means to pay for, diagnose and receive treatment by a doctor at the hospital, as well as buying the prescription medications.”

Even the 17% of respondents who had national health insurance (NHS) said that they sometimes opted out of going to the hospital due to inconvenient location and the cost of transportation to the healthcare facility. They instead opted for easily accessed herbs and drugs at a local drugstore.

The awareness and existence of malaria protection options in Darmang is also very limited. Most respondents initially cited bush clearing, cleaning, and taking preventative drugs as primary methods in effectively preventing malaria. Using an Insecticide Treated mosquito Net (ITN) was secondary. While the “majority of the respondents (68%) owned at least one net…. [only] 22 % of the respondents who owned a net cited that every member in their family slept under one” due to financial circumstances and lack of ITN availability. Although, the respondents recognize and utilize ITNs as an effective malaria protection measure, only half of the respondents had ever heard of but never seen Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS).  Anti-vector strategies to control malaria are not readily available to them.

“[T]here is a considerable lack of knowledge regarding malaria,” the report concludes. Misconceptions about malaria transmission greatly impede anti-vector strategies and prevention of malaria in a community.

The study highlights that mosquitoes adapt and change their behavior “according to geographic location, dry or wet season and human behavior e.g. sleeping outside or use of insecticides,” and therefore, the government should fund further research on alternative anti-vector control measures for reducing malaria.

“However as long as this free health care remains inaccessible to the majority of the citizens of Ghana, especially to the poorest who need it the most, it is inherently meaningless. Lacking the ability to pay annual premiums, poor people in Ghana are indirectly being excluded from the public health care…”  Most importantly, the report highlights the plight of Ghana’s poor citizens and calls upon government to make malaria elimination a national priority through universal healthcare. It proposes “dedicated political support and financial reconsiderations” as key to eliminating malaria. The Darmang community and its limited knowledge and options in coping with the threat of malaria, speaks for a greater whole of rural Ghana.

In Ghana, one out of every ten children will die before reaching the age of five and malaria is still the number one cause of these deaths.