September 2020. The Project Team has been in touch frequently with the Kanaka School project in Ghana. They are finally at the stage where the school could operate independent from donations. This is truly amazing! And a spark of light in these COVID times. A4C gave them 3 years (until end 2021) to become self-sufficient and they seem to make it.
There are several things to celebrate:
- The school opened at 15 September for the new school year
- They received the government license for two vocational studies (sewing and beauty). Due to this license they will have 400 to 600 vocational students for this school year. These students are all subsidized by the government.
- Over the summer, 15 new teachers have been recruited and trained to work for the vocational studies
A final financial push is needed
Kingsford approached A4C for an extra donation of EUR 10,000. This is on top of the EUR 18,000 A4C donated at beginning of 2020. The total extra donation needed was 15k but they managed to collect 5k from other sources. They need this until they receive the first subsidies from the government. By not taking the last measures they risk to lose the government license they just received. At this moment they need to make costs for:
- COVID 19 measures (thermometers, cleaning materials and masks)
- Some final maintenance on the children classrooms
- Food program and teacher salaries for the first month
We will treat it as a pre-payment for Kanaka for 2021. We do expect that this final push will make it possible for them to become truly self-sufficient.