The Humanist Community Blog

On Sunday, July 6, Paul Gilbert spoke to the Humanist Forum on the subject of racism. The forum was eloquently presented, challenging, and thought-provoking. One small anecdote that Paul told was particularly meaningful to me as I think about what we are accomplishing in Ghana, through the Ghana Assistance Project of the Humanist Community. Paul told about the educational challenges facing the black children who lived in his small town in Tennessee early in the 1950s. As a white child, he could not know what their school supply situation might have been, but young Paul was shocked to discover that their school went only to the 8th grade, and no transportation was provided for them to attend the high school in the town where they would have to go to continue their education.

When we visited Ghana, just one year ago, one of the things that struck me most forcefully is the way that these people are living in ways that remind me of my own earliest memories and my mother’s stories about America in the earlier part of the 20th century. Many roads are not paved. Electric power is intermittent. Running water is sometimes available in the largest cities, but hot running water is available nowhere.
And yet they are simultaneously catapulting themselves into the 21st century. In the cities there is television whenever the power is on, bringing images of the whole world. I first learned about the fire that was burning west of Gilroy, CA, from my friend in Ghana who heard about it on the Internet and sent me an email to find out if I was OK. Everyone in Ghana who can afford it has a cell phone. If one is traveling by bus, there are signs along the road telling where there is a cell phone signal, and when the bus passes those signs, most of the passengers are instantly on their phones, chatting away with their friends or business associates. Our Ghana Assistance Project would not be possible except that the people whose dreams we are turning to reality have access to email, and can send us regular reports and pictures to show that they are using our funds as intended. Even in the village of Larabanga, where our first project was centered, there are cell phones, and Internet access is available in a village that is less than 2 hours away.

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The second project funded by the Ghana Assistance Project of the Humanist Community is tantalizingly near to completion. The new computers have been purchased and are in place. There are fans overhead in the classroom at the Access Northern Ghana (AcNoG) Computer School in Tamale. Rain damage has been repaired; the roof is fixed and the room has been repainted (twice, I think). But the school cannot open yet. For example, because electric power fluctuates a lot in Tamale, the computers cannot be turned on very much, until Uninterruptible Power Sources (UPS) have been installed. This and more will be completed when they receive the next installment of funding from us. The photos below show the change in the computer classroom to this point. In the first there are monitors and a few other necessities, but only 2 computers (which turned out to be obsolete). In the second there are monitors, new computers, “mice”, and some new chairs. There are other changes like overhead fans that you cannot see in the pictures, but we have other pictures of the fans. This is a school designed to meet the needs of people in Tamale who cannot find jobs, because they have no computer skills and until now they have no way to acquire them. The school will run several classes daily. It will be open to all: men, women, and children. Students will pay a small tuition fee to cover power expenses and teacher salary. The project had languished for about a year, as in the first photo, before we took it on.

The contrast between what is needed in the city of Tamale, and what is needed in the village of Larabanga is very striking. We have structured the Ghana Assistance Project so that we are helping nonprofit organizations in northern Ghana to do the projects that they perceive to be needed in their community, and to do them in the way that they think is best, without having us dictate to them what they must do to improve their lives. I have found that when I ask them to explain why a particular project is being done in a particular way, their reasons are sound, and sometimes surprising.

Although a computer school in Tamale will improve the lives of people there by helping folks to qualify for employment, the needs in a village are much more basic. In the village of Larabanga, there are two schools that children might attend. There is a public school. The parents of children who attend the public school pay for the children’s uniforms and books. If these are not supplied, then the children cannot attend the public school. That is why we are helping the Larabanga Kids Development Project. The purpose of the LKPD is to provide a school for the “street children” who do not have access to the public school. The LKDP serves over 100 children now, in this village of 2,000.
When we finish with the ACNOG Computer School Project, we will immediately start raising funds for the LKDP school, once again. We have received a request from them that I will tell you about when we start raising funds for it, but let me just mention now that a part of this effort will be to pay the teachers for the year that they have worked without pay.

The LKDP school is not for teenagers. A street child from Larabanga who wants to continue education, must find a way to go to boarding school in Tamale. Does this sound like Paul’s story?

If you would like to donate to the Ghana Assistance Project of the Humanist Community, you can send a check to The Humanist Community, PO Box 60069, Palo Alto, CA 94306. Do indicate clearly that the check is for the Ghana Assistance Project (though it should be payable to The Humanist Community). Checks or cash can also be put in the “basket” at the Humanist Sunday Forum. If you are going to do that, do pick up an envelope from the table at the back of the forum room or use your own envelope marked “Ghana Assistance Project”. Donations are tax deductible if you itemize.

(click on photos to enlarge)

Filed under: Social Action, humanism