The Humanist Community Forum will meet at 11am at Mitchell Park Community Center. The Mitchell Park Community Center is located at 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, Just north of Charleston Road.

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)

The Humanist Community Forum will meet at 11am at Mitchell Park Community Center. The Mitchell Park Community Center is located at 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, Just north of Charleston Road.

The Humanist Community Forum will meet at 11am at Mitchell Park Community Center. The Mitchell Park Community Center is located at 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, Just north of Charleston Road.

Our current project is to assist a computer school to be run by Access Northern Ghana (ACNOG) in the city of Tamale (photo below). People in this part of Tamale have difficulty in finding employment, and it is thought that this situation can be helped if they can learn computer skills. Approximately half of the funds needed have been raised and sent. The computers have been ordered. As you can see from the picture, the school already has monitors and some of the other supplies that it needs. The rain made it obvious that the classroom roof must be repaired. Materials have been purchased for that, and when the rain stops, the repairs will be made.

We hear from the school for street children in Larabanga that all is going along well. They are so happy with the desks! They have sent a proposal for their next projects, which we will address when the ACNOG Computer School funds are complete.

If you would like to donate toward these exciting projects to help the people of northern Ghana as they strive to improve their lives, you may send a check payable to the Humanist Community, Box 60069, Palo Alto, CA 94306. It should be clearly indicated that this donation is for the Ghana Assistance Project. Special envelopes (not required) for this purpose can be found on the table at the back of the room during our Sunday Forums, and donations can be put in the “basket” when it circulates at the Forums. Donations are tax deductible if you itemize.

The Humanist Community Forum will meet at 11am at Mitchell Park Community Center. The Mitchell Park Community Center is located at 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, Just north of Charleston Road.

The Humanist Community Forum will meet at 11am at Mitchell Park Community Center. The Mitchell Park Community Center is located at 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, Just north of Charleston Road.

The Humanist Community Forum will meet at 11am at Mitchell Park Community Center. The Mitchell Park Community Center is located at 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, Just north of Charleston Road.

From Peter Drekmeier: We’ve been making good progress on our campaign to protect the River, as demonstrated by the strong resolution passed by the Los Trancos County Water District earlier this month - http://www.tuolumne.org/content/fmd/files/2008%2006%20LTCWD%20Resolution%20No%20197.pdf

If you haven’t already signed our petition to the SFPUC, I encourage you to do so at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/tuolumne.