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Youth Volunteerism for Development
Youth Volunteerism for Development
Challenges of the Lost Villages
Related to country: Ghana

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Upper Denkyira in the Central Region of Ghana presents an interesting case of the limitations of the Conventional School System in reaching underserved and deprived populations with basic education. Due to the peculiar nature of the demographic characteristics and the socio-economic challenges that confronts this area of the Central Region; Conventional School Systems are unable to thrive and make an impact in remote areas. Many of the settlements and communities are sparsely populated and scattered making distance a hindrance to school attendance. A major barrier to access and participation is also the cost. In poor deprived communities whether or not children attend school usually depends on the direct or indirect costs to families, Direct costs arises from schooling accessories such as uniforms, books and writing materials whilst the indirect costs are largely in the form of income lost from the child’s potential employment or contribution to household income through direct labour. Yet another obstacle is the official school calendar which usually conflicts with families economic activities to which the child is a crucial contributor.

In the village of Kramokrom, a lost village in the centre of a rainforest is found a paradise seemly devoid of man’s destructive usage of nature. A closer look at the lives of the people tells a story of lost hope and despair. As morning approaches and the sun begin to raise and set in the west, the sight oh children wearing tattered clothes, looking malnourish and pale sums up the plight of children in this lost village. They faced abuse on a daily basis, used as slaves and had no education, no one had heard of their plight. No one cared about them; their plight had never been reported.

From September to December 2007 without any official statistics I had witnessed three pregnant women die due to the fact that, there was no vehicle to convey them to the district hospital as they faced complications during the night of supposed delivery. The cause of death was obvious but apparently it was normal for pregnant women to lose their lives this way at the village so no one cared. As I worked through the forest with a friend from Spain we came across a seven year old girl, crying uncontrollably, her parents were gone to the farm leaving her very sick at home to take care of herself. We approached and touched the little girl’s forehead; we were both moved with tears. She had a temperature as high as 100.7, a closer examination also found a big boil on one of her thighs. She was in pain but no one to help her. We did what was humanly possible to save her but she couldn’t survive the 6 miles journey on foot.

Sara, as we later got to know was a primary 2 pupil from Kramokrom D/A primary school. Full of life and had always wanted to be a nurse. Its was a long shot for a girl in an unknown village but for children of this village, its alright to dream.

A dream of a better life, an illusion they know is untenable owing to their present situation.


August 6, 2008 | 3:54 AM Comments  0 comments

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