Concrete, direct and sustainable support for schools in Ghana

Our first project - the "Larabanga E/A KG primary A school":

When my wife Annunziata and I were shown a primary school in northern Ghana for the first time by local friends, we were presented with a picture that seemed to have come from the post-apocalyptic world of an end-of-the-world film: some of the buildings were in danger of collapsing, children were sitting on the floor without exercise books because there were no school desks, a black rectangle on the wall served as a blackboard, window frames broken out of the wall, the leaky corrugated iron roof partly splintered, the unfenced schoolyard a complete rubbish dump. Because of the heat, the children walk home through the city between lessons to drink fresh water, which means they are late for the next lesson because there is no running water and no well near the school. In addition, the school is not connected to the national electricity grid, which makes it difficult to teach in the late afternoon when the sun disappears behind the treetops of the savannah.

The doors can no longer be closed or are missing altogether, so that goats use the building as a shelter at night and relieve themselves there. Despite these conditions, which are unimaginable to us, the teachers do everything they can to keep both the youngest and the older children under control and to actively involve them in the lessons with admirable pedagogical skill. But despite all the teachers' tireless efforts, it quickly became clear that the school's need for optimization could never be met on its own and that the necessary work and purchases would never be successful without outside help in order to create the conditions for successful teaching.

After a spontaneously launched fundraising project, it became clear how much can be achieved with only limited financial means: with a donation of just 2,000 euros, the brickwork and floor of the entire school building, Section A, were completely renovated, the dilapidated windows and doors were replaced, the classrooms were equipped with school desks and whiteboards, and a washroom separate for boys and girls was built.

The positive experience of constructive cooperation with the teaching staff and the headteacher of the school, as well as the incredible gratitude we received from the children and teachers when we inspected the work on site, strengthened my intention to continue down this path in the form of an officially registered association, because there is still a lot to do: a well must be dug, the kindergarten area equipped and the school grounds surrounded by a wall so that it is no longer used as a rubbish dump at night, the connection to the electricity grid is still pending, and a school garden is also on the agenda.

Our next goal will be to bring this first school - the "Larabanga E/A KG Primary A School" - to a stage where it can maintain its condition and standard, mainly on its own, with our support, in further joint and direct cooperation. As soon as this milestone has been achieved, we will take care of the next school in order to be able to pave the way - school by school - for hundreds and thousands of children in Ghana to have unhindered access to education in a dignified, purposeful and secure environment as a prerequisite for effective teaching.

We are motivated to take this path by the conviction that education is by far the most important asset that can be given to the children of the cosmopolitan and knowledge-hungry society of this still terribly poor country. The gratitude and joy that the children can see for every improvement to their school, especially in their eyes, confirms our decision to continue on this path.

(Florian Schriefer, 1st Chairman 2024)