The Most Powerful Tool For Change

Nelson Mandela made a profound statement about education and one cannot deny the truth in his statement that "Education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world". 

In as much as the statement by the late President of South Africa; Nelson Mandela is true, we can also not deny the fact that the development of a country lies in the education of its people and that a country that does not take education to heart stands to ruin.

All luxurious stuff can be given to a child by a parent but without education all the things that are given the child becomes meaningless. This is because the child could lose all the things given him/her in a twinkle of an eye through disaster; being it natural or artificial (earthquake, fire, flood, abusive guardian etc). But education is the only legacy, inheritance or property that can be given to a child and would last for a life time or cannot be taken away from him/her. This is because education becomes an in built property and remains in the brain or head of the child.

It is sad that some children are deny access to this most powerful weapon in the world that can assist them to be influential people in their communities.

Space and time will not allow for names to be mentioned of people who have in one way or the other influenced their society in particular and country in general. We cannot forget the influence and contribution of Nelson Mandela, Komla Dumor , Kwame Nkrumah, Margaret Thatcher (all deceased), President Obama and all the democratically elected presidents of countries, just to mention a few.

They found/find themselves where they were and are now as a result of their ability to having the opportunity to have access to the most powerful weapon for change; education.

Human Capital and Social Development International (HuCASDEVI); knowing and realising the relevance of education in the development of communities, especially deprived ones is embarking on an educational promotion campaign to promote education in deprived communities.

The campaign or project dubbed "The Most Powerful Tool for Change", uses drama to educate deprived communities on the imporance of education to the development of the community and also to encourage parents and guardians to ensure that their children have access to this tool.

The first project or campaign starts on Valentine’s Day, 14th February, 2014 at Otinibi  in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

A visit to the stone quarry site

Parent and children involved

The main economic activity in Otinibi is stone quarrying and most people including children are involved in this activity. Children are quarrymen at the expense of education and as stated above a community or country that does not take education seriously stand to ruin and lacks behind in terms of development. Students from the Otinibi Basic School are the characters in the drama, that educate viewers what education can do to a community. It is a story about three families with two of them taking education very seriously and the other seeing it as a waste of time. To know the whole story join the whole community and invited special guest on Friday, February 14, 2014 from 09:00 to 12:00 GMT at the premises of St. Augustus School Complex in Otinibi.

Attending the occasion on that day or invited people include: Hon. Anku; Municipal Chief Executive for La Nkwantanang Municipal Assembly, Chief of Otinibi, Heads of educational institutions etc.

Invited media houses or stations are United Television (UTv), Multi TV, Net2, TV Africa and GTV. Also Adom FM and Peace FM are also covering the programme.

Sponsors for the day are Africa Cola, Eva Cool Water, La Nkwantanang Municipal Assembly, Pen & Plastic, Multipro (Indomie) and Fan Milk Ghana.

Quarrymen instead of students

HuCASDEVI hope to increase the school enrolment rate in Otinibi and encourage students and parents to take education seriously as it is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world.

OPEN YOUR HEART OF COMPASSION

We all have within us compassion but it's up to us to decide whether we close or open our heart to receive it and show it to others.
One thing that keeps our heart of compassion open is to seriously think about the needs that are in the world today.
We really need to turn our thoughts to those who are less fortunate than ourselves and open our hearts to those who are suffering. What are your thoughts this year and how many of them are towards showing compassion to the needy, assisting them with their needs that are within your reach?

This is the engine or motivation of a person whose heart of compassion is opened
“When I see a need, I can't just pass it off as someone else's responsibility. Nor can I think that the need is so great, I can't do anything about it, which is not true". Is this your engine or motivation? Have you ever thought about this and considered how important and effective this thought can be in making a positive impact on your society, especially the needy?

I have found in my volunteer or charity and assistance to individuals and communities that even though we can't do everything about a situation, we can do something. And the something we can do is to bring hope to people who are in need. You don't need to have millions of pounds (£), Dollars ($) etc to help the needy since little drops of water makes a mighty ocean; so every little helps.

You can put a big smile on the faces of the needy in our society through your own small way. Open your heart of campassion and you will be able to identity the little ways and means that you can engage to give hope to the hopeless, joy to the deprived and put BIG SMILES on the faces of the needy.

YOU CAN POSITIVELY TURN THINGS AROUND SO OPEN YOUR HEART OF CAMPASSION AND TURN TO THE NEEDS OF THE NEEDY AROUND YOU AND IN THE WORLD. EVERY LITTLE HELPS

The Ayenya Water Crisis and It's Effects On Community Life

Water is said to be life but not all water can be said to be life. Water can be life when it is clean, safe and hygienic; free from all source of pipe borne diseases/sicknesses and contamination. The life of a community especially deprived ones to a large extend depends on the availability of clean, safe and hygienic water to ensure the requisite development. This is mostly not the case, as added to their depravity is the unavailability of clean, safe and hygienic water for sustainable life.

Ayenya No. 1 is not an exception to the above scenario or phenomenon as they suffer and go through a lot of struggles to have access to water, which is not clean, safe and hygienic.

Ayenya No. 1 is a village in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, which is a little over two hours’ drive from Accra; the capital city and 40 minutes’ drive from Dodowa, a municipality in the Great Accra Region. It's predominantly a farming community with a total population just over 350 out of which more than 90% are children and youth. There is not direct vehicle or public bus that goes to the village and as such villagers and visitors have to board bus slated for Somanya, which is a city in the Eastern Region of Ghana and then alight at the village. Both bus drivers and conductors (mates as they are referred to in the local parlance) don't know the location of the town and therefore passengers on board the bus wishing to alight at the village ought to alert them when getting close.

The challenge faced by the community with reference to clean, safe and hygienic water is enormous as the village only source of water is so unhealthy, unsafe and unhygienic causing diverse forms of sicknesses and diseases. They rely on a cow muddled and worm infested water and the painful aspect of their ordeal is children as young as 10 years of age and women have to walk 50 minutes from the community to the 'river' to fetch water carrying gallons and pans. 

Joining them on the Christmas Eve in 2013 during my second visit to spend my Christmas with them, we made the 50 minutes’ walk to the 'river' side to fetch water. It was a humbling experience and felt the pain and stress that the community go through just to have access to water. The pictures below tell it all..

Journey from the 'river' to the community

The tiring  and humbling experience

Through the bushes

Nearing the Community

As a result of the ordeal that these children go through just to fetch water, they get fed up of going to school due to the tiredness of going to the river side to fetch water. And as Nelson Mandela said "Education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world", and if this is the case and these children or youth who are the future leaders of the community don't have this weapon then how can they change and affect their community? Even those who take the burden of going to school after the long distance walk to fetch water almost every day go to class and sleep. The development of the community is far from reaching due to the loss of interest of the youth in education that is as a result of the tiredness and stress of fetching water.

A visit to the small community clinic built and manned by an Italian NGO reviewed that more than 15 cases of water borne related diseases are reported on a daily bases and they struggle to cope with the situation as it is not equipped to handle them. When community suffers from diseases then definitely the productivity level of the community will also be low and this is exactly the situation in Ayenya No. 1. Farmers who are meant to go to their farms to ensure that farm products are accessible to the community are spending their days or time in the hospital, so who will man their farms for them to ensure the requisite farm products are on the market?

When there are no farm products on the market to be used by the community hunger strikes because the people go hungry. Even the little goods that may be accessible to the community may not be enough and as a result, malnutrition sets in. This is in indeed pathetic because members of the community in addition to not having access to safe, clean and hygienic water struggle for food due to the ailment of farmers.

This is why HuCASDEVI is raising funds online and through benevolent organisations and individuals to get borehole water for the community to bring smiles on the faces of the members of the community. This will also energise the community making it possible for them to concentrate their energy on other economic activities that will help in the development of the community or village.

Join the campaign in raising £2000 towards the borehole water project at www.gofundme.com/5kuwjc or on PayPal at http://hucasdevi.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_31.html or contact HuCASDEVI via phone and email to assist the project

Thank you