August News from Elmina, Ghana

Posted by Solo Ewusie and George Weir

Ghana Government Leading the response to COVID-19

I have been very impressed by the communication and leadership of the Government of Ghana when addressing COVID-19. The virus has spread around the country, but has mostly been in the larger cities like Accra and Kumasi. There have been few cases in Elmina but nearby Cape Coast has been hit pretty hard.

Some of the numbers as of August 15th are: Total Cases=42,210, Deaths=231. Ghana tracks active cases at 1,832 by tracking the cases until they are well. Recoveries are 40,147.

There is good communication and compliance related to masks and social distancing behavior with closing of various hot spots. Water is now free and electricity has been subsidized to help support handwashing. It is my hope that handwashing habits will be adopted beyond COVID-19 to improve overall health.

Borders/airports are still closed. Schools have successfully opened for the final year students of Jr High, Sr High and University so these students can complete their work and take their exams to move on. There is a plan to open school for others in late September with the challenges that will bring.

The number of congregants in churches have also been increased from 100 to 200. Duration of various religious activities has also been increased from 1hour to 2hours with all safety protocols strictly observed.

TOMORROW’S STARS SUMMER ACTIVITIES:

Some of our Pay It Forward Students (PIFs) and University students are active for the summer with projects. These are coordinated by Managing Director Solo and funded through his Nsoroma Africa Foundation.

Hand Washing stations:

We provide handwashing water tanks and home made liquid soap at 10 stations and visit and maintain them each day.

Junior HS Final Year Students:

Christ Cares school has been opened for the 20 Grade 9 students to help them complete their work and prepare for the September exams. Some of our PIFs are supporting the teachers to help assure these students don’t get left behind.

The Kathy Weir Study Center was maintained for 24 students during the period from April through July even though schools were closed. PIFs and university students helped these students. It is now on break until September.

PIF Personal Development

Tomorrow’s Stars strongly supports the development of our PIFs and University students. We are always looking for ways to help them learn new skills and develop their own personal interests. We know this helps them prepare for the upcoming life decisions.

Managing Director Solo coordinates this with great participation. Some examples of topics include:

We use the excellent equipment of our ICT (computer) lab. Examples are blogs, writing poetry, learning software like word, excel and ppt
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Giving presentations: Our “Always a Star” gives them an opportunity to do a presentation about themselves, their successes and their dreams. They present these to the group for feedback and questions.

Zoom calls with board members to learn about them and ask questions about how they chose careers and get lessons about preparing for the upcoming years. Board Member Bruce, Sue and George have participated. It was lots of fun, and interesting that our experiences DO have some relevance from a far away place and time.

We even had a cooking class where Lawrenda taught the boys to make banku, a local dish.

University Students:

With the resumption of Final Year classes for University, seniors Otabil and Joseph are finishing up after some delay.

Joseph is graduating in Journalism as the President of the student body at Ghana Institute of Journalism. He will be entering National Service soon.

Otabil is a leader in the “pioneer” class of Physician Assistants at Univ. of Cape Coast. They have a final class to finish and a December Med/Dent Board license exam. He has been working in a hospital since the schools have closed, and loving the experience.

Eric Asmah is reading Maths with Business at the University of Cape Coast. He is one of our students from Abirem. Eric hopes to start his national service, then further his education with his masters degree in the University of Cape Coast.

Last years 5 graduates are completing their year of National Service and now have the challenge of finding employment in the COVID-19 environment. I am sure they are up to it.

Philo is a science, math and ICT teacher. She is currently having her National Service in Mankessim; a town about 2hours drive from Elmina. After her national service in December, Philo will be posted by the Government of Ghana to a basic school as a teacher. Philo will be employed by the Government of Ghana as a pupil teacher. Philo had her graduation ceremony from the OLA college of Education not long ago.

Emmanuel was top of his class in Business.

Eric Nortey Thompson is a Chemical Engineer and a graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He is currently a national service person working as a teaching assistant in the same university.

Christopher Awortwe is in Herbal Medicine (just like his mentor Rudolph some years ago). Chris is currently having his national service at the Cape Coast Metropolitan Hospital. Chris is actively involved in the development of alternative medicine in his village.

Joana Egyir has completed her Diploma in Business from the University of Cape Coast. She is currently doing her national service at the Catholic Education Unit in Cape Coast.