Touching lives, transforming societies, building a nation - The story of Volunteers Ghana
"If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever." – Kofi Annan
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In an age where youth participation in decision making and nation building is increasingly being valued and recognized as indispensable, there is clearly a growing demand for the youth to demonstrate leadership and novelty in their approach to providing the common challenges that confront the human race. In the fight against poverty, ignorance and disease, the active participation of a willing youth is key and considered fundamental.
Founded on the principles of Volunteerism, Empowerment and Social Responsibility, underpinned by the virtues and values of Altruism, Generosity, and Solidarity, Volunteers Ghana is creating a new path that can help pave the way to a more effective and productive way of engaging the youth in nation building.
Unequivocally, students in tertiary institutions have budding energy and intellect that can be harnessed positively to address many problems that confronts Ghana. It is in this unwavering spirit and conviction that a group of ten University of Ghana students (Dora Owiredua Adu, Mathias Vifah, Godfred Khartey, Pearl Emefa Siale Kwame Asare Antwi, , Alex Biney, Horlali Yaw Haligah Jennifer Atitsogbui, Frank Obeng and Rich Kofi Kofituo ) led by Eric Edem Agbana began this journey of “Touching lives, Transforming Societies, Building a Nation”.
Two years down the lane, Volunteers Ghana is fast becoming one of the most significant humanitarian organizations in Ghana. Hundreds of lives have been imparted and the transformative agenda in the communities that we have visited as a group is self-evident. What appeared as an ambitious project by these young students has gathered a lot of momentum and relevance. It is therefore not surprising that in just some few months after its formation, the founder bagged the most coveted award of the “Most Enterprising Student Leader in Africa” for the activities of the group.
The organisation having seen the wide development gap that exist in Ghanaian society has decided to harness the energy and resources of the youth in Ghana’s tertiary schools to address the problem. While recognising that we may not be able to completely eliminate social inequalities in our society, Volunteers Ghana believes that the youth in voluntary service would not only bring relief to the marginalised of society, but also inculcate in the youth a spirit of altruism which would come in handy when the youth, who are potential leaders, eventually take up the helm of leadership.
With a clear mission to “effectively engage the youth in nation building through active participation in voluntary activities”, we have marshalled our arsenals and have been on the move providing self-help solutions to some of the basic challenges of our today that poses a threat to our future as a people.
We currently have over six hundred registered members of Volunteers Ghana and there is a fast growing demand by many students to join our projects. We have never doubted our inability to solve all the problems of the world but never for once have we doubted our ability to contribute our quota towards solving some. We believe there is enough energy in our synergy.
In 2014, we successfully organized over hundred students to teach in thirteen deprived communities in the Central Gonja district of the Northern Region. For most of the volunteers, they were hit by the stark reality of the living condition of most of our rural folks.it appeared the fresh wave of the 21st century living is yet to hit some of these communities.
Apart from the lack of some basic necessities of life, education is NOT a priority to the children in these areas. In some of the schools, there were only two (2) teachers handling an entire school of nine classes. As sad as it is, these children are equally expected to be assessed and measured by the standards of the pupils in urban areas. Through no fault of theirs, the failure of the system shatters their aspirations of ever acquiring quality formal education to higher levels.
Some JHS two pupils could not even spell their names correctly. In a nutshell, most of the pupils that we encountered had academic deficiencies but we were not discouraged. We saw in them potentials begging for attention and support. We believed in ourselves as volunteer teachers that, we had what it take to turn their stories around.
They were equally capable but for their environment. We tasked ourselves to build the confidence of these young ones. We shared perspectives on various career opportunities and we started promoting the habit of reading and speaking the queen’s language. Additionally, we engaged parents and stakeholders in these communities in our bid to promote education.
In a synopsis, our activities were largely successful and we exceeded our target in terms of the impact of the project. The improved performance of the pupils, their new found habit and excitement to be in class, the unique hospitality of the people coupled with the tears shed at our departure grounds summed the story for us. We look back at our presence in these communities and we can imperiously say we did our best and our best was productive.
A year later, here we are in 41 communities in the East Gonja district of the Northern region with 150 volunteers drawn from ten universities in Ghana. The daily and weekly reports from all our volunteers across these communities continue to inspire us to even do more for humanity.
It is rare to see young students in our tertiary institutions fund themselves for projects of these nature but volunteers Ghana is paving the way. We believe we cannot continue sitting on the fence when we have the ability to change our situation.
In addition to teaching in understaffed and deprived schools, we have engaged in other social enterprise activities such such blood donation, clean up exercises and donating items to the needy.
It has not been an easy journey, we faced daunting challenges, we have debts we are yet to pay but we never allow any of our challenges to take our eyes off the bigger picture of Touching Lives, Transforming Societies, Building a Nation.
We are determined to write a better history for our country, we are grounded by the lessons of our history but inspired by the promise of our future.
We refuse to be part of the complaining youth because we have chosen to be part of the solution, We reject cynicism because we know we cannot build our nation on anything but our endless Hope and optimism. We cannot continue lamenting about the problems the past generation created, we have decided to right wrongs and ensure that our generation gets it right.
Volunteers Ghana is on the move, we are shaking the very foundations of humanity, we are ready to demonstrate leadership by leading efforts at developing our country by ourselves. The Story of Volunteers Ghana is one of HOPE and determination to put smiles on the faces of the underprivileged.
We will capture the full report of our Ongoing activities in East Gonja in our next feature article.
THE WRITER IS ERIC EDEM AGBANA, FOUNDER OF VOLUNTEERS GHANA
Contact: 0240299367 / 0548101234/0201049445
Email : ivolunteergh@gmail.com
edemagbana@gmail.com
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