Kuapa Kokoo provides free bikes to school children in rural communities
A union of cocoa buyers in the Ashanti Region, Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, has extended a lifeline to schoolchildren of cocoa farmers in five districts in the Western Region by presenting them with 100 bicycles.
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The 100 bicycles are to be distributed among the children who walk long distances to school.
The bicycles were presented at a ceremony at Dadieso in the Western Region, which marked the start of a pilot project in which schoolchildren of cocoa farmers in deprived areas would be supplied with bicycles to lessen their burden in their bid to access education.
The project, dubbed, ‘’Kuapa Sukuu Sakrele’, is to be expanded to benefit more schoolchildren in other cocoa-growing regions after the pilot, and also ensure that the children of Kuapa Kokoo farmers are educated.
The bicycles were manufactured by the Ghana Bamboo Bikes Company, a local bicycle manufacturing company and sponsored by Divine Chocolate Company, a subsidiary company of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in the United Kingdom.
The Executive Secretary of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, Mr Appau Abrampah Mensah, urged chiefs and opinion leaders in the beneficiary communities to ensure that the bicycles were well maintained in order that they might last for a long time to come.
He said the project was aimed at developing the children’s interest in education but not for them to shift their interest and focus on the bicycles. He said the bicycles were intended solely to enhance their mobility to and from school.
He enumerated some of the benefits that farmers received upon becoming members of the Kuapa Kokoo union and selling their cocoa to Kuapa Kokoo Limited, the trading wing of the union.
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He said members had been assured their health needs, had good drinking water, and received non-formal education, a year’s supply of machetes, and extra bonus of GH¢4 per bag sold to Kuapa Kokoo, among other benefits.
Mrs Bernice Dapaa, the Executive Director of Ghana Bamboo Bikes, demonstrated the make-up and effective ways of manipulating the bicycles to the children and encouraged them to make good use of the bicycles in order to become better students in future.
Nana Armah Kofi III, the Kontihene of Dadieso, commended Kuapa Kokoo and Divine Company Limited for thinking about children in rural areas.
He urged the schoolchildren to study hard and impressed on the females among them to strive to emulate the notable achievements of Mrs Dapaa and also establish their own companies in future rather than chase non-existing white collar jobs.
The District Education Director, Mr Samuel Boitey, urged parents to ensure that their children took their education seriously.