Visit in November 2024

December 1, 2024

Anyankamamu teacher accommodation

The Anyankamamu teacher accommodation building is mainly built. At the time of Mark’s visit, the roof was being completed. The building very nicely designed. It’s got 5 bedrooms, with two in each wing and one in the centre. The kitchen is at the back of one wing, and the bathroom and toilet behind the other. I had talked with Kwasi and the builder at the time we did the Kontonho school, and had suggested we could make the overall appearance a bit more attractive, and they have done very well. These Corinthian columns are quite popular in Ghana and I think they do help to give the building a certain gravitas. I think this will be our most attractive building so far.

I talked with PPortia, a teacher in primary. She has a child in Kofiase that lives with the child’s grandmother. She would like to stay with her child in the teacher accommodation when it’s finished.

Kontonho school and teacher accommodation

The Kontonho school and teacher accommodation are now fully operational. I met the headteacher TFAThomas Fosu Asihene (56), who started on 30 October 2024. He is from Agona, but has worked for a year in a school in Kofiase so knows a bit about the area. It’s quite a challenge (for the headteacher) to set up a school in a such a dispersed rural community. At the time of our meeting (6 November, about a week after he opened the school) more than 80 pupils had registered (ages about 5 to 9). He needs to sort them into groups of appropriate ability (which might not correspond to age, depending on whether the child has previous schooling). He needs to make an enrollment drive, so that parents in the community feel encouraged and motivated to register their children. He needs to convince the parents to feed the children before sending them to school, and sustain the children’s interest during the day, and all this with no resources. He complained that he doesn’t even have a budget to buy the materials he needs to do his job (such as an attendance register, staff particulars poster). He also complained that there are defects in our building (no mosquito net on one of the windows, no hook to attach a ceiling fan, a gap under some doors). I wasn’t overjoyed at these complaints in the context of the wonderful contribution our school and accommodation is already making in the community, but I encouraged him to write a list of his needs, for consideration by our Trustees.

T is living in Kumasi, so he isn’t saying in our three-room accommodation block. I also met GM, the other teacher that’s posted to our school. He is enthusiastic, and is living in one of the rooms in our teacher accommodation. A third teacher is expected to be posted soon.

A meeting of the local community was held. The community thanked Turbo Ghana for the two buildings. They are enthusiastic to encourage parents to bring their children to school. A parent-teacher association (PTA) is being formed. I emphasised the importance of taking care of the assets that Turbo Ghana has given them. They promise they will do that.

Solar equipment moved to Kontonho

We had installed solar panels and associated equipment for our first borehole in Aframano several years ago, but finally in early December 2024 Aframano got connected to Ghana Electricity Company electricity network. So we decided to move some of the solar panels and equipment to our teacher accommodation building in Kontonho, which is unlikely to ever get electricity. This means that teachers will have lights at night time, and will be able to charge their phones.

Existing apprentices

KK is training two of our apprentices, FO and BG. As detailed below, we’ve decided to sponsor RA with him. R had already been working with him for a year or so but had had to withdraw for financial reasons. MO is also training our apprentice JO, but J had taken maternity leave. I went to visit her and meet her baby.
J’s life is very challenging. Six people live in the small wooden house pictured, with no electricity or water. We are happy that J is able to continue her apprenticeship (taking her baby to work with her).

Our kindergarten school in Aframano

Since our last visit, OD has painted it. It’s looking great! There had been a discussion of what to call the school, and the Turbo Ghana trustees chose the name “Learn to Think” school. It reflects the fact that teaching and learning should not be about rote learning about facts and figures, but should be about how to think about things logically, methodically, and clearly.

Interviewing apprentices (Nsuta)

VD introduced five candidate apprentices who live in or around Nsuta. AO (16) and EO (23) both want to train as electricians, and E had started with electrician trainer P but had had to withdraw for financial reasons. They had both written letters to Turbo Ghana asking for apprenticeships. If we appoint Alex and Emanuel as apprentices, then in about 3 years they will sit Parts 1-3 of the Energy Commission exams and receive a license to practise as electricians. The exam is available a few times per year and you enter it when your trainer advises you that you have learned the trade. Mark met P and also D, a previous apprentice of his, who is now practicing as an electrician and has apprentices of his own.

VDVivian Danso also introduced LYLetitia Yara and SDSarwa Dorcas, who want to train as tailors. LLetitia’s life has been particularly challenging. She has two children (ages 7 and 1) and lives with her husband, who can’t use his hands. He doesn’t know why; he has been to the hospital but they weren’t able to help him. LLetitia’s parents died when she was a child and her aunt brought her up. She worked as a maid for a while, and had managed to acquire a sewing machine and learned some dressmaking by herself. But a few years ago her machine broke, and a repairer fixed it for her but she couldn’t pay him so he refused to give it back. So she lost her machine. When she heard that Turbo Ghana had tailoring apprentices, she borrowed a friend’s sewing machine and asked VDVivian Danso to give her some material, and she made a dress and a shirt to demonstrate her skills.

EO (16) and AA (23) want to train as tilers. Again, Mark met with them and discussed their motivation and experience. A has been working occasionally as a tiler apprentice, but his trainer doesn’t have much work and A is therefore only working about one week per month. At that rate, it will take him too long to graduate. Mark met with B (35), a tiler who currently has 9 apprentices and has enough work to take more. He already has had three graduated apprentices. Apprentices in tiling graduate after about 3 years. After we decided to give A and E a trial period, Mark went to visit a house that B’s team is working in, and saw their work. B also has a shop that sells tiling materials, which Mark visited.

Interviewing apprentices (Aframano)

Kwasi invited about 15 people to Aframano to be interviewed for an apprenticeship, and 27 people turned up. We interviewed all of them. Here are the statistics:

Skill	Gender	Number	Age(s)
Tailor (dressmaker)	All women	14	13-25
Hairdresser	All women	8	13-28
Baker (bread)	Woman	1	23
Welder	Man	1	15
Driver	Man	1	17
Tiler	Man	1	18
Mason	Man	1	29
Total		27

Of the women, five have young children, and three of them are single mothers without help or contact with the child’s father. Four of them have never attended school. (Although school is obligatory in Ghana, in villages there is often no school available, or no transport.)

We currently have two apprentices that started in April 2024, and we aim to start up to 6 more in December 2024, so maybe 3-4 from this group. Selection principles: for effective management, we will concentrate apprentices into few professions, probably tailor, hairdresser, and then two professions selected by men, probably welder and tiler. We will also concentrate them by location: we will use the tailoring trainers Kwame and Mary in Nsuta, and a tailoring trainer in Aframano. For the hairdressing, we will probably wait until a sought-after hairdresser we know called Sandra establishes her shop in Mampong; then she can be our trainer.

Florence is a tailor and a suitable trainer for us, based in Aframano.

Apprenticeship decisions

In total, Mark interviewed 27 apprentice candidates in Aframano, 7 in Nsuta, and two new trainers, as well as our existing trainers Kwame and Mary. That’s 38 people in all. We decided to focus on the apprentices in Nsuta, leaving the ones in Aframano for another occasion (it makes sense from a management point of view to focus geographically). We made the following decisions:

AOAlex Offei and EOEmanuel Owusu will train as electricians with PPowah, starting 1 November.
LYLetitia Yara will train as a tailor with Mary, also starting 1 November. Mary was delighted with LLetitia’s work, even saying that she would be able to learn a bit from her.
JOJosephine Oppong (who had suspended her training with Mary during JJosephine’s maternity leave) will resume her apprenticeship with Mary on 1 December.
EOEbenezer Owusu and AAAsante Alfred will work for a trial period with BBoga, starting 1 November. If the trial period is successful they will be appointed as apprentices.
RARose Amoah (who had been an apprentice with Mary but had to withdraw for financial reasons) will resume her apprenticeship with Mary, sponsored by Turbo Ghana.

We will also appoint VDVivian Danso as apprenticeship monitor and coordinator. VVivian lives in Nsuta and has been very instrumental and helpful to us in setting everything up, including finding the landlady that is renting us rooms for the apprentices. A particular role of VVivian will be to ensure that we receive monthly reports about each apprentice’s performance, before we pay the stipend to the apprentice. The report will include:

the number of days the apprentice worked during the month;
whether the apprentice’s work has been satisfactory;
what the apprentice has learned during the month;
a photo or two of examples of the apprentice’s work during the month.

This will be sent by WhatsApp to Mark.

Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association graduation

Turbo Ghana has junior apprentices with Kwame Kyere and Mary Ode, learning dressmaking. Kwame invited me to the graduation of two of his senior apprentices, who have completed their three-year study. About 150 people attended, with singing and music. I gave a short speech about Turbo Ghana, introducing our work so far, and focussing on our apprenticeship scheme.

Landlady in Nsuta

Some of our apprentices loge with landlady JS in Nsuta. We have rented the rooms for two years, starting last April (2024). The accommodation is very basic but clean and neat. I talked to J and asked to take another room. She has a free one, which happily is next to the two we have. She is a fierce woman of 82, but she softened when I explained who I was and we had a good conversation with laughter.

The rooms will be occupied as follows:

Room 1: BGBernice Gyamfi and FOFaustina Oppong
Room 2: JOJosephine Oppong (with baby) and RARose Amoah
Room 3: EOEbenezer Owusu

Pataase Sesease Kokoben (PSK)

We have finished building the school rooms at PSK. We completed two rooms that the community had started building but ran out of money. Those two rooms form the wing on the left (the part on the right existed already).

Turbo Ghana scholarships

We have undertaken to pay the school prospectus (which is the materials needed by school boarders to enter boarding school) for the top four students graduating from Junior High School (JHS) in Aframano each year. Two of the students are selected by a live competition, which Mark had run in February 2024, and the other two are selected as those with the highest scores in the JHS leaving exam.

So we had a meeting and informal ceremony for the following students:

JSJosephine Serwaa (16), from Aframano JHS. She will go to Kofiase Senior High School (SHS) as a boarder.
SYSidina Yakubu (16), also from Aframano JHS. She is going to a school in Accra.
ASAwuni Sephanus (16), from Aframano JHS. He is going to Kofiase SHS as a day pupil and will rent a room.
EBEmanuel Baerebamine (16), also from Aframano JHS. He is going to Nsutaman school as a boarder.

Request for teacher accommodation in Benim Saviour

Kwasi showed me a letter asking us to consider assisting with teacher accommodation in Benim Saviour, a village about 20 minutes from Mampong. I talked to FA, the head teacher, and a few other teachers. Teacher accomodation is important for schools because it incentives teachers to accept a posting at the school. I asked some teachers some details to understand this better.

ESOEunice Serwaa Owusu (Primary class 1, with 15 pupils). She has been working at the school for 6 months. She rents a room at Benim village, about 30 minutes walk away. She has a son (age 5) in Kumasi, who lives with his grandmother. If we had teacher accommodation she could bring him to Benim and he could go to the school here.
EYEdward Yaboah (assistant head teacher, Primary class 5, 25 pupils) He has been a teacher for 8 years, of which two years at the school here. He is staying in Mampong and comes to school by motorbike.
ASIAlimatu Sadia Ishak (Primary class 4, 21 students age about 12). Teacher accommodation won’t help her directly; she lives with her husband and 3 children. She earns 3000 per month and pays 70 in rent.

Request for school furniture at Mampong Muslim Mission JHS

I met with headteacher SI. The school was established by the community in September 2003, and adopted by the education authority. It has 154 students in 6 classrooms, and 20 teachers. They had mains piped water, but it got cut off because the school couldn’t pay the bill. A Turkish NGO gave them a borehole in 2020, but the pump has broken on it. We asked them why they had no system for collecting money for the water; if they had had that, they would have funds to pay for a new pump. If each child’s parents contribute 2 cedis per term, they can collect 154 x 3 x 2 = 1000 cedis per year. If they also sell water to the local community, they could triple that amount. Their student toilet is also spoiled; the concrete base broke and fell in. Now the students use the teachers’ toilet, and the teachers use the toilet of a nearby private house.

The school’s main ask of Turbo Ghana is for schoolroom furniture. They have about 26 desks to share among the 150 students. At the moment they are borrowing furniture from an Arabic Saturday school; students have to carry the furniture each week to and from the school.

Sheila’s school

I tried to help Sheila to change status from day pupil to boarder. We spoke to EAEbenezer Amoh, who is a teacher at the school, and then to EOEsther Oswi-Owusu who is the headteacher.

Amaniampong Senior High School

Amaniampong SHS is a large and thriving school in a suburb of Mampong. They asked for help with two projects:

An unfinished toilet block. It has been built, and about half of the toilets and basins have been fitted. About half the tiling and flooring has been done. What’s remaining is interior and exterior tiling, the ceilings, some plumbing, and painting. The school says they have spent 100K cedis so far, and a futher 30K cedis is needed. Then later they sent me an itemised list of what they need, which totals 41K. But Kwasi thinks that if we use our own contractors (rather than give the money directly to the school) we can probably do it for half that.
Classroom furniture. They have 11 classrooms that need 60 chairs and desks in each one. The school has increasing student numbers (SHS1: 2300 students, SHS2: 1600 students, SHS3: 1217 students, so as the SHS1 and 2 move up years the total number increases). At the moment they have a temporary solution: they get the pupils to carry benches from the dining hall to the unfurnished rooms, for lessons. In the 11 rooms, there is a little furniture, maybe enough for 4 rooms, so the need is really for the remaining 7 rooms. At 60 desks/room, that’s 420 desks. Estimated at 250 cedis per desk, this comes to about 100K cedis. That’s more than we want to spend, but we could consider making a contribution. Also, the school may be overestimating the price; our supplier that we used in other schools may be cheaper.

I recommend we do the toilet block, because the school has a greater chance of getting some government money for the furniture than they do for the toilet block.

Nsuta healthcare centre

SB invited me to visit Nsuta healthcare centre and consider their needs, which are:

A borehole and polytank. The district assembly (DA) started building them a borehole with a pump into an overhead polytank, but half way through the project there was a storm and the polytank (which was not yet heavy with water) blew off and broke. The DA seems to have abandoned the project. I expressed reluctance to take on a project that the DA had abandoned, at least without discussing it with them. But SSamuel and our host RRichmond assured me that the DA would welcome our doing that.
A new building, since their psychiatric unit (a tiny room), their pharmacy and store, and their lab (for blood work etc.) are all too small.
Solar panels and associated equipment to replace their horrible diesel electricity generator.

Unfortunately I don’t think we should do any of these projects. We haven’t done health centres before, and we’re reluctant to start a new type of project when we still have a lot of projects on our list.

Kwasi’s family

Even though Mark has known Kwasi since 2018, he had not met his family. That changed during this visit.

We met Kwasi’s wife PPaulina, and his children FFrancesca (7) and CClaudina (5).
His brother AAAgbanyo Alare, and his children EEmmanuella (4) and VVictoria (9).
Another brother AAAlex Alare and his children IIsaac (8), BBriana (2) and BBrian (2).