Yawsae

Yawsae is located in the province of Brong Ahafo, in the southwest of Ghana, about 20km north of Sunyani, the nearest city.

Yawsae is in the middle of a rainforest in a very remote area which is accessible via a dirt road which is also partially tarmac (since 2005). There is neither electricity nor running water. Sunyani is 360km North West of Accra. By car it will take about 8 hours to get there.

Mr. Opanin Kojo Awuah(l), Christel and the Chief Nana Kwaku Noru(r)

Yawsae is surrounded by 13 small villages and has 800 citizens. Head of the village is Chief Nana Kwaka Nuro. Together with his brother Mr Opanin Awuah they are the decision makers in the village.

In 2003 Mr Opanin Awuah donated the piece of land to us on which Christel Community School Block has been build. We are most grateful for this generous donation.

Mr Kwaku Ananse is the headmaster of the school in  Yawsae.

Main source of income is farming. Most of the citizens have small farm lands where they grow cocoa, corn and a kind of spinach. The crops are sold at the market in Sunyani.

As mentioned Yawsae is located in a very remote area in the rainforest which means there is no running water and no electricity. There are 2 water pumps which are accessibly a certain period of time per day. Since 2005 the secondary school office has a small solar panel.

The house in which Christel lived in 2003 during the construction of the school is currently a medical centre for Yawsae and the surrounding villages. This is a major improvement for the region.

The school is located along a main road alongside the village.

At the school ground are in total 3 schools based:

·         Kindergarden

·         Primary school (Christel Community School Block)

·         Secondary school aka Junior high school (donated by the European Union)

Next to the school is a playground where a lot of fanatic soccer games are held.

Kindergarden

·      Duration 2 years, age 4-6. Total number of pupils 98. They are located in a 2 classroom school Block which was donated by the senior minister of education. No school uniforms. The children learn to sing, dans, write and draw.

Primary school

·      Duration 6 years, age 6-12. Total number of pupils is 177. They are located in a 3 classroom school block (the Christel Community School Block.) Most of the pupils wear a school uniform, except the extremely poor. They have lessons in English, Ghanaian languages, religion, moral education, environmental studies, local language Twi, and geography.

Secondary school

·      Duration 3 years, age 12-16. Total number of pupils is 65. They are located in a 4 class room school Block which was donated by the European Union. All pupils wear a school uniform. They have lessons in English, agriculture, science, technique, math, Ghanaian languages, environmental studies, hiv/aids.

Note: All pupils go to school walking. Some children walk for 1,5 hour and have to cross rivers and the roads are sometimes extremely bad, especially during rainy season.  Even the smallest children, the 4 year olds walk to school from home.

Mr. Kwaku Ananse behind his desk

The headmaster is Mr. Kwaku Ananse. Mr. Ananse has been the headmaster since 3 years and is very dedicated to the development of the school and its pupils. Ever since Mr. Ananse is in charge the school graduation percentage has risen to a 100% over the last 2 years.

Mr. Ananse is also in close contact with and involved in the plans of United Development. For our future plans Mr. Ananse is our first point of contact at the school.

In July 2007 the Methodist Church opened a medical post in Yawsae. In 2002 and 2003 the building has been used for housing of the volunteers while they were building the Christel Community School Block.

This medical post facilitates the need for medical assistance for the inhabitants of Yawsae and the 13 surrounding small villages. Six nurses are working at the center. Some of their tasks are: delivering babies, educate people on malaria and prevention of contracting it, stitching wounds.

Since the opening of the center they treat approximately 5-7 patients a day.

Communication about the existence of the medical post is done via the churches in the region. The medical post is accessible for everybody. Per visit a small fee will be charged.

Geography

Ghana is located in West Africa at the Gulf of Guinea. Ghana is adjoined by Burkina Faso in the north, Ivory Coast in the west and Togo in the east, and is 238.573 sm, around 7 times bigger than The Netherlands.

The south of Ghana is meanly green with some rainforests. Some of these rainforests had to make way for agricultural purposes. Up north the scenery is more flat, open and savanna-like. Near the coast are several beaches surrounded by palm trees.

Inhabitants

Ghana has 21 million inhabitants. Accra is the capital with 1.6 million citizens. Second largest city is Kumasi, which is also known as the cradle of the Ashanti kingdom and has 0.8 million citizens.

Politics and economy

In March 2007 Ghana celebrated festively their 50 years of Independence. Ghana is a democracy with a chosen president Mr. Atta Mills (elected December 2008).

The Ghanaian economy is mainly driven by agriculture which is 45% of the gross domestic income. Gold, cocoa and wood are the main products of export. The GDP per inhabitant is around 1.400 Euro.