Pages

Children of TANF

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Ayikoo Izzy Harrison

TANF says congratulations and goodbye to one of our latest volunteers from the Scortland, Izzy.
She has played a vital part in the teams progress form the month of June and July, her hard efforts and kindness has not gone unnoticed. She taught French to lower, primary, and junior high at our partnered school and involved herself in spreading the awareness of HIV/AIDS. It has been a privilege to share such a great experience with a keen and inspiring young person and we wish her all the best in the future
Representing the UK and hanging a British flag amongst our home flags in memory of her and Josie visit
Izzy in action, leading a  French quiz competitions  to all the 5 classes she taught at the Wisdom Academy

After setting up a quiz for the children, Izzy was then able to hand out a prize to the winning girl


Thursday 27 June 2013

Bye bye Jana!

Today we said goodbye to our amazing volunteer of 3 months, Jana Freund. At Wisdom Academy she hoisted the German flag alongside the Ghanaian flag whilst the pupils sang songs. It was a very sad time for everyone, and she will be greatly missed. During her time here Jana has taught the students German, and even helped sponsor two children, and made it possible for them to come to school. She also helped out in the health center, which is very important. We hope she will be back soon but until then, safe travels and thank you for all you have done!
 Jana with Kwaku, one of the children that she, along with her friends and family, and our other volunteer Camille, sponsored.
 Jana receiving her certificate for all her hard work at the school.
 The children saying goodbye to Jana
 Hoisting the German and Ghanaian flags!
 Writing messages on a Ghanaian flag so Jana can remember all the friends she made here
Jana saying goodbye to the ladies who work in the health center

Tuesday 7 May 2013

TANF Provides Essential Medical Equipment

Hello again everyone!

As you are all aware, TANF has been assisting the local community nurses in different areas, from providing the paint and necessities to renovate the community health center, to sending the first volunteer to help nurses at mother and baby clinics.

Recently, a new volunteer, Camille Pourret (France), joined the TANF team and has already contributed in a great way. Through simply asking her local doctor to donate vital equipment, she was able to bring with her medical apparatus that the community nurses in Teiman were lacking. In order to provide the best possible treatment for people living in Teiman, the nurses do require some of the most basic things. Camille was able to bring with her two stethoscopes, weighing scales and blood pressure apparatus. The nurses were thrilled and it was another success for TANF.

To find out how you can help provide more medical equipment to save more lives in Ghana email info@tanfghana.org or donate now!



Saturday 20 April 2013

Painting the Community Health Centre!



Hello!!

Today, TANF has some very exciting news. The ongoing help TANF has been giving to the community nurses has been able to reach it's first completion point (of many to come, we hope!). The new community health center that was originally used as an ICT repair shop, of which TANF has assisted in the clean-out, the donation of materials is finally ready to use. This is because TANF, over the past two days, (April 2013) has been involved and organised the painting and decoration of the building.
On 19th April, Rev. Laud and volunteer Josie Gallop (UK), along with a student and a teacher (Ben Torsu) from Wisdom Academy, began the first coats of paint inside and outside. This also included painting the metal bars on the windows, the doors and the wooden frames around the windows. They used the paint and the brushes that TANF had provided. Inside, the team chose a cream colour, to give a fresh feel to the rooms. Outside, brown was chosen for two reasons; to hide the dust and to match the nurses' uniforms. The doors and wooden frames were painted green, to match the buttons on the nurses' brown dresses.





The team of 4 worked for over 3 hours to get the first coat of paint finished all over the building. Then, today, 20th April, this team, along with other helpers, including another volunteer, Jana Freund (Germany) all helped out to layer the second coat of paint to hurry the building towards completion. It was a busy morning trying to get everything finished, but with everyone helping and working as hard as they could, everywhere received its second coat of paint.







All left to do now is to wait for it to dry to then move the equipment inside. TANF and its helpers did a great job and the nurses were thrilled that finally they are able to start using their new community health center. So, thank you everyone for your support!








Wednesday 17 April 2013

TANF Provides Necessities for Health Centre

Hello everybody!

Today (17th April, 2013) was a very exciting day, as TANF was able to provide the new community health centre with much needed items to further its completion.

TANF gave a total of 4 buckets of paint, for both the inside and the outside of the health centre, as well as two large bundles of net, to line all the windows to prevent mosquitoes. 2 large paintbrushes were also bought, along with 5 lightbulbs that had also been removed - previously, the health centre really did have nothing, so was impossible to use.

This was such a wonderful moment for TANF to be able to provide the community nurses with things they so desperately need to ensure better healthcare for Teiman.

So, TANF thanks each and every one of its supporters...this is evidence that your money really can make a difference.

However, the nurses still need help! In addition to this, the nurses require a ceiling fan, more tables and chairs, stethoscope, folders and files and carpets. If you can help the nurses complete their new building...donate now!



Tuesday 16 April 2013

TANF Holds its First Review Meeting for Parents


Hello everyone!

TANF has been holding lots of events for the past few weeks and on 14th April 2013, TANF held its first parents' review meeting. All parents of TANF children were invited to Wisdom Academy where Rev. Laud and two volunteers (Jana Freund, Germany and Josie Gallop, UK) spoke about the importance of education. The talk also gave parents a chance to be involved in reporting to TANF its successes for their child, how its improved their life and any further additions they require from the foundation.


The talk began by reiterating what TANF does and how TANF works; that TANF aims to provide all children with free education and healthcare and to rescue children from child labour. The talk was given in English and translated into Twi, the local language spoken in Teiman. Many parents did not receive an education themselves, so their understanding of English is lacking. This is a factor that TANF has found sometimes hinders children that they work with; when parents have not received a steady education, their ability to help and encourage their children lacks considerably. TANF strongly pushed the idea that parents should not allow this to affect their children; just because they did not receive an education does not mean their child's education should be obstructed.


'Education is important. Education is a right'. These were two statements that TANF opened the second half of the talk with. TANF then moved on to explaining and highlighting the different importances of education, including; that education gives people critical skills, such as mathematical problem solving, education teaches discipline, education can create sustainable economic growth, education fights disease and education fights against corruption, such as racism and sexism. All of these things highlighted were then taught how these skills can be bought forward into a 
person's later life continually: we are always
 learning.


TANF spoke about investing in education like a business, as when you invest in education, it raises income, it improves health, it promotes gender equality and reduces poverty. Parents were told that if you invest time, effort and a small amount of money, in return you will gain more and benefit greatly. As TANF cannot support children beyond JHS (aged up to 17), TANF tries to encourage parents to put aside 15 Ghana Cidis every month to go towards future university education. This 15 Cidis is likened to phone credit that one would spend and that no one, not TANF, not teachers at school, not the child can touch this until the time is ready.

Parents were then spoken to about their role; that TANF is not the sole supporter of that one child. It is a three-way, shared responsibility between TANF, the parent and the child. The child takes one-third by attending school, doing work and exams, TANF takes one-third by paying the expenses and parents take the final third by encouraging their child and supporting them in their work.

The final message of the talk was to encourage parents to help their children better their future: all children have dreams for their future; let that dream come true for them.

The meeting then moved on to hearing from the parents themselves. They were asked about how their child's life and their life had changed for the better since TANF supported them, followed by asking them what else TANF could do to assist them further.


This is the mother of Abdul Manan, who is 3 years old and was recently rescued from the child labour camp by TANF. She spoke to Rev. Laud and the volunteers and explained how Abdul was not attending a pre-school before TANF rescued him and if TANF had not rescued him, he would not have been able to start school due to a lack of fees. Previously, every day, Abdul would assist his mother at the quarry site. His mother mentioned how TANF has provided everything for Abdul, including his uniform, his fees, his feeding fee and all his equipment he needs for school. She expressed her thanks!



The mother of Diana Adukpo, another rescued child, congratulated TANF's work considerably, telling us how much the whole family had benefitted. Previously, her daughter had been out of school for one year because of a lack of fees. TANF has released this burden of paying these fees, meaning the family can be reassured their daughter is receiving a steady education. 


These are the mothers of two rescued TANF children, Chelsea and Daniel. Both mothers work at the quarry site and before TANF came into their lives, both children assisted their mothers in working there. The work at the quarry for both parents was only ever enough to buy food and sometimes this was also scarce, so paying for fees was out of the question. Both mothers expressed their gratitude to TANF. 




Their suggestions for help in the future is for books and materials the children can have at home, so parents can assist their children with extra work and homework. 

All TANF supporters - the thanks and appreciation from these parents is directed at you! We thank you for all of your help, support and donations. Please, if you are reading this and haven't donated yet...it is a small fee to allow one more child to attend school and will make a whole family's life a whole lot easier. Visit our donation site to place your donation! 








 

Thursday 11 April 2013

TANF Assists Mother and Baby Clinic for the Second Time.

Hello again!

Today, on 11th April, 2013, volunteer Josie Gallop (UK) assisted the community health nurses once again at the monthly mother and baby clinic.

This mother and baby clinic is for all mothers in Teiman community and is free of charge. It is here that mothers can have the health of their baby checked, their baby's weight measured, where immunizations for their child can be administered and any counselling or advice on issues such as breast feeding. If a child is suffering from diarrhoea, then the clinic is there to provide advice on the best treatments, as well as give the baby a medical examination to ensure there is nothing seriously wrong.

When a baby is born, each mother is given a child health record book, in which dates of immunizations are recorded, along with a bar graph of the child's weight increase or decrease. In addition to this, there are pictures and descriptions of different home treatments for different illnesses, like diarrhoea, along with how to prevent dangerous diseases, such as malaria.

At the clinic, when mothers arrive, details are recorded by the nurses, including attendance. This is noted by the age of the child; 0-11 months, 12-23 months and 24 months plus. A tally is also taken of how many vitamin A tablets are administered and finally, male attendance. The nurses are greatly trying to encourage male involvement in their child's progress to ensure parenting is a shared experience between mother and father.








Today, 111 babies were weighed and immunized against diseases such as yellow fever. Some new mothers were given advice on breastfeeding, while others talked through other problems, for example, sleep issues. Every month, these days are hugely successful and many lives are saved from events like this.













Please, help TANF support these nurses further to be able to help more people within the community.




.