Help send Ghanaian students to school
Children in Rusodef (the hair coloration is due to malnutrition and inadequate vitamin intake)
Fields in Rusodef
Young boys who would like to attend school in front of wood pile used for fuel
In the Northern Ghana community of Rusodef, residents face many development challenges including lack of clean water, desertification, and schools that are far from where they live. Initially, we hope to support this community’s youth by providing them with bicycles and school fees. To attend school after fifth grade, students must bike many kilometers. In Rusodef, bicycles are shared so that two children can ride each bike. For $100, two children’s annual school fees and a used bicycle can be purchased.
About Rusodef
Rusodef, like much of Northern Ghana, is highly impoverished. There is a lack of access to clean water, limited food, and extensive malnutrition. A lack of fuel leads to use of wood for burning, causing further deforestation. This community faces many development and environment challenges. One of the simplest to address is enabling children to attend school. There is a regional school with space for most of the youth from Rusodef, but it is too far to walk. A bicycle will enable two children to go to school each year. The poverty in the region also makes school fees unaffordable, so our donation will provide for both the bicycle and the school fees. Additionally, after school hours, bicycles help reduce the time youth in the region spend traveling the 5 kilometers to the closest water source.
Where the money goes
Our initial donation of $1000 will enable
- 20 children to attend school for a year through bike transport and school fees
- The bicycles will also reduce time taken to gather water from the water source approximately 5 kilometers away.
Bicycles will be purchased in Ghana, after the funds are delivered to the community development coordinator in March 2010. The coordinator, who has been featured in international guide books for his efforts in this region, specifically suggested bicycles as a way to make a quick and significant difference in this community.