AMERICA EMBASSY DONATES FURNITURE TO SCHOOLS THAT SIT ON STONES

Mr Burnes and some officials of the NGO and the district assembly.

Two schools in two communities in the Jaman North district of the Brong Ahafo Region have benefited from the American Embassy in Ghana,through a non governmental organization that helped to acquire the furniture for the poor schools.

Pupils and teachers of the two Roman Catholic Primary Schools in Kabile and Jamera,some twin communities near Sampa, the district capital,heaved a sigh of relief Wednesday afternoon when in inauguration ceremonies were held to handover the furniture that was financed by the embassy to the school authorities.

Piesie Okrah Henryson,a local reporter for Accra-based Peace FM reports that the two schools had been suffering over the years to get furniture for the little ones.

When a team from the U.S Embassy visited the schools to access the situation, teachers had improvised with wooden slabs for pupils to sit on during instructional hours,a situation that is said to have distracted learning processes for few years.

A teacher at Kabile R/C primary school told local reporters that pupils had to jostle for seats during teaching periods while others had to stand by the dilapidated classroom windows to place their books on to write which negatively affected the smooth running of teaching and learning.

A local NGO,Rural Peoples Foundation discovered the sad situation in 2015 and contacted the Embassy for help when steps to get government's intervention proved futile.

Speaking at the ceremony in Jamera to handover half of the 230 furniture, Mr Benjamin Burnes,a foreign service officer at the U.S department of State who represented  Robert Porter Jackson, the U.S ambassador to Ghana, could not hide his joy about the help the embassy had extended to such a remote area.

He recounted how the two  communities were lucky to receive such timely help because "there were many proposals to the Embassy's selection committee".

Touching on the relationship between the benevolent state and Ghana,Mr Burnes revealed that the United States Embassy in Accra has granted more than 1.7 million dollars for such self-help projects since 1990.

"This year,we awarded 210,000 US dollars to 15 organizations and communities throughout Ghana......the ambassador's special self-help Programme has provided support to grassroots development efforts in Africa since 1990",he reiterated.

 Amidst cheers and loud claps from the Chiefs,pupils,teachers and  government officials who had come to  grace the programme, Mr Burnes told the community the the  U.S Embassy will not hesitate to help especially in rehabilitating the almost collapsing school buildings when resources are available.

The district chief executive Mr Nti Ateware Daniel expressed his profound gratitude to the Embassy for its magnanimous step, and promised to take good care of the beautiful furniture.

Ending his speech,the DCE cautioned parents and guardians who were present at the ceremony majority of whom are farmers to desist from sending their children to farm during school hours for it would go a long way to make them poorer since their wards may not be brilliant to climb the academic lather and be able to redeem them from poverty in future.

Left to far right is a local chief, Mr Burnes and Hon Nti Ateware handing over the furniture to R/C primary school at Kabile.

Story by: Emmanuel Henryson Okrah/www.dayzEntertainment.com