Friends of Tafo, PO Box 43826 London NW6 1XG

Friends of Tafo Newsletter SUMMER 2003

Friends of Tafo is a new charity that aids, inspires and facilitates development in education, health, employment and infrastructure in the town of Kwahu-Tafo, Ghana, West Africa.

This edition of our newsletter is focusing on the projects we are supporting to help education in Tafo. Teachers, school supplies, computer rooms, furniture and sanitation facilities are urgently needed in our schools.

Education in Tafo

Friends of Tafo is committed to supporting education in Tafo. We see this as the fundamental way to help the people of Tafo to help themselves in the most 'sustainable' form of development.

Along with its Primary and Junior Secondary Schools the town has a Senior Secondary School which is so run down that it gets no State support. Preparing students aged 17-23 for University, it cannot afford trained teachers. With your help we plan to supply 6 Ghanaian teachers for an initial four years, which will attract a pupil base large enough to qualify the school for Government help. We also have the offer of a year's voluntary work from a teacher in the UK.

We have developed links with the charity Techknowledgy which provides PCs and IT training to schools in Ghana, and hope to enable the installation of computers at a school by September.

We have already started a fund to support pupils who cannot afford the £10 a year it costs to attend school, and thanks to the generosity of individual donors and Accenture's 'Make A Difference' campaign, we will be supporting at least 150 young people this year.

Feedback

Humphrey Barclay, the TV producer of A Fine Romance, Desmond's and Spaced who is Development Chief in Tafo, recently returned from a visit with the following update:

• Books for Schools: purchase and distribution has begun of the very generous donations of £6000 from British And Foreign Schools Society and £800 from Ghana School Aid.
• Craft Development: Aid To Artisans (Ghana) will be running their first training course in Tafo in July.
• Almond Oil: progress towards job creation through Technoserve's backing for this innovation by a citizen of Tafo.
• Raleigh International: Raleigh are set to begin work on a project in Tafo in October, with two Tafo youngsters joining as Ghana-wide 'Venturers'.
• Disabled: an Association has been formed to help the town's disabled of all ages.

What you can do:

We welcome all enthusiasm from our kind supporters and in response to requests, here are some ways in which you can help:

• Fundraising - we have had not one, two, but THREE kind people hold parties this year in aid of Friends of Tafo, for which we are eternally grateful
• Volunteering - we are looking into ways in which we can put volunteers' time and energy to good use, please contact us if you feel you have skills or time you could offer
• Events - come to our events!! Details on the website shortly
• Donations - we are broadening the ways in which you can donate to help the work of Friends of Tafo
• E-giving: find FOT on www.givenow.org
• Direct debit: £5/month would go towards paying a teacher, £10/year would pay a student's fees