WE’RE BACK FROM ASHANTI AND WESTERN NORTH REGIONS OF GHANA

Further to our planned activities for the year 2022 to support members of some identified deprived communities in Ghana, a follow up visit to our selected communities for this year’s clothes, shoes and books donations was undertaken by team of six (6) persons made up Heached International staff and other supporting personnel. The team visited five (5) communities in the Ashanti and Western North Regions of Ghana in August 2022.
On Wednesday 17th August 2022, the team traveled to the Ashanti Region visiting two deprived communities namely; Juaben Apemso and Dumakyi and on Thursday 18th August 2022 continued the journey to three communities in the Western North Region namely; Beposo, Anomatewa and Yirenkyikrom.
The team returned to Accra in the early hours of Friday 19th August 2022.
A total number of a hundred and twenty (120) bags of clothes for children, ladies and men, twenty – five (25) bags of shoes for children, ladies and men and one bag (1) full of children school bags each weighing 25lbs were donated to the selected communities.
It is worthy to emphasis that this gesture that is intended to impact the lives of the many in Ghana could not be achieved without the generous support of our partners, Mosites Construction,USA.

DONATION ACTIVITES

JUABEN APEMSO:
Our first point of call for this important trip was at Juaben Apemso a predominantly farming community in the Ashanti Region. After five (5) hours of traveling from Accra, the team arrived safely and were met with an enthusiastic crowd of children, women and men with a host of community leaders who had waited for the team all morning. A total number of twenty (20) bags of children, ladies and men clothes as well as three (3) bags of shoes were donated to the delight of the people of this community who were very grateful for the beautiful gesture from Heached International and Mosites Construction.
In our interaction with some leaders and persons in the communities, they expressed their appreciation and also requested us to help with the community’s school classroom and toilet facilities refurbishment. Some children in expressing their appreciation on the donated items called on us to supply them teaching and learning materials.

DUMAKYI:
Dumakyi is farming community with over twenty (20) cottages and hamlets, the inhabitants of this scattered settlement are mostly poor cocoa and crop farmers from different parts of Ghana.
The team arrived in this community at exactly 8:00pm in the night, however, the community leadership, children, women and men waited patiently for our arrival though a few who had to travel a longer distance to their villages had left. The ever-smiling faces of the beautiful people of this community drove away the team’s tiredness and motivated us to continue our drive to support the poor in communities.
The people in this community were beneficiaries of fifteen (15) bags of clothes for children, women and men as well as three (3) bags of shoes for children, women and men.
In an interaction with some persons and students in the community, they expressed joy in receiving the items but also called for support for access to light via electricity or solar panels. Some final year students shared their experience in walking miles from their community to town and back to charge their phones for 1gh(1 cent)and learn with lights available.

BEPOSO:
Beposo as was captured in our community mobilization report is in the Western North Region of Ghana, a journey of about four (4) hours by road from the Ashanti Region.
It is also biggest of all the selected communities for our donation activities this year with a population of over two thousand people.
The team arrived at Beposo at 11:00am in the morning of Thursday 18th August 2022 and as usual of a typical rural farming community many of the people were on their farms close to the community, after a little wait the community, its leadership, children, women and men were all set to receive our donations.
Beposo received a total number of twenty – five (25) bags of children, women and men clothes as well as six (6) bags of shoes for same.
The inhabitants were very appreciative of the support and generosity of Heached International and Mosites Construction and were also thankful.
Amongst the needs of the people and the leaders of the community were the refurbishment of the only government school and other learning supply. The Chief and leaders in acknowledging receipt of our kind gestures, requested for support for a one-month-old baby boy who was born with no anus and undergoing series of surgeries currently.

ANOMATEWA:

A ten (10) minute drive from Beposo ushered the team into Anomatewa, a community with over 10 cottages and hamlets inhabited with settler cocoa and other crop farmers.
The team was met on arrival by a well-organized community that were anxiously waiting for our safe arrival, in fact Anomatewa produced the largest number of people who met us to receive their donations from Heached International with almost the entire community members, leaders, children, women and men in attendance.
A total number of thirty (30) bags made up of children, women and men clothes as well as seven (7) bags of shoes and one (1) bag of children school bags were given to the people.
The community requested Heached International to find a farming tractor to facilitate their farming activities.
The team was highly impressed with the general attitude of the people of Anomatewa especially the beautiful reception that we were accorded, and the people likewise were grateful to Heached International and Mosites Construction.

YIRENKYIKROM:
After spending that productive time with people of Anomatewa, the team finally arrived in Yirenkyikrom at 2:00pm on the same day, Thursday, 18th August 2022.
The people in the community were patiently waiting for our arrival as with all the other communities visited. Yirenkyikrom, it must be emphasized is the community with the highest number of children among the five communities visited.
Yirenkyikrom received a total number of twenty – five (25) bags of children, women and men clothes as well as five (5) bags of shoes.
The people of Yirenkyikrom were very happy with our donation and thankful to Mosites Construction as well.
However, the long distance that the children in this community have to travel to school in other communities was a huge concern to the people, the community therefore asked us to help them construct a school block for the children.

OTHER EVENTS:

THE SLEEP OVER AT ASANTE BEKWAI
The original plan of the travelling team was to travel from Dumakyi to Sefwi Bekwai to pass the night, however due to tiredness and a certain level of miscommunication to the team’s driver we ended up at Asante Bekwai because of the similarity in the town names. This situation though affected our travel plan did not dampen our resolve to reach the communities in the Western North Region the next day.

ON THE WAY DONATIONS
As we continued our journey back to Accra, the desire to spread more love to communities that were not part of the selected communities for the 2022 donations activities became our focus.
Four (4) bags of children and women clothes and a bag of shoes were donated as part of the on-way donations.

MISSING OUR WAY
Because of the inconsistent internet connectivity in the hard-to-reach areas in Ghana our journey back from the Western North Region had several challenges of missing our way back to the main Kumasi – Accra (N6) highway, however, after several hours we arrived safely in Accra bringing the phase I of our donation activities to a successful end.