Zakat Foundation aids pupils of Fetentaa Refugee Camp
The Zakat Foundation of America, a Muslim non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Chicago in the United States of America (USA), has presented school bags filled with educational materials to pupils of the Fetentaa Refugee Camp Primary School, near Berekum, in the Brong Ahafo Region.
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The bags are filled with exercise books, pencils and crayons, among other items, to motivate the children who find themselves in an unfortunate situation to have an interest in education and also stay in school.
The school is situated within the Fetentaa Refugee Camp in the Berekum Municipality and it comprises of a kindergarten (KG) and a primary section, with a total pupil population of 197, out of which 63 are in KG and 134 from Primary One to Six.
It was established by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to cater for the educational needs of children whose parents are refugees from Cote d' Iviore.
The camp is the home for about 1,700 Ivorian refugees made up of men, women and children who fled the civil war in their country which erupted as a result of an election dispute in 2011.
The school is being run by the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG). The medium of instruction is French but plans are far advance to integrate the school into the Ghanaian education system and to also attach a junior high school (JHS) to enable the children to continue after the primary level.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, the Zakat Foundation Country Director for Ghana, who is also in charge of West Africa, Mr Salia Alhassan, said the gesture was to encourage the children who found themselves in the unfortunate situation to develop interest in education and also stay in school.
He said that was the third time that the foundation was making a donation to the camp. The first was the donation of food items while the second was the presentation of sanitary products.
Mr Alhassan disclosed that aside the donation of the school bags, the foundation would organise a programme for the refugees and the host community to foster a cordial relationship between them.
He said the foundation would also visit the Fetentaa Islamic Basic School to interact with the pupils.
The Camp Manager, Nana Osei Asiedu, who received the items on behalf of the school, thanked the foundation for the items and appealed to other benevolent organisations to come to the aid of the refugees.
The CCG representative in charge of the school, Mr James Agbo, expressed his gratitude to the foundation and appealed to others to come to the aid of the school.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Coordinator of the Ghana Refugee Board and the Deputy Camp Manager, Messrs. Edem Akpakli, and Justice Awuti, who also took turns to speak at the ceremony, expressed their appreciation to the foundation and appealed for more support to enable the refugees to live in comfort.
By Samuel Duodu/Daily Graphic/Ghana
