Children’s Stories

Bless
Bless was 9 when we first met him, he had recently moved to Labadi after spending the first years of his life fishing with his Dad on Lake Volta. We would see Bless everywhere, he would spend the whole day walking around town, playing football or dancing. He came to join us at our Street 2 School football training sessions every afternoon and it was through our weekly classes that we found out Bless had never been to school before.

After discussing their situation with Bless’ mum we enrolled him at Future Leaders school, after he had had 2 months of extra help to teach him his alphabet and numbers. Bless loved going to school and although he struggled to sit through a lesson without getting up and wandering around, he was picking things up quickly and he could soon spell and write his own name. After about 6 months of being in school, Bless’ dad left his family, leaving his mum with a new-born baby (Bless’ sister) and a years rent to pay.

We didn’t want Bless to stop going to school or move away because he was making such great progress academically and socially. As a charity we were able to help his mum to pay their rent for 2 years whilst his mum set up her own business selling plantain chips so she could continue to support her family. Now Bless is in Year 1 at school and is the class prefect! He is still playing football at Street to School for the u12 team and recently got his very first bicycle for all his hard work inside and outside the classroom.

If you want to support a child like Bless, click here to sponsor a child.

Alice
Alice was born deaf. Both her parents were alcoholics and drug users and left Alice with her Grandmother (Charlotte) who struggled to take care of her but always did her best. When Grandma heard about the work we were doing for children in the community, she brought Alice to meet us, explained her condition and asked for help to give Alice a brighter future. We needed to find out if Alice had any hearing at all, so we took her to see a hearing specialist who referred us to the largest hospital in Accra for further tests.

After 6 appointments at Korle Bu Hospital the doctors concluded that Alice was completely deaf in both ears and were able to give us a letter to enrol her in special school. We enrolled Alice at Osu Children’s School for Special Needs age 5. She loved school, she loved her teachers and she started to learn how to sign and to write. She was making such great progress that Alice has been given a place at a school for deaf children.

As this is a private school it is quite expensive and something her grandmother may not have been able to afford on her own, but with our help Alice is getting the best care and education possible and is excelling.

If you want to support a child like Alice, click here to sponsor a child.

Daniel
When Akwaaba Volunteers started back in 2015, Daniel was one of the first football players to play for New Life Football Academy, where King and our wonderful volunteers would coach each morning. The Academy was set up to provide children with opportunities through football and education. Daniel was not only a fantastic footballer, he was also academically great in school. When the opportunity came up to give 3 players the chance to travel to the USA on a full scholarship for high school, he was the first boy to be selected. Whilst Daniel was going through the process of doing English and Maths tests and online interviews to see if he would get a scholarship, he sadly lost his mum.

Despite this, a few months later Daniel was awarded the first scholarship to Cate School in California. We were bursting with pride, just as his mum would have been. Daniel became the first Graduate for New Life Football Academy and started his journey in the USA in August 2018, aged 15. Daniel flew through high school, with the help of his host family and the school community. He was on the school soccer team; he played club soccer after school and he got opportunities that he had only dreamt of before.

In 2022 he graduated from Cate School and got another scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Daniel showed us what you can achieve with hard work and determination and has now set up his own foundation, “Changing Lives Ghana” to give back to the community where he grew up. Since Daniel left Ghana, we have had 7 more students graduate and travel to the USA on full high school scholarships.

If you want to support a child like Daniel, click here to sponsor a child.

Doris
Doris was one of the first girls to join the Street 2 School netball team in 2019. For years we had had boys football teams but we never had enough girls to start a girls teams. After running a netball coaching course for teachers in schools, we saw more and more girls taking an interest in playing sports and started the after school netball club so they would have the same opportunity to play sports as the boys. What started out as 7 girls, quickly turned into 20, then 30 and now 60 girls training every day, challenging gender norms and tackling societal inequalities through sports. Doris lives with her siblings and her mum who sells charcoal for a living. Doris was struggling at school and often came to training hungry and tired. During our community outreach we visited Doris’ home to find out more about her situation and discovered her family was struggling. Doris was such a vital member of our team that we wanted to do what we could to help her and her family.

Whilst Doris was attending a government school, she often missed days at a time if she didn’t have enough money for food or her books. We enrolled her at Future Leaders school where we could give her a scholarship to make sure her bus to school, uniform, books, education and lunch every day was completely free so she wouldn’t have to miss out on any school or go hungry. We provided her and her siblings with mattresses to sleep on so they no longer had to sleep on the concrete floor, ensuring better rest for school each day.

We also enrolled her in fashion school (now she attend the Akwaaba Vocational Centre) where she is learning to sew and design her own clothes, school uniforms etc so during the school holidays she can also earn some money to support herself and learn valuable skills about starting her own business. Doris is now in year 9 and will be taking her GCSE’s at the end of the academic year. She is a school prefect, attends training every day and is a great role model for younger girls too.

If you want to support a child like Doris, click here to sponsor a child.

Jesse and Benedicta

If you would like to hear the extraordinary stories of Jesse and Benedicta, you can watch Second Chance here

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrlnwtjCCRQ

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKVKb7xed_8&t=1s

Help us to support more incredible children like these

As a small charity we are dedicated to changing lives for the better but we need your help to continue to support these children and reach out to more that need us.

click here to sponsor a child