We Finally Visit a School Feeding Program

While we were in the Ashanti region, Abenaa took us to see her pilot program – finally we would get to see a school feeding program in action!  After six months of working on the project we were keen to see how one actually looked and operated.

We drove a few hours north-east of Kumasi to the Sekyedumase district, a fairly “standard” rural district of central Ghana.  We visited a local pre-school in the village which had implemented a voluntary feeding program – it was staffed by local mothers and paid for by the parents of the children.  They used this money to buy fresh goods from the local market, but also needed to supplement the meals with food aid.

   
A local pre-school.                                Soccer after school in the twilight.

We were greeted at the school by tens of children singing a song.  The only word we understood was the word “obruni” – we’d heard it everywhere we went – which is a non-offensive word for “white man”.  When we asked our translator what they were singing, he answered that they were signing “the white man is coming!”.  Apparently our presence meant that larger-than-usual meal rations would be issued (so that we would be suitably impressed), and so the kids were happy that we were visiting.  How sad…  🙁

The kids were a delight to be around, and we had a wonderful few hours there with them.  We also met with the school’s committee (teachers, headmaster, community leaders etc.) to discuss the program, and we gained valuable insight into what works and what doesn’t.

   
                                                            Saying goodbye.