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Dear friends,
How are you?
I hope that it is well.
If you are interested in donated to the school that I volunteered with in Ghana, read on.
I hope that you all remember my dear friends at Tuskegee International School (TIS) in Ghana. For those of you who don't, TIS was one of the places that I volunteered while I was living in Ghana. The headmaster and mistress, Gloria and Charles treated me as their own, cooked meals for me, bought me gifts and allowed me to teach at their school. Their love and compassion had a huge affect on my time in Ghana.
The school is in the midst of a developing area. All of the houses in the area belong to expatriates or people of relatively more than the average income. However, few, if any of the houses are complete because the owners work on completion as they get enough funds. In the meantime, they allow a family or two to squat in their incomplete houses, kind of permanent house sitters. Therefore, all the kids that attend this school are incredibly poor. Many of them are on "scholarship" which means that Gloria and Charles allow them to go to school without paying their school fees. In addition to paying school fees, these children and their families must buy uniforms, books, pencils and lunch. As a result, many kids do not have notebooks for their homework, do not eat lunch or get beaten for not wearing a uniform.
Charles and Gloria are in the midst of building, in that same slow process, classrooms for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Charles and Gloria dream of building a volunteer house on the property adjacent to the school. They hope that volunteers will come, pay to stay in the house and for meals, teach at the school and explore Ghana. They intend to use the volunteer fees to buy books, pay their teachers better, provide free meals and give more scholarships.
Last year, thanks to many generous donations, I was able to send them almost $500 dollars. I have attached pictures of the construction project. It is an incredible feeling to look at those pictures and see a building where, when I was working there, there was nothing.
I wholeheartedly believe in what they are trying to do and want to help them organize a volunteer program once they have the quarters built. In the meantime, I would like to ask that, if you have any extra funds this Christmas or are looking for a worthy cause to donate to, that you give to Tuskegee International School in Frafraha, Ghana. Moreover, if you would like to make a donation in anyone's name, I will be happy to send pictures or more information to you. Simply:
1. Make out a check to Rachel Kaufman with Ghana or Tuskegee International School in the memo on the check and send it to
Rachel Kaufman
2252 Westfield Court
Missoula, Montana 59801
In February (I am going to Japan for most of Dec. and Jan.), I will wire donations Charles and Gloria.
Five dollars will pay for a child's meal for a month
Ten dollars will pay for a uniform
Twenty dollars will pay for a semester or trimester of school
Charles and Gloria will use the money at their own discretion and funds may go towards anything I mentioned above. I fully trust Charles and Gloria to put donations towards legitimate projects.
I have copied some of the correspondence emails that I had with Charles last year. They include an interesting laundry list what they did with last year's donations and many thank yous and expressions of gratitude. They are very interesting and may impassion you to their cause!!!
HI RACHEL,
YES, I WENT IN FOR THE MONEY LAST THURSDAY AND WANTED TO DO THE PURCHASES OF THE MATERIALS SO THAT I COULD SEND U THE INFO BUT WE HAD LIGHTS OFF IN TOWN FOR TWO DAYS.THE TOTAL AMOUNT WAS 4,284,500 CEDIS I HAD FROM WESTERN UNION THE TRUST BANK, MADINA. I HAVE THE SCHOOL ACCOUNTS THERE.THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WERE BOUGHT AND WORKED WITH ON SATURDAY 4/2/2006:1.
35 BAGS CEMENT : 1,890,000 CEDIS2.
1 TRIP OF SAND : 800,0002.
1 TRIP OF STONE: 650,000 CEDIS
3. BLOCKS -300- 1,350,000 CEDIS
WORKMANSHIP : 600,000 CEDIS
FOR A MASON AND A LABORER FOR 2 DAYS.
TOTAL: 5,290,000 CEDIS
WE GIVE U AND THE DONORS THANK U ONCE AGAIN.
THE FLOORING OF CLASSES 4 TO 6 WAS DONE ON SATURDAY AND WE SHALL GET U SOME PICTURES. WE HOPE GOD WOULD BLESS U AND YOUR PARENTS AND FRIENDS WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE. IF WE COULD GET SUCH HELP EVERY MONTH FOR ABOUT 12 MONTHS, WE COULD FINISH OUR IMPORTANT PROJECTS TO MAKE IT COMFORTABLE FOR THE KIDS. THANKSI SHALL CONTACT U SOONDO NOT FORGET ABOUT THE VOLUNTEER PROJECT.
YOURS CHARLES
(TUSKEGEE, GHANA)
On 2/19/06, charles yarfoh wrote:
HI RACHEL,
HOPE U HAVE HAD MY LAST LETTER ON THE RECEIVAL OF THE MONEY.
WE HAVE DONE THE FLOOR OF CLASSES 4 TO 6, AND AS AT YESTERDAY WE RAISED SOMEFEW BLOCKS AROUND CLASSES 1,2 AND 3 TO TRY AND REDUCE THE WIND AND RAIN INTO THE CLASSROOMS. WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR HELP AND HOPE THESE PICTURE WILL GIVE A FAIR IDEAAS TO HOW IT WENT.
HI RACHEL,
I JUST HAD UR LETTER YESTERDAY. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING AND UR CONCERN, TIME AND CONTRIBUTIONS FOR US. I HAD UR BEAUTIFUL STICKERS YESTERDAY, A DAY AFTER WE HAD VACATED FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS.U ARE THE ONLY VOLUNTEER TO HAVE ACTUALLY THOUGHT OF US AFTER LEAVING. NONE HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO US THE WAY U DID AND WE ARE GRATEFUL.VERY FEW PUPILS PAY FEES TO HELP PAY TEACHER SALARIES SINCE THE SCHOOL CARES FOR A GOOD NUMBER OF THEM AND ATTRACT NOTHING FROM NO WHERE. THE MONEY U SENT US REALLY SENT SOME OF OUR STRUCTURES FORWARD AND WE ARE GRATEFUL. THEY SAY "ROME WAS BUILT OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME" SO I TAKE CONSOLATION FROM THAT. PLEASE, TRY AND GET PEN FRIENDS FOR MY KIDS, THE LAST LETTERS THEY WROTE WERE POSTED BY MR. NKANSAH AND SINCE THEN THEY NEVER HAD THE REPLIES TO THEM.
COULD U MAKE SOME CONTACTS WITH A FEW OFFICES TO SEE IF U COULD CHANCE ON A FEW SECOND HAND LAPTOPS FOR US, SOME FEW FRIENDS WHO OFTEN COME DOWN SAY THEY GET THE LAPTOPS BY MOVING FROM OFFICE TO OFFICE OR WRITE TO THEM AND THEY ARE NOTIFIED WHEN REPLACEMENTS ARE DONE BY THE COMPANY.
THANKS FOR ALL THE TROUBLES AND TO UR PARENTS AND RELIABLE FRIENDS AND FOES ALIKE. I WILL KEEP U UPDATED ALWAYS.
ME DA SI, AKPE.
THANKS, CHEERIO & SHALOM
CHARLES
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