On Saturday the 16th of November 2013, a cleanup exercise was organized by Patriots Ghana Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Chapter in collaboration with the Student Representative Council (SRC), Non Residential Executives and Zoomlion Ghana LTD at Ayeduase. The exercise took place at the Ayeduase Gate/ Entrance to the University and Other areas of Ayeduase that needed cleaning. The SRC MP for Ayeduase, Mr. Prince Ofori, and the the President of PATRIOTS Ghana KNUST gathered all the materials needed for the clean-up whilst a vehicle with a public address system informed citizens.

The event began as early as 5:30 am with the sweeping of streets to avoid the busy hours of traffic and also so the students could start painting the zebra crossing, kind courtesy RENARSA. The exercise included the cleaning of gutters, weeding, sweeping, gathering and disposing of refuse etc. The volunteers were offered gloves, boots and nose masks for protection and also brooms, rakes, shovels, wheel barrows, cutlasses etc. to ensure that the exercise was done effectively without any health problems.

Painting the Zebra Stripes

The Ghana Police personnel and the Campus Security personnel also assisted the students by directing the vehicles to avoid any traffic accidents while the students cleaned the streets. The Assembly man of Ayeduase drove around with the metropolitan bus to announce to the residents about the cleanup exercise and also talk about keeping the environment clean. He warned them not to dispose of their refuse in the bushes and the nearby pond. In all about 50 volunteers joined together in the exercise and happily cleaned amidst music.

Volunteers Working Hard

After the exercise all the students and volunteers gathered at the cafeteria for the Kenkey Party and also to socialize and share experiences in volunteering.

On behalf of Patriots Ghana and the SRC, we appreciate the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Zoomlion Ghana LTD and all the amazing volunteers that came together to make the exercise a success.

Patriots Ghana would also like to invite all to get involved its activities in Developing the Nation with Passion. Volunteer, Intern or Become a Member of PATRIOTS GHANA.
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A Great Team of Volunteers

So Much to Clean

Fun to have meals together after hard work and socialize

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What is MCMD Project?

It is a project under the Patriots Youth Empowerment Project which is focused on developing the leadership thinking ability and passion for rural community development amongst Ghanaian Youth. Giving the youth between 16-30years an opportunity to apply for a small grant between 1000 – 2000 Ghana Cedis to undertake a dream project towards personal and/or rural community development.

Why rural community development?

Rural communities lack the most basic amenities. Moreover, due extreme under-development in the rural areas of Ghana, most of the youth in the rural areas move to the cities (Accra and Kumasi) to seek for greener pastures which end them up in numerous social vices aside over population and over usage of limited resources within the cities.

Our dream therefore, is to continually provide support and solutions for rural community development needs and to assist the government to speed up rural community development  through job creation, provision of basic social amenities, improving education and health etc which would be a great means to reduce extreme poverty in both the deprived communities and the nation at large.

Why the youth can apply?

The youth are the future leaders and the back bone of this country. The future of our country is dependent on the kind of youth or leaders we develop today. As youth, we have a responsibility to contribute to the growth of our country with all selflessness. To be a selfless leader now and in the future, the youth have to understand the various challenges faced by the nation by being actively involved in volunteering service especially in the deprived rural communities. We also believe that involving the youth in rural community volunteer services does not only grow their passion for development but also help to make them intelligent, develop their leadership and problem solving skills, broadens their knowledge, makes them more confident and additionally prepares them for the job market especially in today’s world where work experience or working skill is extremely important to employers.

Criteria for grant selection

Project selection guide.

Any developmental or innovative projects that seek to solve a problem amongst the youth, provides youth empowerment or seeks to solve a rural community problem would be considered. However, below is just a guide to help you think in the development of your project idea and proposal:

1. The project should seek to address a problem in a rural community
2. Community leaders and members should be involved in a participatory manner
3. Project should be self sustainable and innovative
4. The funds cannot be used to pay staff salary but should go directly towards the projects implementation
5. The project should not be gender discriminatory
6. Project should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic  and Time-bound)
7. The funds could be applied to complete an ongoing community project.
8. Project should be completed within 3-4months.
9. Project should cost between 1000 – 2000 Ghana Cedis

Applicants:

We encourage individuals and groups to apply. And the applicants should meet any of the below criteria to qualify for the grant:

1. Individual applicants should be a member of Patriots Ghana in any of our University Chapters or a member of an organisation that has an affiliation with Patriots Ghana.
2. If the applicant does not meet above, he/she can contact any of the Patriots Ghana University chapters and collaborate with them for this project to ensure project monitoring and effective background check of the applicant(s).
3. The Lead applicant should have a previous volunteer experience with any organisation such as clubs, NGOs, Campus organisations etc
4. Applicant(s) should be a Ghanaian between the ages of 16years and 30years.
5. Groups are encouraged to apply
6. Applicants must provide 2 references during their application

APPLICATION PROCESS:

1. The lead applicant or group should submit a letter of interest (LOI) not more than 2 pages. (The LOI should contain summary of project idea and outcome, estimated budget, location of project and duration)
2. The lead applicant should include his/her CV with at least 2 references when submitting a letter of interest.

Deadlines:

Submit Letter of Interest (LOI) to team@patriotsghana.org  by  April 30, 2015 before 11:30pm GMT

Selected Applicants would be notified by May 15, 2015.

Selected applicants for the first phase of the project would have to submit detailed project proposal and budget to team@patriotsghana.org by 31^st May, 2015.

NB: Feel free to contact us by email if you need more details concerning the above selection criteria.

On Tuesday April 21, 2015, Patriots UG, a University of Ghana campus branch of Patriots Ghana held the finals of their regional reading competition which has been ongoing in the La-Nkwantanang Municipality of the Greater Accra Region. The competition forms part of Patriots UG’s reading project which is aimed at giving children in the basic schools the opportunity to develop reading skills and habits, and above all, build their confidence and intellect.

The finals of the competition was held at Queen of Peace Primary School and participating schools were Madina Primary School, SDA Primary School, Emmanuel Presbyterian Primary School and the host; Queen of Peace Primary school.

It was an exciting event as participants exhibited their brilliance in attempts to win the approval of the judges and the admiration of the audience. They were taken through spelling, sod drill and reading of passages where their speed, pronunciation, punctuation, flair and confidence were tested. At the end of the last round, SDA Primary School emerged victors of the day, with Emmanuel Presby and Queen of Peace Primary School placing second and third respectively. The winners took away a trophy and other items including school bags, stationaries and certificates whiles the rest took home stationaries and certificates of participation. Reading clubs have been set up in the various schools to keep the reading habits of the pupils ablaze.

In a speech read on her behalf, the patron for Patriots UG, Dr. Emma Seyram Hamenoo noted that education is a continuous process hence the need to pay special attention to foundational education to equip pupils with the necessary skills as they grow up. She further called on parents and teachers to desist from using corporal punishments to discipline pupils but rather, they should use rewards and compliments because these are proven to have long term positive effects on the children.

Written by Raymond Taaku

The Contestants with the Jud

Patriots Ghana after rigorous selection process awarded RAYMOND TAAKU (WEducate Initiative) as the winner for the Patriots Ghana’s My Community My Dream Project (MCMD) for 2015. The Patriots MCMD Award is an initiative of Patriots Ghana to provide small grants to young individuals or groups who are selflessly making little or great impacts in their own communities in Ghana.

Raymond is the first member of his community to have a tertiary education.  Currently pursuing a degree in Nursing at the University of Ghana he is working with another friend from same community using education as a tool to brighten the future of the children in the community.

At one of the training workshop for Patriots Executives at the Saraboff Hotel in Kasoa, Raymond was presented a grant of Two thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 2000.00)

Below is the full story from Raymond Taaku!

The story behind WEducate initiative

Kpemale is a community of 32 compound houses in the Mion District of the Northern Region of Ghana. Majority of the men are married to two or more wives but do not practice any form of family planning. There are therefore many children of school going age in the community. Unfortunately, there is no school in the community to serve these children.

Few of them who are grown, endure the hardship of going to the next community to attend school which is about 10 kilometers away from my village.

Back in 2005 while my friend John Mbiyieba and I were going through this, the then catholic priest for Christ the king parish in Gushiegu noticed great potentials in us. He spoke to our parents who consented for us to leave the village to stay with a generous family in Pong-tamale to continue our education at the junior high school level. Throughout our education, we have always excelled. I had admission to the University of Ghana in September 2012 while John had admission to read Medicine at University for Development Studies in 2013, making us the first and only students from Kpemale to enter the University so far.

Looking back, we see wasted dreams of our friends and siblings whom we started with. Perhaps there is a reason why God granted us this narrow escape.  We could have ended up on the farms (Child labour) like our male colleagues or in forced marriages like the females.

Our project started with a focus on getting parents to understand the need to give their children education followed by a collective decision to put up a structure where the children can learn.

We registered only 80 children, leaving out a great number due to space and financial constraints.

They are taught by a volunteer (S H S graduate) and we take the financial burden off parents by providing the children with exercise books, pencils and erasers through our personal sacrifices.

We do not want to limit the initiative to only one community. We want to ensure that our first school is running successfully then we will replicate the same in other nearby communities who face similar challenge.

The initiative also entails a reading project for schools in the surrounding communities to compliment the efforts of teachers in getting pupils to master the English language through conscious reading.

Purpose of the Grant Award

While the 80 children sponsored by the Weducate project has no tables and chairs, the MCMD grant would help Raymond to purchase desk and basic teaching materials and also make little improvement on the already existing temporal learning structure so help improve the learning conditions of these children.

Recommendations

Patriots Ghana has seen great potentials in the efforts of the Weducate project and we appeal to individuals and institutions willing to contribute school supplies, support build a better school structure, volunteer to teach in the school or to assist in any way possible, to contact Patriots Ghana by email at team@patriotsghana.org or Raymond Taaku at raymondtaaku@gmail.com

Conclusion

Do you love to volunteer selflessly to impact other people’s life? Do you have anything you want to donate? Are you interested in becoming a member of Patriots Ghana? Send an email to team@patriotsghana.org .

Patriots Ghana! Developing the nation with passion!

Patriots Ghana! We inspire you to make the change!

Patriots Ghana after rigorous selection process awarded RAYMOND TAAKU (WEducate Initiative) as the winner for the Patriots Ghana’s My Community My Dream Project (MCMD) for 2015. The Patriots MCMD Award is an initiative of Patriots Ghana to provide small grants to young individuals or groups who are selflessly making little or great impacts in their own communities in Ghana.

Raymond is the first member of his community to have a tertiary education.  Currently pursuing a degree in Nursing at the University of Ghana he is working with another friend from same community using education as a tool to brighten the future of the children in the community.

At one of the training workshop for Patriots Executives at the Saraboff Hotel in Kasoa, Raymond was presented a grant of Two thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 2000.00)

Below is the full story from Raymond Taaku!

The story behind WEducate initiative

Kpemale is a community of 32 compound houses in the Mion District of the Northern Region of Ghana. Majority of the men are married to two or more wives but do not practice any form of family planning. There are therefore many children of school going age in the community. Unfortunately, there is no school in the community to serve these children. 

Few of them who are grown, endure the hardship of going to the next community to attend school which is about 10 kilometers away from my village.

Back in 2005 while my friend John Mbiyieba and I were going through this, the then catholic priest for Christ the king parish in Gushiegu noticed great potentials in us. He spoke to our parents who consented for us to leave the village to stay with a generous family in Pong-tamale to continue our education at the junior high school level. Throughout our education, we have always excelled. I had admission to the University of Ghana in September 2012 while John had admission to read Medicine at University for Development Studies in 2013, making us the first and only students from Kpemale to enter the University so far.

Looking back, we see wasted dreams of our friends and siblings whom we started with. Perhaps there is a reason why God granted us this narrow escape.  We could have ended up on the farms (Child labour) like our male colleagues or in forced marriages like the females.

Our project started with a focus on getting parents to understand the need to give their children education followed by a collective decision to put up a structure where the children can learn.

We registered only 80 children, leaving out a great number due to space and financial constraints.

They are taught by a volunteer (S H S graduate) and we take the financial burden off parents by providing the children with exercise books, pencils and erasers through our personal sacrifices. 

We do not want to limit the initiative to only one community. We want to ensure that our first school is running successfully then we will replicate the same in other nearby communities who face similar challenge.

The initiative also entails a reading project for schools in the surrounding communities to compliment the efforts of teachers in getting pupils to master the English language through conscious reading.

Purpose of the Grant Award

While the 80 children sponsored by the Weducate project has no tables and chairs, the MCMD grant would help Raymond to purchase desk and basic teaching materials and also make little improvement on the already existing temporal learning structure so help improve the learning conditions of these children.

Recommendations

Patriots Ghana has seen great potentials in the efforts of the Weducate project and we appeal to individuals and institutions willing to contribute school supplies, support build a better school structure, volunteer to teach in the school or to assist in any way possible, to contact Patriots Ghana by email at team@patriotsghana.org or Raymond Taaku at raymondtaaku@gmail.com

Conclusion

Do you love to volunteer selflessly to impact other people’s life? Do you have anything you want to donate? Are you interested in becoming a member of Patriots Ghana? Send an email to team@patriotsghana.org .

Patriots Ghana! Developing the nation with passion!

Patriots Ghana! We inspire you to make the change!