{"id":5473,"date":"2025-10-02T20:15:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T19:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/tunbridge-wells\/?page_id=5473"},"modified":"2025-10-02T20:15:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T19:15:40","slug":"international-services-ghana","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/tunbridge-wells\/international-services-ghana\/","title":{"rendered":"International Services: Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Services:Ghana with Charlotte Bartholomew
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Charlotte is undertaking a 3 month project in Ghana. She will be working alongside other 18-25 year old volunteers from the UK and Ghana to research, plane and introduce community-based projects in Sexual Health education for women and children. International Service aims to empower women, children and young people and people with disabilities to access their rights in developing countries across the world. Charlotte will be living in host homes in the community for the duration of her time in Ghana and will be sending reports of her experiences and challenges she faces which we will be sharing on this page.<\/span><\/p>\n

On her return, Charlotte will be visiting the club to speak about her time in Ghana.<\/span><\/p>\n

We wish you a very safe journey and look forward to receiving updates on your International Citizen Service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Updated May 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The parcel has now arrived safely and complete in Ghana and Abigail is delighted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Updated April 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The stationary we collected as a Club is now on its way to Ghana. Below is a small selection to illustrate the type of donation we have made.<\/span><\/p>\n

Updated January 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We were delighted to welcome Charlotte home and in January at Club she made a presentation detailing her experiences in Ghana.Charlotte has been inspired by\u00a0Soroptimist SIGBI<\/a>\u00a0and the support we have given her by telling her story through our Social Media and Website and so has decided to join us and become a Soroptimist. We look forward to welcoming her as a full member in February. Charlotte will be our youngest member. Sponsorship isn’t always about money, it is also about mentoring and support, we, as a club, are committed to helping women, young women and girls express themselves and increase confidence and self-esteem in this changing World.<\/span><\/p>\n

Update 11\/11\/2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a picture of Charlotte with some peer educators in the Zokuga community holding the Soroptimist postcard. Charlotte says ‘We are working with these peer educators to try and find and train more female peer educators to help with the assistance of sexual health education in their community. They are all on board with the work to improve the amount of girl children attending school.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlotte has written a blog on the RAINS-ICS blog page which can be accessed here :\u00a0http:\/\/rains.internationalservice.org\/2017\/11\/a-warm-welcome-from-zokuga.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Update 6\/11\/2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On the 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0November, the team and I went into one of the communities we work with, Nanton-Kurugu in the Savelugu district, to deliver a sensitisation focusing on the sexual health associated dangers of kayayei. Kayayei is a term that describes young women who carry goods and wares for a fee. It is predominantly girls and young women aged between 8 and 45 years, mostly from the Northern regions and rural areas of Ghana. These women have limited or no education and originate from poor socio-economic backgrounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

The living conditions of kayayei in Ghana have often drawn public sympathy. Media reports have centered on their exposure not only to bad weather and insanitary conditions but harassment from some unscrupulous person who may also be living on the streets. Extortion and sexual abuse are among the problems faced by kayayei living on the streets.<\/span><\/p>\n

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They sleep in the open in plastic covers as protection against rain and mosquitoes. As a result, they indicated they suffer frequent headaches, malaria, cough, high fever and bodily pains. Back pain was also noted a common illness which was attributed to the heavy loads they carry on a daily basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The involvement of girl children makes the activity a social problem, particularly against efforts by government and non-government organisations to step up girl child education. Evidently, extreme poverty has pushed many of these children and young women into the activity.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We at RAINS on behalf of International Service believe that kayayei should be targeted due to their position as victims of sexist marginalisation (due to the self-fulfilling prophecy of low socio-economic productivity), who, acting with incomplete knowledge about the process of kayayei, believe it to be a preferable escape from poverty and other cultural hardships (such as FGM, forced marriage).<\/span><\/p>\n

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We counted that roughly 85 people were in attendance. These were mainly aged between 10-17 and equal in terms of male and females. There was also a large group of women in attendance. The session was held outdoors, under the shade of a large tree. Throughout the day, we had two main speakers, one English and one Dagbani translator. Dagbani is the native language of the majority of the Northern Region in Ghana. This helped us to ensure that all of the women and children understood the discussion we were orchestrating.<\/span><\/p>\n

We began the session with a group energizer. This involved getting everybody in a big circle and introducing themselves with a rhythmic game. The children really enjoyed this and it was easy to explain. After that, we began asking them questions on kayayei in order to determine the level of knowledge that our audience had. We asked them a series of questions: what is kayayei, what are the dangers, and why are people vulnerable to choosing kayayei. The women and children worked in small groups and wrote down their ideas on post-it notes, which we then feedback.<\/span><\/p>\n

We found that some of the children\/teenagers had a basic level of knowledge about kayayei and the associated risks. We were surprised at the number of children who thought it was a geographical place and not a job description, and we will be focusing more on how to find a better alternative to choosing kayayei in terms of teaching communities how to empower their women by providing other opportunities. Other ways in which kayayei can be prevented are:<\/span><\/p>\n