Alliance for African Women Initiative

While attending the University of Ghana, I am simultaneously interning at an organization called Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFWAI). AFAWI is a “development oriented, non-profit, non-governmental organization that seeks to ensure equitable development for both the rural inhabitant and poor urban dwellers, especially women and children.” Together with Lucy Hayes, I have been hard at work trying to further build the organization.

My supervisor Philip and I in front of AFAWI

My main responsibility at AFAWI is to head the Teen Club. This club, presently operating at the Taifa Community School in Accra, works to empower the youth. The club meets every Friday for two hours once classes end at 12:30. The activities I design focus on providing the kids with a fun, yet concurrently educational, experience to conclude their school week. Various topics we cover include, but are not limited to, the importance of staying in school, health, sex and sexual maturation, HIV/AIDS, friendship, and leadership. We will also organize a day for indoor and outdoor games.

The students are all very enthusiastic and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. There are between 150 and 200 club members. We have many hopes for the club this semester and I aspire to fulfill as many of them as possible. I have three big projects for the students.

First, the school needs a library. Below is a picture of the building they hope to transform into a library. For this project, I am working on obtaining a grant.

In regards to my second project, the teachers also expressed the need for a computer lab for the school. The students and teachers cannot afford to purchase individual computers for themselves at home; therefore, a computer lab for the school would be very beneficial and appreciated. I hope to secure donations to complete this project.

My last, and perhaps most important, task is fundraising for the club itself. There are many individual components that compromise this section. I need to raise money to provide the students with refreshments during each meeting. For the approximate 150 students, refreshments (drinks and a snack) would cost about $100US. I also want to take the students on an educational day trip into the Volta Region. For this, I will need to cover transportation, meals, and entrance fees. The students also want to create t-shirts for the club.

In order to accomplish all of this, I will need lots of support, specifically financial aid. AFAWI, the Teen Club, and I would really appreciate any support or help your club would be willing to give us. The most beneficial and productive direction in which your efforts could be aimed would be towards general fundraising for the club. More specifically, I am asking for help with the following:

1. Raising funds for refreshments/general upkeep of the club

2. Raising funds for the educational day trip into the Volta Region

3. Raising funds for t-shirts for the club

4. Donations of books (used or new) and other school supplies for the library

Please let me know if any of these endeavors interests your organization. I can provide more information on any of these projects if requested.

AFAWI website: http://afawigh.org/

AFAWI Teen Club: http://afawigh.org/our-projects/afawi-teen-club-youth-development.html

The school building used for the Teen Club meetings. (It is actually three classrooms with a divider in between each classroom. The acoustics in the building are awful, so I can only imagine how difficult it must be to conduct three classes in there at once.)

Myself, presenting the activity for the day

Some students collaborating on a project

Ruby, the president of the Teen Club, doing a presentation

The members of the Teen Club listening to a presentation