A gift from God
Four years ago, not one child in Prince’s community in Afram Plains, Ghana could read.
A year later, a staggering 803 children could read with ease and the numbers have grown ever since.
Right now, more children than ever are facing an uncertain future as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to push families living in the margins deep into poverty, and erode the hardwon gains the world has made for children - not just today, but into the future.
But the children of Prince’s community are living proof of what can happen when communities and sponsors join forces. For Prince, it means that instead of dropping out of school to work as a kid, he is able to study, get a job, and break the poverty cycle in his family line, for good.
Growing up in the small community, Prince had little reason to expect his life would be any different from his father’s, or his grandfather’s before that. Earning a living in Afram Plains isn’t easy, and the best most boys like Prince can aspire to is a life of hauling in nets on the boats of Lake Volta, making just enough money to eat for another day.
“We have seen for generations that when a child doesn’t have access to education; their life options are limited,” says World Vision’s Christopher Teye from Afram Plains.
“We want more for these children. So do their parents and so do their sponsors.”
“Our impact has been enormous,” says Christopher, who calls the number of children who can read now “phenomenal”. But the change hasn’t stopped there.
“Now 84% of our communities in Afram Plains have access to clean water. Economic empowerment programmes are on the rise. Children are articulating issues and bringing them to the attention of adults to ensure problems are addressed,” he says.
“Our objective is to make sure that the children we are empowering will become responsible adults who will be fit to manage their communities in the future," he says.
"So far so good; the future is looking very bright.”
And Prince is no exception.
“Without child sponsorship, it would not be possible to have the life I have now because my parents are poor and cannot give me everything I need. My future has changed so much.”
Now Prince is president of the Excellent Kid’s Club that helps other kids learn new skills and face their futures with confidence.
“As the leader of Excellent Kid’s Club, it’s my job to plan the activities and make sure that children come to read and learn,” Prince proudly explains.
Thanks to sponsors, these reading clubs are giving children help and confidence to learn in a community where the majority of adults around them didn’t get the chance to finish school themselves.
But with 2021 turning into a humanitarian crisis for children, the progress is under threat like never before. These initiatives and sponsorship have never been more important.
“World Vision’s interventions have helped the children develop so much, I can’t believe it,” says Faustina Nyarko, a teacher at nearby Semenhyia Presbyterian Primary School.
“It creates an amazing environment for all involved in the learning process. Had it not been for that support, I truly believe the children wouldn’t have so much interest in attending school regularly and wouldn’t see the importance of education.”
Rev. Eric Larweh Otto, a local church leader, agrees.
“Wherever I have seen World Vision work [here], they unite the community. It’s beautiful to witness,” he says.
“If you compare the lives our children have now to before the child sponsorship programme started in our community, it’s unbelievable – you can see the positive difference in everything. It’s fostering a stronger community all round.”
Sponsors are the reason children in Afram Plains can dream and plan for a future that no one in the community had thought was possible just a few years ago.
And the impact that Prince, and every other one of those children, can have on the world around them is exponential.
“Prince is a gift from God,” says Ebenezer, his father. “I am so very proud of him. He used to be a quiet boy but now he speaks confidently at public functions and shares what he learns every day with me. I am sure that all he is learning will make him a great man in the future.”
Right now, not every child has Prince’s faith in a brighter future. Instead, many children are facing a very uncertain tomorrow.
Make this a year of hope for a child like Prince. A year of joy. A year of empowering a child to break free from poverty for good.
What better reason could there be to sponsor a child today?
“Prince is a gift from God,” beams Ebenezer, his father. “I am sure that all he is learning will make him great man in the future.”
“Prince is a gift from God,” beams Ebenezer, his father. “I am sure that all he is learning will make him great man in the future.”
“Child Sponsorship programming creates an amazing environment for all involved in the learning process, even those who are not sponsored,” says Faustina Nyarko, a teacher in Afram Plains.
“Child Sponsorship programming creates an amazing environment for all involved in the learning process, even those who are not sponsored,” says Faustina Nyarko, a teacher in Afram Plains.
“Our objective is to make sure that the children we are empowering will become responsible adults who will be fit to manage their communities in the future. So far so good; the future is looking very bright,” says World Vision’s Christopher Teye.
“Our objective is to make sure that the children we are empowering will become responsible adults who will be fit to manage their communities in the future. So far so good; the future is looking very bright,” says World Vision’s Christopher Teye.
Children and their families in this community are estatic about the improvements made through child sponsorship.
Children and their families in this community are estatic about the improvements made through child sponsorship.