Foundation members visit our projects in Ghana
It has been a cracking year for Alem Foundation so far - water filters delivered to Old Akrade, successful visit to the village and Alem gaining vital UCI Qualifying points for Rio 2016!
In early September Alex and Alistair were delighted to join Alem and fellow new foundation members on a tour of the village, sponsored children and meet new strategic partners. We were overwhelmed by the love and compassion Ghanaians have and were humbled by the hard work our team have been putting in on the ground. Here is what we got up too…..
It was so Inspiring to meet Martin and his Grandfather who live in outer Accra. Martin is one of our latest Scholars and has been working hard at school whilst recently being ordained as a priest. Nothing is stopping this man on his journey to be an international lawyer who wants to fight for the right of the less fortunate in his country. We are extremely proud of him!
We were privileged to meet Sam, Lucky and their family. A family of 9 living in wooden shack in the suburbs of Accra, their loving parents fight daily to survive and support their family. Fortunately Alem Foundation has funded Sam and Lucky to attend a specialist blind boarding school giving them the opportunity to excel but also relieve pressures on their only family. Big thanks to Amelia and Molly Harris (Alex’s cousins). These two inspiring girls donated their old blind canes and a valuable demonstration so we were able to show the boys how to use them. With Alex’s tuition, Sam and Lucky are able to walk on their own.
This inspiring little guy is one of the foundations brightest scholars! Meeting him, we were blown away by his sense of humour and confidence. We are excited to see this guy make a stamp on the world!! Emmanuel was awarded a Lego set for his hard work and with no instructions he has already engineered planes, boats and automobiles!!!
All the foundation members had the privilege to meet and stay with Old Akrade community. The water filters recently distributed, it was excellent to see them in action. The health of the villagers already has dramatically improved. Welcomed with open arms, we had a great time bonding with the kids and cementing relations with village leaders to ensure our involvement is going to be sustainable and progressive.
Straight after the inaugral Alem Foundation tour, Alem shot of to South Africa to compete in UCI World Cup Championships. He secured much needed points to help qualify for the Rio Paralympics and a world ranking. Satisfied with his performance, Alem has now been invited to attended a professional UCI training camp in Switzerland in November to tune up for 2016. Big thanks to direct donors that funded this trip specifically!
The Alem Foundation held its first AGM with all members present in Old Akrade. We are empowered to maintain momentum but more importantly ensure all operations are done transparently. It was re-emphasised that all donor funds go direct to source.
Looking ahead:
Continuing the school redevelopment and water project initiative, we are formalising a database of all children and scholars we currently support to improve transparency. Furthermore, in the final stages of formalising UK registration we hope to accelerate project delivery as we are able to source funding from corporate partners who have already expressed interest.
In the medium term we aspire to launch a food sustainability project for the village. Working closely with villagers, we will implement agricultural programs to enable food production to improve self-sufficiency and commercial opportunities.
