JOANNA BENYIN
When Joanna moved to her local community in Ghana she noticed that most of the children stayed at home as their parents could not afford school tuition. She realized there was a real need for schooling, as the rate of illiteracy was very high. Joanna set up the first school, the God First International School by investing a lot of her personal saving into it. She bought land and a wooden structure, which was to be her first classroom accommodating 8 children. With Opportunity’s help, Joanna was able to buld two classrooms and add clean water to the school. Five years later, the school has grown and now between 200-250 children attend.
“This community faces many challenges – most of the parents in this community are farmers and some are also unemployed. They often don’t see the need to bring their children to school or can’t afford it. We allow some children to come here who are not paying school fees – about five children – some of them are orphans and there are some who come from bigger families of more than four children so we give these families a discount to ensure that all of their children can go to school. I want to be able to help children with few opportunities to be able to succeed.”