Hope at Hopeland

Hope at Hopeland

By Ashley Damewood, Senior Programmes Officer

I went into St. John’s School Leatherhead last week and told a group of sixth formers that I have the ‘coolest job’ at Street Child Africa because I’m the one who gets to travel overseas, see how our money is spent, interview the children (and the project staff) we’re helping and come up with ways that we can be even more supportive. Only a few days earlier, I told women admiring photos of our work in Kumasi, Ghana at the Kingston International Youth Arts Festival’s launch event, “this work is my life; it’s exactly what I want to be doing.” It’s true. I am reminded of this every time I recount the varied experiences I’ve had with our partners...

In March, I travelled to Ghana to visit some of Street Child Africa’s oldest, partners. I prepared Sunday lunch with young mothers at Street Girls Aid, walked confidently alongside street workers in Accra and Kumasi, and travelled to Tamale with the Street Children Project Kumasi to follow-up on twenty girls they had successfully reunited with their families and enrolled in tailoring courses. It’s difficult to rank experiences – especially when they’re all positive – but some of my fondest memories came from a two day visit to Catholic Action for Street Children’s Hopeland Farm Training Centre.

Hopeland Farm is a temporary residential centre located in Ashaiman. It’s currently ‘home’ to sixteen teenagers who are willing to leave the streets behind, confront their troubled pasts, acquire new skills and embark on different adventures. Children at the farm are taught basic numeracy and literacy, how to rear farm animals, use computers, log onto the internet, and express themselves through art and drama; they are taught how to play football and netball competitively (but co-operatively), and how to budget, shop, and prepare their own food.

I sat in on a class centred around the theme ‘friends are like stars’; I listened attentively to a debate about the ‘dangers of self medication’; I watched in admiration as children used coloured blocks to help them with challenging maths problems. I played football in thirty degree heat with a small group of boys on a dusty, orange surface in between their dorms and classrooms. I treated the kids to a special lunch of fried chicken, rice, and sodas and delighted in their delight. I rode in the back of the project’s pick-up truck with the kids to help them with their weekly shopping and was so impressed by their bargaining skills, sensible purchases (rice, tomatoes, onions, salt, cooking oil, gari, sugar, soap, toothpaste etc), and concern for my safety. 

I watched old MTV music videos with them and felt like a kid all over again. But, what I enjoyed most was interviewing each of them about their stories and getting to know them as friends. This is what they had to say and this is what I would like to leave you with:

“I like the training at Hopeland.

I appreciate what they’re doing for me. No one else would do this for me – I feel like I am in my house. Sweeping, cleaning, and helping with the pigs makes me feel at home.”

“I want to stay here for my life, but I know it’s not permanent.”

“I like here because I get good advice and I’m learning some things about poultry rearing. By the time I leave here, I’ll know enough to start my own poultry farm.”

“Here is good for the world.”