GHANA:Having sponsored the transformation of a school in Ghana, the ESB is planning to expand the initiative into a yearly project to help bring about change and combat poverty with education, writes Maol Mhuire Tynan
A SLOGAN painted over a shop in a township in Accra, the capital of Ghana, might bewilder the visitor but makes perfect sense in the context of life's hopes and promises in the west African country. It sardonically declares, "If two and seven make 11, who cares?"
No matter how dark or bright the skies might be over the global economy, the inhabitants of this end of the world shrug indifferently, and get on with the grinding business of survival against shocking odds. Whether the Dow or Iseq rise or fall, whether two plus seven makes nine is entirely immaterial - for most, poverty is an inseparable partner in life and nobody around here has seen much evidence to suggest that fact will alter soon.
The sums simply don't add up for most Ghanaians, who manage to remain admirably stoical in spite of their circumstances. Their exchequer's annual tax take is in the region of €2.4 billion, half of which goes in debt service. What remains falls painfully short of what's required to look after the country's 22 million people.
But, on the misery-scale that applies in most sub-Saharan countries, tropical Ghana scores low today. Once the epicentre of the slave trade - an estimated 20 million men, women and children were shipped across the Atlantic through Cape Coast - Ghana became the first African country to gain independence from Britain. It is politically stable, doesn't suffer drought, is fertile and the people have food.
It has some natural resources, including the late emergence of oil reserves. Gold, as Ghana knows to its cost, became "the bait to the adventurer of all tribes and nations" and was once in such supply that the country was known as the "Gold Coast". The gold industry is largely out of state hands and cocoa, the other export that formed the backbone of Ghana's economy, has lost its value on world markets.
ESB, through its international wing, first sent its people to work on Ghana's electricity network in 1986. A relationship grew rapidly between the company and the country. ESB personnel got to know and support some of the 200 Irish missionaries in the country at the time, and the company's chief executive, Padraig McManus, who spent four years working in Ghana, became Ireland's consul based in Accra.
With a base of friends and business contacts in place, Ghana became a natural choice for an initiative to mark the 80th anniversary of ESB. McManus embarked on a project to refurbish a school attended by more than 4,000 children in the sprawling township of Teshie in the capital.
Teshie Primary School so overcrowded, so devoid of anything representing a school - apart from the crowds of children and ancient wooden desks - you could be forgiven for thinking it was beyond relief. There was no electricity, not a single tap with running water, and no sanitation. The classrooms were dark and dank, the only light sliding through narrow slits in the brick walls. When it rained, the children and teachers were forced to abandon class as water poured through the roof. Built by a beach on the Atlantic coast, the school was unprotected by fencing of any kind, making the five-acre grounds a public through-way to the sea.
But, in partnership with ElectricAid, the ESB staff social justice fund, the company is completely rebuilding the school's derelict classrooms. It has built a perimeter wall to protect the grounds, has brought electricity and running water to the site, and is providing toilet facilities.
Food is vital to school attendance. For the children of Teshie, a daily meal is a powerful incentive to come to class. So the project includes the refurbishment of kitchen facilities to feed the children each day.
Staff from ESB in Ireland volunteered to go to Accra to work on the project. Indigenous contractors and architects were employed in order to maximise the impact of the scheme on the local economy but members of ESB staff travelled to Accra to join the tasks of rewiring, painting and tiling. Each one raised €2,500 to cover the costs involved. Another group will travel to do further work later in the year and refurbishment will be finalised by autumn.
The Teshie Primary School, in addition to light and water, will also have a computer room, complete with air conditioning. More than 30 computers will be installed and teachers trained in their use. School supplies will be sent from Ireland. The 80 teachers will have a staff room with cooking, dining and toilet facilities.
Teshie is a township of about 350,000 people living in deplorable conditions. There is one chance of escape - education. "ESB intends to continue with education programmes in Ghana. Teshie does not have a secondary school. We're examining the option of building one on the same site. Then we will move to other school projects, at a rate of one a year for the next five years. Ireland is rich; Ghana is poor. There is no more powerful way to implement change than through education," says McManus.
Maol Mhuire Tynan works for the ESB