A WALK SURVEY ON A SECTION OF TEMA NEW TOWN BY ABIBIMAN FOUNDATION

A SURVEY ON A SECTION OF TEMA NEW TOWN ( FROM THE BRIDGE THROUGH THE   COMMUNITY TO LUBE OIL)  

         On Friday 13^th June we (Abibiman Foundation) took a walk through Tema New town just to observe the problems the people in the community are faced with. Tema New town is located in the industrial part of Tema (Tema East). The people there are usually fishermen, fish mongers, petty trader and fish sellers. Majority of the people in the community are illiterates whiles others have little education with a few having a attained a greater height in education. It is not a developed community and it is flaunt with problems identified are outlined below.

        First of all, I have observed that there is rubbish all over the community. The community is filled with filth and the refuse dump is just a stone throw from homes. People just litter around and are not conscious of the filth they create. Among their refuse the dominating waste is rubber. Dustbins are really had to come by in the community but I noticed few sacks and bucket used in some homes as their rubbish bins. This issue of sanitation is a pressing one because it comes with health problems as well. Cholera, typhoid and diarrhea are some diseases that can be contracted from such an unclean environment. At its worst, these diseases can cause the death of members of the community.

       Secondly, the issue of drainage was of much concern to me. There was no proper drainage system in the community. A gutter was had to come by making walking in the community unbearable if it rains,the roads leading through the houses were not tarred but was muddy, full of pot holes with rain water collected in it making movements within the community difficult. In front of homes were stagnant rain water filled with waste. From my observation I could tell that that pool of water has been there for long with larvae formed on the surface of the water and members of the community keep adding more liquid waste to the stagnant water filled with waste in front of their homes. This breeds mosquitoes leading to the wide spread of malaria. If there should be a heavy down pour of rain,there would be no doubt that the precious lives of people would be in great danger; there would be flood claiming lives as well as destroying properties.

         Also, settlement pattern of houses are in no definite order. Houses are clustered and there are no house numbers for identification. This makes it difficult for locating homes in the community. In case of any fire outbreak it would spread quickly among the houses due to proximity of houses and the fact quiet a number or the houses are constructed with wood. The arrangement pattern will make it difficult for the fire service get within the community to fight fire in case of an incidence due to the cluster of houses.

         In addition, I observed that the people in the area have little education. As at 11:45 when children are supposed to be found in school, most of them in this community were loitering around, playing while others were in front of stores selling.

         Finally, air and noise pollution are challenges I think are beingfaced by the community. The community is close to the industries so there is heavy noise made by machines and also a lot of waste gas products are release into the atmosphere. Stench from the refuse dump and stagnant water mixed with refuse also makes it difficult to breath in fresh air. Inadequate toilet facilities also cause people to defecate in the open, polluting the air.

The above problems should be addressed in order to safeguard the lives of the people and also improve upon their livelihoods. Below some suggestions I have come up with so that some of the problems could be addressed.

·         The people residing in the community should be sensitized through educating them on the dangers associated with filthy environment; they should be advised to stop littering, creating artificial stagnant water and also encouraged to engage in communal laboroften.

·         Abibiman Foundation can also help with the sanitation problem by assisting them with tools such as shovel, standing brooms, dustbins, wheel barrow to encourage them work together towards keeping a clean community.

·         Abibiman Foundation together with the assembly man should push forward the issue of constructing drains to reduce the creation of stagnant water and flooding during the rainy seasons in the area.

·         A seminar should be organized in the community to draw the attention of parents on the benefits of education and to encourage their wards to attend school especially at the primary and JHS level since it is free.

·         Majority of the waste created is rubber and since rubber cannot decay, it could serve as a source of employment for idle people to engage in the rubber collection in bulk and sell it to the plastic industries who will recycle it in producing plastic bowls,dust pans, buckets, barrels and many others. In the seminar which would be organized more light should be shed on this to enlighten people make use of this opportunity to help them earn a living.

                       In all, I hope the above suggestions to the problems would be helpful in dealing with the problems identified above for the people of Tema New Town.

Kenneth Nana Amoateng
Abibiman Foundation-http://www.abibimmanfoundation.org
International Day of African child and Youth(IDAY-GHANA)- http://www.iday.org/
P.O.BOX BT 1 Tema
Flat 1/A 74 Site 3
(OPP T.DC),Commmunit 1
Tema-Ghana/African
Tel#  233-0303-213918
Mob:233244023651
kamoateng@iday.org
amoatengken@gmail.com
skype:kenneth.nana.amoateng
I'm on assignment to my generation.

IDAY Ghana, position on quality education confronting Ghana. 16 June 2014

COMMUNIQUÉ

IDAY Ghana Position on quality education confronting Ghana

Preamble:

WE, representatives of Tema Coalition, Civil Society Organisations, Schools and the Media organized a meeting in Tema on Monday, 16^th June, 2014 under the auspices of IDAY Ghana, and Abibimman Foundation to discuss quality education and the role of government and CSOs on the post-2015 Agenda review as part of IDAY-Ghana’s proactive engagement and contribution to national and global processes to finding solutions to the low standard of education across Ghana;

Recognizing that effective, efficient and equity of educational resources is critical for the achievement of the development aspirations of our country; especially the need to  bridge the inequality gap and move up the ladder of becoming a high income economy through quality education,

Acknowledging the efforts of government and other stakeholders to improve the quality of education through budgetary support and targeted support to the sector agencies,

Also, recognizing that there are other causes of low quality of education and approaches to addressing low quality of education  in Ghana;

Reaffirming our commitment as CSOs to collaborate, partner and advocate for effective, efficient and equitable collection and utilization of governments’ resources to enhance quality education;

Having identified several issues surrounding low quality of education in Ghana and agreed on possible approaches to addressing the low quality of education in the country;

Conscious of the fact that the low quality of education issues in Ghana are no different from those in other African countries;

Therefore wish to draw the attention of policy makers and other stakeholders in the education sector to address issues of low quality of education in Ghana by:

1.    Readjusting the school curriculum and timetable and revisit their schools syllabus.

2.    Setting up of counseling unit in the various schools to help deal with most of the social vices affecting the students.

3.    Motivation of teachers to enhance effective teaching and learning.

4.    Building more schools with appropriate facilities to reduce over population in public schools to enhance student participation.

5.    Monitoring of teachers presents during school hours.

6.    P.T.A monitoring of students participation during teaching hours to ensure effective student participation

7.    Shift system should be abolished to enhance quality education.

8.    Need for practical lessons to enhance effective teaching and participation during lessons.

9.    Need to stock all schools libraries with modern books and other educative materials.

10. Need for teachers to use simple language for teaching for the understanding of the students.

11. Need for proper placement of qualified trained teachers

12. Effective implementation of school feeding programme.

13. Establishment of research centre in all schools to enhance revision of the school syllabus.

14. Educational infrastructure should be disability friendly

15. Children with special needs should be identified and given special attention or sent to special schools

Signed by: (Attach attendance list)

OBSERVATION ON THE LIVING STANDARDS OF THE INHABITANTS OF TEMA NEWTOWN

SUMMARY OBSERVATION ON THE LIVING STANDARDS OF THE INHABITANTS OF TEMA NEWTOWN.

I arrived in Tema Newtown around 11:00am 13 June 2014 and started the tour and observation. I started my journey 100metres away from the naval base approaching the main Tema Newtown community. Entering the community I realised that, the language spoken was Ga though there were a few who were fluent in Twi.

As I approached the community, I was greeted by their bad sanitation. The gutters were choked with rubbish, with some of the inhabitants defecating openly. I had the opportunity to follow two men carrying refuse out of curiosity only for them to drop them very close to the sea, degrading the land which consequently posed a health threat to the inhabitants.

Also, I observed that most children who were supposed to be in school were at home, whiles some were idling about others were busily gambling.

Again, I saw that majority of the inhabitants used firewood in cooking and these sources of energy produced smoke that polluted the environment especially the women who smoked fish as a source of livelihood.

I also realised that, the young ladies were into learning a trade after dropping out of school and the men were also into fishing and doing other menial jobs. What then becomes of the future of our country if these little ones are staying out of school?

On the basis of these assessments, I propose that, our organisation as an NGO which has the children and environment at heart, we need to create public awareness and flag this issue as a national issue involving the media and educating communities on the effects of these societal problems.

Addressing these issues will help Abibiman foundation to advance its awareness of reducing environmental pollution by educating the Tema Newtown community on the dangers of using firewood in cooking which emits smoke thereby depleting the ozone layer and other health relating problems. Again, with respect to the children not being interested in formal education, Abibiman foundation will develop a sensitization program on the children and most predominantly parents in the community.

In conclusion, I believe that this assignment is a very important one and will be acted upon in good faith.

By Joyce Arthur of Abibiman Foundation- jjrb84@yahoo.com

Abibiman Foundation

P.O.BOX BT 1 Tema
Flat 1/A 74 Site 3
(OPP T.DC),Commmunit 1
Tema-Ghana/African
Tel#  233-0303-213918
Mob:233244023651

kamoateng@iday.org
amoatengken@gmail.com
skype:kenneth.nana.amoateng
I'm on assignment to my generation.

www.abibimmanfoundation.org