UN Highlights
ECOC Updates
We are proud to announce that as of November 2008, due to your support, the Every Child is Our Child (ECOC) Program has enabled a group of 160 children who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS to attend school in Manya Krobo, Ghana.
UUA President to Visit UU-UNO Ghana Project
Updated November 2008.
The Rev. William Sinkford on November 4 embarked on a six-nation trip to
Africa, including a visit to the Every Child is Our Child project in
Odumase, Manya Krobo, Eastern
Ghana.
Sponsored by the UU United Nations Office and managed in active partnership
with the Queen Mothers Association of Manya Krobo, Every Child funds the
education and health insurance of scores of vulnerable children in the region,
hard hit by the AIDS pandemic.
For the UU-UNO, Every Child represents significant progress toward meeting the
UN's Millennium Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty, empowering
women and girls, and encouraging education. Every Child walks the walk. For the
children, the program is a lifeline, a path to a bright future that otherwise
would be bleak.
UU-UNO Executive Director Bruce Knotts will travel to Odumase to welcome the
UUA President and to introduce him to the Queen Mothers. For Knotts, on
the job only since January, it will be his first visit to Odumase, though as a
former US Foreign Service Officer he has spent a good deal of time in West
Africa. All of us at UU-UNO are proud and delighted to be able to play
host to Bill Sinkford during his pilgrimage to Africa.
To enable congregations and especially children to follow the Sinkford trip,
the UUA has prepared a number of Africa-related materials available on its
Website. Whether for purposes of Social Action, Religious Education, or
just human interest, see http://uua.org/news/sinkfordafrica/119587.shtml.
The Every Child is Our Child project cannot exist without your generosity. A
donation of $80 will support a child's education for a year. This $80 will also
ensure that the child and care-giving family get a nutritious daily meal and
health benefits for a year. When have you ever seen $80 do so much? Click
here and send a child to school for a year!
What We Have Done So Far
Thanks to your efforts, as of November 2008 the Every Child is Our Child Project is now helping 160 HIV/AIDS orphans in Ghana to go to school. Almost all the children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. A few of the children’s parents were so poor they could not provide costs for schooling. These children are classified as vulnerable. Students are also provided with a hot meal and nutritious food to bring home to their families.
How the Children are Doing
The children are taking classes in English, Mathematics, Integrated and Agric Sciences, Ghanaian Language and Culture, French, Pre-Vocational Skills, Environmental Studies, Physical Education, Religious and Moral Education and Music and Dance. Many of them have reports that they are doing well, attending regularly and excelling in various aspects of their educational experience.
What we would like to accomplish:
To assure that every child has the opportunity to obtain an education.
Progress on Health Insurance Plan
Through your generous support of the ECOC Program, the care-giving families of the children were recently enrolled in the Manya Krobo District Mutual Health Plan. This will enable the supported children and their care-giving families to access treatment for 95% of commonly treated illnesses in Ghana. Though the Plan does not provide HIV/AIDS drugs, it does offer treatment for opportunistic infections caused by AIDS; another agency assists with HIV/AIDS treatment. The Manya Krobo District Mutual Health Plan is part of the Ghana National Health Insurance Plan that was recently launched to offer affordable medical care, especially to the poor and vulnerable among Ghana’s 19 million people. The Plan is operated through arrangements in each of the country's 10 districts.
Program Monitor
A local program monitor has been chosen. More information to come.