Regional News of Thursday, 25 August 2016

Source: Girls Education Initiative of Ghana

Meet Fauzia, a beneficiary of GEIG

Fauzia Fauzia

Meet a Junior High School student from St. Augustine Anglican Junior High School in Kumasi, Ghana.

She is the fourth born of five children. She comes from Aboabo. She is one of the students benefitting from GEIG.

Her mother is a trader and her father is out of the picture. All the five children are being catered for by the mother. Things have not been easy for the mother raising all five children by herself.

She is a young intelligent girl who was affected by happenings in the home.

“It has been a very bad feeling and it has become normal for me because he had not been with us for many years. I have never seen what is he like, what he dislikes and what he likes. It is difficult growing without him around” – Fauzia

Girls Education Initiative of Ghana (GEIG) timely intervention has given her and many other girls like her, hope for a brighter future.

GEIG offers her full scholarship and provides her school supplies for each term. This has relieved the mother of the burden of catering for her school needs and concentrate on the other kids.

She likes the leadership and development program dubbed “Women Who Inspire Us” speaker and workshop series.

She finds motivation and inspiration from what these prominent, outstanding women share with them and hopes that she will be able to do same in the future.

The most fun she experiences with GEIG is the three-week summer camp held at Lancaster University Ghana in 2015, and the just-ended 2016 camp at Ejisuman Senior High.

The classroom space, hostel facilities and the amazing places that were toured always made the summer super fun and excited.

With the help of GEIG, she was able to get medical treatment for her eyes with Africa Health Now financing the treatment.

She is very vocal and shows major interest in English Language and Social Studies. She looks up to Nana Aba Anamoah, a broadcast journalist as her role model.

She likes the way she reads the news and host programs on the TV set. Her dream is to become a broadcast journalist and be the voice for the voiceless and vulnerable in society.

She wants to be able to inspire and challenge a lot of young girls to aspire for greater heights.

Her interest in journalism and writing is evident as she was quoted by the 2015 UN Education for All report.

She wrote about the importance and the need to educate girls in Ghana and the world as a whole.

“When a girl child is educated and becomes a career woman in the future, she can also support her nation and other countries around the world”.

When I become a TV presenter, I will like to set up a program called ‘’Girls On The Way’’ to motivate, inspire and entertain young girls. When I become a journalist, I know it will be a great pleasure and very motivating.

It is such a great opportunity to be part of GEIG. The opportunity to participate in the Storytelling and Writing Workshop – led by the Butterfly Dreamz Inc., a US non-profit - during the 2016 summer camp has helped me improve upon my dreams and the goals I have set for myself in the next future.

It has also helped me to acquire more skills and training for journalism. This opportunity will help me acquire more knowledge and help improve my education. – Fauzia

Fauzia Abdul Karim is the name. Learn more about Fauzia and the Girls Education Initiative of Ghana, GEIG’s programs and support Fauzia’s journey at www.girlsedgh.org