Every evening, 15-year-old Rashida* returns home from school, changes out of her uniform, and rushes to a neighboring farm to help her mother harvest vegetables. Her father is disabled, so the modest profit the two of them earn must cover food, clothing and other necessities for all seven children and their parents. Despite having precious little time to study, Rashida is one of the top students at her junior secondary school. But with so much responsibility on her small shoulders, she admits that it is sometimes hard for her to imagine a more promising future.

Last year, Rashida was invited to join 155 other girls at Camfed Ghana’s first Girls’ Career Camp, a program designed to inspire girls growing up in the country’s Northern Region to dream big, and to support them to pursue those dreams. “We organized this camp because we wanted to let girls know that even if they are struggling with poverty, their lives will not be defined by limitations,” says Dolores Dickson, Camfed Ghana’s Executive Director.

Over the course of five days, the camp led the junior and secondary school students through a range of experiences and career opportunities that were entirely new to them.  Dr. Agnes Apusiga, a lecturer from the University of Development Studies, ran the workshop on goal-setting and career choices, describing the universities and training colleges in Ghana that could help them achieve their aspirations. Participants then visited the University for Development Studies, where they toured the medical school and science labs. They were taken on excursions to Tamale’s sports stadium, and to the airport, where they watched Ghana’s air force perform a series of drills – noting with surprise that there were several women among the cadets.  Another highlight was a workshop at the computer lab at Tamale Secondary School. Many of the girls had studied information technology from a book but had never before seen a computer. The students’ initial uncertainty about how to interact with the machine soon transformed into impatience and excitement, as they jockeyed for a turn at the keyboard.

“When the girls arrived at camp, they were not ambitious, because they didn’t have any idea what the world held for them,” says Eugenia Ayagiba, Project Officer with Camfed Ghana. “Many had scarcely traveled beyond their own villages.”

“I think the most important thing that happened at the camp is that we opened a window of hope for a group of girls coming from backgrounds of deprivation,” says Eugenia. For Rashida, who has been ridiculed in the past by her schoolmates because of her father’s disability, the experience was transformative. “She told one of the camp mentors that when she is at school, she often feels like a misfit, and she prefers to keep to herself,” says Eugenia. “But at the camp, it was different. She befriended girls who have similar struggles. She took part in every single activity, every single game. On the last day, she said to her mentor, ‘The camp has challenged me to study hard. Now I see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.’

*Rashida’s name has been changed to protect her privacy

By Yakubu Memuna and Yahaya Huzeifa

“My husband looked at me as if I were a stranger and said, ‘Why should an illiterate woman like you be my wife? Go back to where you came from.’” I was 12 years old when my father decided to pull me out of school and give me up for marriage to the son of one of his friends. In marrying me off, he knew that he would receive a bride price, and that he would no longer be financially responsible for me.

My grandmother took me to a different community in an effort to protect me. For two years, all of my family members tried to convince my father that I was too young to marry, but my father married me off anyway, at the age of 14.

Within five years, I gave birth to three children. When I was 20 years old, my husband took a second wife, leaving me and my children to fend for ourselves. My children were ages two, three, and five. (more…)

Six teachers from the Northern Region of Ghana swapped classrooms earlier this month with schools across East Anglia as part of Camfed’s Schools Partnership Project. The teachers’ exchange was organised by Camfed in partnership with the Harambee Centre for Development Education, to encourage greater understanding between children in the UK and Ghana. (more…)

In June, best-selling author and journalist Allison Pearson launched Camfed’s Class of 2010 Appeal to raise support for 2,000 girls in Africa to complete secondary school in 2010. Since then, Camfed’s supporters have pledged an astonishing £65,000 over the next four years to help some of the poorest girls in Africa. (more…)

During May, teachers from 4 schools in East Anglia embarked on the trip of a lifetime to visit children and teachers in their remote partner schools in northern Ghana. The UK teachers have spent the last 2 years bringing the spirit of Africa to their classrooms with pupils in the UK and Ghana exchanging letters, drawings and poems as part of Camfed’s Schools Partnership Project. Camfed’s partners, Harambee and RAINS, work together to encourage greater understanding between children in the UK and Ghana. (more…)