Naim is a lively and bright 10 year old boy from northern Ghana, and most importantly, a big football fan.
As one of six children living in rural poverty, Naim has grown up understanding that his family’s minimal income has to be spread across all of them to provide food, shelter and where possible, an education. He knows that sometimes, this might mean he doesn’t get chance to do everything he wants to, and he worries about the pressure his mum is under to provide for him and his brothers and sisters, which started to have an affect on his school grades
As you can imagine, Naim’s mum, Afryea, was indeed under extreme financial pressure to take care of her children. Having to choose between feeding or supporting her children through education is something no mother should have to do – however, this was her unbearable reality and it looked as though Naim would have to drop out of school because she couldn’t afford the most basic materials.
Fortunately, Hope for Children was made aware of Naim’s situation by our local project staff (Childhood Regained) in Ghana and provided him with a school uniform as a first step to be able to get him in to school – this is the minimum a child needs to attend. Afryea was also enrolled into a local women’s group established to help members save money and support each other’s micro-businesses through training and even start-up capital (read more about our Empowering Families work here). Thanks to this support, Afryea can now afford to buy Naim the clothes and learning materials he needs to go to school.
Naim also now attends a STARS club. We run these groups for children who are at risk of dropping out of education, and play games, give extra tuition and teach them about the importance of education to keep them engaged and involved in learning.
As a result, Naim’s school grades have dramatically improved. He has taken English and Local Language exams and even scored 90% in Maths at the end of the last school year! Now his dream is to carry on his education and become a doctor…and a footballer.
