The village of Anomatoa is located 30 kilometers from Techiman in the Brong Ahofo Region. Anomatoa was founded in 1960 by migrants from the Dagaaba tribe from northwestern Ghana because it was a good hunting ground for birds. The village now lives from agriculture and is growing rapidly. The approximately one thousand inhabitants, one third of whom are under the age of twelve, live in poverty.
The people live in traditional huts, made of mud and covered with straw. They grow yams, potatoes, cassava, beans and maize for their own use. In recent years, the village suffered from forest fires that destroyed the harvest and depleted the soil. The former forest has disappeared. The roads to Techiman and Nkoranza are so bad that it is difficult to get products to market. There is no electricity or running water.
Seven years ago, Help Ghana contributed with books, teaching materials and a playground for the three classrooms of the primary school in the village. That building soon became too small. Lessons were given in the church and in sheds with leaking corrugated iron. In case of rain, the lessons could not take place, there was no alternative because neighboring villages and the city are too far away to go independently as a child.
They asked for replacement space for the dilapidated classrooms. It had to be a building with three classrooms and a veranda for approximately 300 children aged 5-10. The land for this was specially cleared by the village council (the Traditional Council). This Council formed a committee of 9 people, including some construction experts, who supervised the construction together with the Association of Parents and Teachers (the PTA). The inhabitants have contributed in the form of communal labour, such as the transport of materials and the provision of craftsmen.
Now that the school is ready, Ghana Education Service (GES), Ministry of Education for teachers. The PTA will take care of the maintenance of the building with the tuition fees. This school was established with the support of the Third World Flea Market of Mill Hill College in Goirle, Wilde Ganzen and a donation from Help Ghana for €10,080. An important side effect was that the government subsequently financed a secondary school because the community showed its motivation by raising funds for good school facilities.
This is what it used to look like in Anomatoa
