Balancing Student Life: Academics and Extracurriculars
- Written By: Jonathan Allotey
- Tag: Visiting Hardthaven
Purpose of visit:
The purpose of my visit to the HardtHaven orphanage was to interview Mr. Edem Richard Adjordor, the Co-Founder of HardtHaven and to meet the wonderful orphans SAHA has the privilege of supporting. From Mr. Edem Adjordor, I gathered information about how the financial contribution of AAHA to the orphanage had benefitted the children and some sectors that could use more donations.
Details about the management of the Orphanage:
The orphanage has workers who cater for all the children. Basically, the workers prepare meals and serve them, give drugs and immunizations, walk some of the children to school, bathe the younger children and assist all the children with homework.Donations to HardtHaven are channeled into six main sectors. These are:
Nutrition:
This refers to the day-to-day feeding of the children, workers and all visitors.
Healthcare:
Drugs are purchased on a regular basis to treat sick children after diagnosis by community doctors.
Sponsorship programmes:
HardtHaven, besides catering for orphans, donates money to parents in the Kpando district who cannot pay for their children’s education.
Education:
Quite a huge sum of money is invested every academic year in purchasing books and writing materials.
Personal care:
Toiletries, clothing and other personal needs of the children are met by the orphanage.
Upkeep:
Paying for electricity, gas energy and water supply costs the orphanage about 650GH₵ ($200) a month
AAHA’s Contribution so far
AAHA has thankfully played a key role in the running of the orphanage in the past year. The donation of AAHA are used to secure a health insurance package for all the children of the orphanage. Ghana, unfortunately, does not have a health insurance policy that covers orphans. Thus, to be covered by insurance, orphans just like other citizens have to pay some amount of money every year. AAHA lightened the burden on HardtHaven by paying the enrollment fees of the children.
How can AAHA do more?
Mr. Edem Richard Adjordor informed me that the next project he will gladly invite AAHA to consider supporting is the building of a library and the donation of computers. He proceeded to mention that the library facility the orphanage is hoping to establish will serve both the orphans and other children in the Kpando district. From my conversation with Mr. Adjordor, I gathered that a goal of HardtHaven is to see every orphan in the home become a computer literate who will be fit for the job market. He shared with me that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a non-profit called World Computer Exchange where old computers are donated to children in developing countries and he would want AAHA to consider applying for computers for the orphanage.