Hi Everyone Thank you for dropping by our page!

Claudia and I are two young British girls from complete opposite ends of the country (myself from Cornwall and Claudia from Yorkshire) we both met in November of 2018 while both on an Original Volunteers trip in Ghana. While in Ghana we both volunteered at Akumoah Achampo Special Unit in Nwkawkaw. In our time out there (Claudia 3 months and myself 3 weeks) we struck up a bond with all the children in the unit and all teachers and staff included.

A quick overview of the school: The special unit has been attached to the main primary school as a functioning teaching facility for 10 years. The unit is currently staffed by 3 members of teaching staff with specialised training in educating pupils with both mental and physical disabilities. The staff have a combine 15+ years of experience teaching within the unit. There are a total of 39 pupils registered as attending the unit but classes will generally contain 20 out of this. Ages vary with the eldest being 34 and the youngest 8, the disabilities among the students also varies some of which are, partial/full deafness, hyperactivity/ADHD, downsyndrome, Cerebal palsy and Autism, all students are at completely different levels educational wise.

In the time Claudia was working with the school she worked closely with the class teacher in finding out what the students needed particularly for their future careers. In doing so she managed to get sewing machines , beads, braiding kits and mannequin heads for the school and well as making a sensory wall for the children and stoking the cupboards with school materials. In the time we were working there together we also managed to get two students (Hannah and Ernest) apprenticeships paid for to help for their future work as well as with the help of another amazing volunteer nurse Zoe getting another student Ruth who suffers from Cerebral palsy a new wheelchair when hers unexpectedly broke. Although we managed to do some great things for some students there is a lot of work that needs to be done in order for all current and future students to get the best educational experience and start to working life that they deserve. The current list of all things needed for the school are

* A Vocational Training Centre

*A renovation on the old block (The students are usually combine to one very small classroom which wouldn't have the capability to hold all 39 students if they all attended at once)

*Stand up tap with reservoir

* A new Toilet (although toilet facilities in Ghana are different to UK the ones in particular at this school really are bad, almost beyond use and are in desperate need of repair)

* A safe pavement friendly for physically challenged children (another big need for a number of the students as the unit is situated at the bottom of the school with incredibly rocky and unsafe paths, wheelchair users have to be carried from the top of the school to the classroom)

*Assertive technology to assist children with communication problems

*Puzzles and other teaching materials

*Furniture for present classroom

*Computer for the school

Since speaking with the school and teachers we've come to the estimate price of £25,000. Understandably for all of the above to be completed it is a very high target but Claudia and I are willing to do everything it takes to get as close to target as possible to provide as much as we can for the unit. Once we have fundraised enough to start work on some of the above our plan is to fly out to Ghana (hopefully the end of this year/beginning of next year) where we plan to stay for up to 12 months, this would involve us leaving our current jobs and setting ourselves up in Ghana for the year (of which we will fund ourselves) to oversee and help with the work that needs to be done with the unit, as well as documenting it for all followers and people who have helped fundraise.

I cant begin to tell you how much this would mean to everyone at the unit and how it would change their lives in every way possible, any donation big or small would be hugely appreciated.