Nkyenoa Community Students Receive Support From Escof Zinnia Foundation

Escof Zinnia Foundation, a non-governmental organisation has given educational support to school going children of Nkyenoa Community in the Eastern Region as part of its activities slated for the last quarter of the year.

The Foundation gave out scholarship to some students; stationery as well as bags, footwears, lunch boxes, and edible items to the schools in the community.

The outreach which included; motivational talk, fun competitions and awards, quizzes among the school children also had bags of clothes shared among members of the community.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Ms Esther Coffie, Founder of the Foundation said they embarked on the outreach to impact the essence of basic education to rural communities and establish good parent teacher relationships.

'We intend to reach out to students in rural communities and provide educational support and materials to needy but brilliant students. By this, we would motivate and encourage students to take up challenges that will help them become good future leaders to help in nation building', she said.

She explained that the Community was selected among many deprived communities because there were a good number of students who could not get access to basic educational materials, yet tried hard with support from their parents and teachers to get the best out of their limited resources.

Clarifying the scholarship opportunities given to some students, Ms Coffie said: 'There is no impact if we just go there to share items, motivate them and come back to mind our own business. To be able to achieve our intentions, we had to choose some students who are brave and intelligent and sponsor them with fees and educational materials till they complete Junior High School'.

She stressed that this would help other students to emulate the attitude of being serious with their studies disclosing that the support given to the community were contributions from volunteers, families, and friends.

Mr Baffour Ofori-Atta Kena, a member of the Foundation advised parents not to discourage their children from taking up leadership roles or from being assertive.

'Even though it is understandable that you punish your children when they go wrong, it is important that you allow them to state their opinions on matters and also give them courage to tell you their problems always', he said.

He also advised parents to desist from acts that would put the education of their wards at stake such as going for the children from class to support them in farm or hunting during studies hours.

Madam Elizabeth Larteibea, Women Organiser of the Community addressing the children asked them to take their studies seriously to become better persons in future.

She said: 'Because I didn't get support in my education and also had less interest in studying, here I am surviving only on tiresome farming even at my older age. Therefore, don't study hard if you want to stress yourself much just to survive at an age like mine'.

She expressed gratitude to the members of the Foundation for their enormous support and encouraged them not to stop their generosity since they would surely be repaid one day.

Esof Zinnia Foundation has a vision to become a global instrument of community transformation and therefore committed to empowering deprived individuals and communities to re-establish their lives through education, good health, provision of basic social amenities and opportunities for self-sufficiency.