??????????????????????????????? The Osaka Kongo Rotary Club, District 2640 Chapter of Rotary International based in Osakasayama City in Osaka, Japan has been reaching out to a preparatory school in the Sekyere South District in Ghana with much-needed support to promote the school’s development.

The recipient school; the Asamang Adventist Preparatory School is a privately- funded and operated first cycle school set up in Asamang-Ashanti to provide the same level of special learning opportunities that are usually available to children in the cities. The school has a current enrollment of about 250 pupils from the kindergarten to the Junior Secondary school levels.

Realizing that most academically-endowed children in the countryside sometimes do not get the opportunity to develop their potentials to the fullest, the facilitator of the support program and a citizen of the town, Mr. Noah Nkrumah-Adasa who resides in Japan as an English language teacher teamed up with a church community to start the school. Apart from providing the right atmosphere for pupils of the school to pursue higher learning, the school has the objective of exposing them to practical vocational skills alongside the regular school curriculum. When fully set up, pupils of the school will have the chance to learn practical skills in computer use, carpentry, dressmaking, music, cooking and other vocational skills that will make it easy for those who for some reasons may not enter universities during their academic careers to find jobs in the competitive job market.

Defying the long distance between Japan and Ghana, the Osaka Kongo Rotary Club first initiated a program in July 2007 to assist the Asamang Adventist Preparatory School with stationary and teaching materials valued at about 1,500 Ghana Cedis which were paid for and shipped to the school. While presenting the invoice for the shipment to Noah Nkrumah-Adasa, the year’s president of the club, Mr. Noguchi Yoshikuyi expressed the members’ opinion that children all over the world need the right environment and resources to pursue meaningful and all-round learning.

Taking practical steps towards the development of the school and its study environment which the club strongly feels has a profound impact on children’s education, the Osaka Kongo Rotary Club embarked on a program to assist the school with 3 sets of table tennis kits and the construction of a roofed table tennis court under which children of the school can enjoy the sport. To initiate the project, an initial donation of US$1,600 from the club was presented to the school by the incumbent president for the year 2009, Dr. Tsujimoto Masakazu in July 2009 during a heart-warming ceremony attended by its members.

The project which cost a total of US$ 2,915 (the equivalent of 4,200 Ghana cedis) was sponsored with donations from the club. The club raised funds through donations from its members as well as organizing charity bazaars to finance the assistance program for the school. Some Individual members of the club privately embarked on fund-raising drives alongside the club’s collective efforts. Members of the club have whole-heartedly committed themselves to this international educational support program that goes beyond the boarders of Japan and Asia to promote global development and friendship which is a fundamental principle of Rotary International.

While on a familiarization tour of Osaka on April 22, 2010 after assuming office, during which he met a section of the Ghanaian community, the Ambassador of the Ghana Embassy in Japan, His Excellency, Kwame Asamoah Tenkorang took some time off his tight schedule to meet members of the Osaka Kongo Rotary Club to express his appreciation for their kind and valuable support to the school. His Excellency, the Ambassador indicated that the government of Ghana places special importance on education and is doing all it can to improve educational standards in the country. The club’s assistance to the school, he said will go a long way to complement the government’s efforts aimed at creating the right atmosphere for achieving this aim. He also thanked members for sustaining the cordial and long-standing friendship between Ghana and Japan through their support program.

At a welcome ceremony for the ambassador who was accompanied by the Head of Chancery, Mr. Bonaventure Adjavor and the social secretary of the Ghana embassy in Japan Ms. Masami Noujima, the club presented an amount of $1,315 being the second batch of donation towards the project to the school. Presenting the donation to 7 year old Miss Irene Asaa-Sarpong, a Ghanaian resident who stood in for the pupils of the school, the club’s current president Mr. Miyatake Isao reiterated the club’s commitment to continue to support the school through its international assistance program.

The completed roofed court and table tennis kits serve as a key sport for the pupils of the school, most of whom are enjoying the game of table tennis for the first time.

While expressing appreciation to the club for its assistance, Mr. Noah Nkrumah-Adasa said that he was deeply touched by the club’s relentless desire to make positive changes in the lives of children they may never meet. He pointed out that, with the Osaka Kongo Rotary Club’s commitment to contribute towards the education of children in Ghana alongside other social support programs they are carrying out on the international front, they are practically fulfilling the noble objectives of Rotary International which seek to bring positive changes in the lives of children to prepare them for the future challenges of our fast-changing world.

(To view projects sponsored by Japanese groups at the school, please make a blind search on ASAMANG ADVENTIST PREPARATORY SCHOOL)