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Regional News of Saturday, 17 September 2011

Source: GNA

2011 Pan-African Child project launched in Accra

Pan-African Child Project; a Christ influenced NGO to help raise funds to cater for orphans and under-privileged children in the country has been launched in Accra.

Mr Kwabena Adjei, Coordinating Director of the Project at the launch said, “It is regrettable that in our part of the world some poor children are permitted to undertake activities that affect their health, education and development negatively, mainly because of poverty, lack of opportunity or their lack of awareness about the rights of children”.

“We believe that our children must be in school, learning to be the productive workers and citizens of tomorrow who can earn a living wage. The daily spectacle of children and unskilled youth, standing beside the roads in our cities and hawking all manner of things when they should be in school must affront our dignity and spur us to action.”

“We believe that the average Pan-African child who is a 21st Century African child must possess the fear of God as a foundation, must have access to good education, good health care and a loving home. With such an environment the Pan-African child will be properly and adequately established to take on the challenges that confront Africa, which can be described as a rich continent with poor inhabitants.

“It is clear that education is the gateway to the high-paying jobs of the future. We must end the outrages of nearly a quarter-of-a-million children being disgorged onto our streets by our school system every year without either the skills for work or a chance to continue their education.”

Mr Adjei called for a Pan-Africanist approach to solving this problem, adding “Ghana is very well positioned to positively exploit the advantages of regional integration for our people’s quest for prosperity”.

“We enjoy relative political and economic stability. Our social and physical infrastructures are also relatively efficient, although we still have a lot of work to do. Ghanaians, both at home and abroad are among the most educated and skilful people on this continent.”

“The Pan-Africanist dream is looking more and more a must-do for Ghana and the rest of the continent. Ghana has exerted leadership on the African continent by helping to resolve conflicts, enhancing security and consolidating multi-party democracy. We must encourage ourselves to do more. As true Pan-African nationalists we must think Pan-Africanism because what makes GHANA better, for instance, will make each of our countries better and more prosperous.”