By Adiza Bawa
Street Academy, a Non-Governmental Organisation, has held its annual dinner for street, needy, deprived and less-fortunate children in Accra. The party was organised for the children as part of activities marking the Eid ul fitr celebrations.
Speaking to GBCNews, Executive Director of the Academy, Atta Lartey, said it was an annual programme during which children were fed and supported to have fun.
“We have one or few children that are muslims within our set up. So we want them to enjoy what the other children are also enjoying there. We did it for the Christians Easter Picnic on Easter Monday. So the Christians also have to enjoy whatever the Christians have enjoyed. So that’s what we call the Friends of street Academy who are Muslims. There’s one Alhaji Sumaila , and you know Labadi Beach Hotel gives us food every Friday so we said we will use this food to feed the children. In Islam, we call something Zakat so its like our Zakat to the Community.”
Mr. Lartey said the Academy is faced with financial challenges and called on the government and stakeholders to come to their aid to enable the children to lead better lives in the near future.
“Government knows we are here because we have National Service Personnel here. This year we have like seven National Service Personnel here. Government is not part of it, it’s just Friends of the Academy who support us. We are saying to come to our aid. Without people we cannot take care of what we are doing so they should also come and support us”, he requested.
The Street Academy blends education, culture, and sports to reveal the hidden potential of Accra’s Street Children. The Academy takes 80 children between the ages of 10 to 16 from the streets every academic year and enrols them into Public Schools.
Mr. Lartey said the Academy’s objective was to empower the less privileged and vulnerable within the Communities to be able to live normal and professional lives.
He noted that, “ It’s not the fault of these children, just bad parenting that has brought these children on the street. If people come in to support us they will not be on the street. They are our future leaders. If we don’t take care of our future leaders, how will we end up? It is a Community based project that we do ,We take care of children who have not had the opportunity to go to school before”.
Mr. Lartey said the purpose of the party was to allow the NGO to interact with the less-privileged children and share the season’s love with them. He said showing care to the children would make them feel part of the society. He noted that the Street Academy provides the basic necessities of shelter, food and clothing to the children. It also gives them formal education and provides healthcare for them.
“Ghana was among the first countries to rectify the Convention on the Rights of Children, so this should not only be on paper, it should be a reality. We do a lot of Conventions and Treaties, but implementation is the problem. We are implementing all the Rights of Children. We want them to have Basic Education, Education is the key to success”, he added.
Some of the children stay in the Academy for about three years and others, supported through University Education, with many provided with educational materials and funds to enhance their stay in school.
