Ghana, Accra / Kokrobite: Ezra Dodoo, 25, IT Youth Trainer
At Grow Ghana, our main goal is to give young students in Ghana a competitive advantage in a technological world by providing coding training sessions (using the Raspberry Pi) and soft skills training as well. This prepares them for a future full of opportunities. We are most passionate about our students and their progress. …
… When the first COVID-19 case was reported in Ghana, the government took swift action in closing our borders, restricting movement, advocating prevention measures and embarking on a large-scale educational campaign. Schools were shut down and we lost all access to our students.
At Grow Ghana, we are cautiously optimistic that the pandemic dies out soon and we are able to resume our trainings. At the moment, we are working on training manuals and preparing all training materials in preparation for when life returns to normalcy. It is taking a great deal of self-discipline and coordination to work from home. The closure of the borders also means that we cannot receive volunteers as we usually do.
We are eagerly anticipating the resumption of our training sessions. There are numerous new projects we will like our students to work on. There are also a variety of new skills we like our students to learn and know. The resumption of work gives us the opportunity also to complete our ICT centre project in one of our partner schools, with funding and support from the donor community.
For now, however, we feel as though our passion has been curtailed. The fulfilment derived from teaching the kids is no longer there, creating a void of some sort. Even WhatsApp can’t diminish the human interaction we so crave. We can only but reminisce the jokes with the kids and the joint-team lunch. The world after COVID-19 won’t be the same again. Believe me when I say that we shan’t be taking the little things for granted anymore.