Human Rights Update

The Ghosts from the Gambia Killings Haunt the Public

Human Rights Volunteer Stephen Rooke was kind enough to share with us one of the projects he was asked to work on during his time at the Commenwealth Human Right Initaive.

(CHRI – ACCRA) Two years ago, forty-four Ghanaians and six other Africans were brutally slaughtered in The Gambia. Today, these individuals remain at the center of an investigation into human rights infractions committed within the West African nation.

These fifty individuals, who were in transit to Europe, were identified by Gambian immigration as illegal immigrants and falsely classified as a security threat. Officials incorrectly linked incidental information suggesting a high risk of an attack against Gambia with those arrested by immigration officials. Reports made by two Ghanaians who managed to escape from the killing fields described the series of events that then occurred. Their detailed accounts indict the Gambian military for its involvement and outline human rights violations committed by Lieutenant Kawsu Camara and his men. Both the techniques used to carry out the murders and the killings themselves are of concern. It is reported that State House men employed machetes, axes, sticks and other sharp objects to carry out the act.

The memory of the forty-four Ghanaians serves as a lasting reminder of the persisting human rights issues still facing Africans. Although many countries have pledged to enforce human rights, extra judicial killings in Gambia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African countries continue to deprive individuals of their most basic human right, the right to life. The recent incidents in Darfur have received particular international attention and are regarded as the hallmark of these forms of infractions. Moreover, while Article 12 of The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights serves as a positive step in outlining peoples’ right to movement, it fails to guarantee the freedom to move between any countries within the AU by Africans. As heads of state gather this coming week in Accra, they will need to address these and other issues when deciding the future course of the Pan-African association.

One such issue scheduled for debate will be the freedom of movement throughout the continent. As it stands under the aforementioned article of The African Charter of Human and People’s Rights, Africans are guaranteed the right to move freely within their country and the right to leave and return to their country. As the delegates debate how to further integrate the member states, however, they will need to resolve the issue of what freedom Africans will have to move between states. If they adopt a policy that allows individuals to universally travel freely between member nations without need of a visa, the AU will have to grapple with the many issues caused by the ebb and flow of people between countries. Looking at other international experiences with freedom of movement, the migrations of individuals has an impact on every nation including the wealthier and more developed nations.

The rights of refugees and other individuals displaced from their country are also scheduled for discussion at the summit. With many African nations housing populations displaced by conflicts in other countries, it is necessary for AU leaders to enumerate the rights of these people. Such standards would demonstrate Pan-African solidarity in confronting this problem.

Following this, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative organized a vigil in honor of the Ghanaians killed two years ago. It was our hope that the people of Ghana can signal to the AU the importance of pursuing agendas that promote human rights throughout the region. We also wanted to send a message to President Yahya Jammeh, the President of The Gambia in whose territory the killings occurred, and to rest of the AU leaders, that Ghanaians and the international community cannot look on quietly while human rights violations are happening. It was the hope to call upon President Jammeh to take responsibility for this past injustice and communicate his commitment in this regard to the general public expediently. We also hoped that all AU delegates will adopt this issue and set a precedent that will serve to prevent future atrocities.

The Memorial Vigil and Prayers for the forty-four Ghanaians who died in Gambia occured in early July at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Office.

The Gateway - June Edition

Welcome to the June edition of the Gateway.

Welcome Note

Welcome to the June edtion of "The Gateway" newsletter. This month I have the pleasure of bringing you the news from the Central Region. In this edition I have the pleasure of bringing you the latest news form the volunteers here in Cape Coast, a Project Profile from Hamish Naisminth a volunteer at the Abura Literacy School, an interview with one of our host familly monther's Philomina Sampson. As usual there is also news from the other regions to keep you all up to date on the events of what has been happening with Projects Abroad in Ghana. On behalf of all the Projects Abroad staff in Ghana, I hope you enjoy the newsletter.

Grant Appiah Regional Co-ordinator – Cape Coast

If you wish to make any comments or offer any articles for The Gateway please contact:andrewfryer@projects-abroad.org

Tel. +233 (0) 246 – 979 819

Or speak to any member of the Ghana team.

Project Profile - Abura Literacy School

Abura Literacy School is one of the deprived schools in Cape Coast situated at Abura a suburb of Cape Coast. The school was established by the chief of Abura basically to give the street children in Abura a basic education. Starting with a basic Kinder garden class and a nursery it has grown to incorporate the lower classes for Primary School aged children. Due to a lack of resources and teachers it has become the most popularly used teaching placement in Cape Coast as the volunteers help really is essential in order for the children to gain some basic education. The volunteers help by teaching, playing and giving some attention to the children who would otherwise be neglected.

Hamish Naismith, a volunteer from Scotland (see picture below) has been at Abura Literacy School since March 2007 he explains to us here at the Gateway a day in the life of a Project Abroad volunteer teacher in Cape Coast.

"Every morning I walk to school and just as I near the the school entrance the children come running up and jump on me! They hardly speak any English but they are still really friendly. The day starts with a parade at nine o'clock when the children sing the national anthem and say the Lord's prayer and the national pledge. They then file back into the class and are taught bible passages by the headmaster. The pattern for the rest of the day sees myself and the other volunteers teach the first lesson. This is normally done with the hep of a black board and involves teaching the alphabet and basic maths, helping with the pronunciation of the letters and numbers. The second lesson usually involves the children working in jotters. In nursery the children do drawing and colouring. In the older classes the pupils practice writing or maths.
During the breaks the kids play clapping games, eat some lunch which will normally be little more than just rice, sleep or play football. At around 1 (O) Clock by singing local songs or songs the children have learnt from volunteers.

Abura Literacy School has been a great experience. On my first few days I was lucky to have another volunteer, Rosie, taking nursery with me. As a result I was able to pick up some good ways to teach and I didn't feel I was in the deep end as much when I had to stand up and teach the class. The children can't understand us speaking English but they can recite the alphabet after us. We sometimes ask the headmaster to translate for us and we also try and find different ways to hold their attention. Last week I took over the class KG1 after another volunteer Jonas left. The older children are less easily distracted than the nursery and they love doing their work in their jotters! Overall I have really enjoyed my experience at the school the only negative being the use of the cane which can at times be quite shocking. Sometimes the kids will also go a bit wild but for the most part they are very friendly and I find them very rewarding to teach."

Dancing and Drumming Lessons

Volunteers in Cape Coast went through two hours of drumming and dancing lessons on the 12th June as part of their quiz night. The dancers and drummers from the Tubman Davis foundation danced and drummed to entertain the volunteers in a candle light meeting. After almost two hours of entertainment the volunteers were invoted to join in the dancing and drumming performance putting the lesson to good use and applying what they had just learnt.

Host Family of the Month

This weeks Host Family comes from Cape Coast in the form of Philomina Sampson (Pictured right), a Primary School teacher who has hosted volunteers in Cape Coast for three years now. She was kind enough to take sometime out her day to speak to us at the Gateway.


"I decided to become a host mother as I wanted to learn about the different cultures of other people. The volunteers provide me with an interesting insight to a culture that is very different to the Ghanaian one so it is very special to interact with them.

I can host a maximum of four volunteers although normally I have two staying unless it gets very busy and the volunteers will live in the same apartment as me. Living with the volunteers and myself are my family including my brother Paakow who is 20 my daughters, Marilyn aged 10, Suzy who is just two years old, her son Jojo 9 years and my niece Gloria who is 16, they all enjoy very much spending time with the volunteers, although the fact that they stay for a small amount of time is sometimes a shame.


There have not really been any downsides to having volunteers to stay as most of the have a good cordial relationship with me and my family. However, sometimes we do have a problem with volunteers coming home late at night at we ask them to respect that they also live with a family. However, I generally spend a lot of time chatting with the volunteers and inviting them to share their time with us at special occasions. As such I see my future with Projects Abroad as very bright."

Glona Academy - Volunteer story

The HIV/AIDS education program in which I have been placed by Projects Abroad is a collaborative effort between the Glona Academy, a local charity organization which focuses on community education and outreach, and PPAG, the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, an organization focused on promoting sexual and reproductive health throughout Ghana. The education project targets the Labadi area of Accra, Ghana, and aims to educate the population in that area on both effective prevention of the transmission of HIV/AIDS, as well as how to have a high quality of life with HIV/AIDS. We are currently in the preliminary phase of the project, which involves developing a survey questionnaire to be disseminated throughout the community so that we may develop a more effective education program. The actual program will consist of educational posters, flyers, and handouts, as well as at least one organized community education fair, with speakers and information available for the local population. The project has gone slowly at the outset, because we are essentially starting from scratch. I am one of two PA volunteers working on the project, and we are optimistic that we can get the program started and moving forward in a positive direction in our remaining time here.


As the education program is only in its infancy, things have been frustrating at times. We’re basically starting from scratch, and it’s taken a couple of weeks to figure out exactly what we want to do. But, things have picked up a lot of momentum and look very promising. I’ve learned a great deal about the difference in resource availability in à developing country versus in à developed one. It’s been à massive challenge to have to research and draft documents with limited computer and internet access, for example. I’ve gained à tremendous admiration for the inviduals who affect positive change in spite of the limited resources. I’ve learned à lot about adapting to à different culture as well. I’ve learned to be more relaxed about things, which runs very contrary to the way I’d lived the past three years as à college student. Overall, things look very promising for Glona, and I’m confident that the HIV/AIDS Education Program will become an asset to the Labadi community in the near future.