© 2007-
In 2001, members of Girlguiding Newcastle found out from Guides in Ghana that an orphanage in Kumasi caring for 35 orphans and destitute children was desperately in need of new premises – their classroom was a cowshed and the roof let in the rain! Over the next 3 years Girlguiding Newcastle raised over £30,000 to renovate the schoolrooms and accommodation at the King Jesus Charity Home (KJCH). At the same time, a group of Guides, Rangers and Young Leaders from Newcastle fundraised to pay for their travel to Ghana and visited KJCH in 2003. They helped with the construction work and taught basic hygiene to the children.
Another Girlguiding Newcastle group visited in 2007 and taught road safety and first aid. The number of children being cared for at KJCH has now grown to 187 and another group will visit them in 2011 to teach the children about nutrition and more about first aid.
These visits have been of tremendous value both to the children in Ghana and to the girls from Newcastle, who have had the opportunity to understand an entirely different culture and to gain direct experience of a valuable community project. They have shared their experiences with their Rainbow, Brownie and Guide units so everyone in Girlguiding Newcastle has a better understanding of poverty in a third world country.
In 2004 a group of Girlguiding Newcastle’s adult volunteers saw the need to provide ongoing financial support to the orphanage and set up The Ghanaian Children’s Trust, UK registered charity number 1106764 (www.ghanaianchildrenstrust.org.uk). Since then they have raised almost £50,000 for King Jesus Charity Home and have donated books, computers, clothes, shoes, toys and tools to the orphanage.