History of Tugbeawo

I am going to apologize in advance for the length of this post. However, for anyone who is unfamiliar with Tugbeawo, I've compiled all the information you may need to know! These are all excerpts from our Information Packet, which is available by request.

TUGBEAWO
A Partnership between UNC-CH and St. Theresa's JSS

Introduction

Tugbeawo is a Scholarship Fund established by Elise Heil, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, benefiting middle-school girls in Hohoe, Ghana. Our goal is to provide 20 scholarships for the 2009-20010 school year to girls that qualify for financial aid. The Scholarships will be in the amount of $75 each, paying for new uniforms, new textbooks, new workbooks, new notebooks, pens, and for some, lunch money. In return, the girls will send their progress reports to the leader of Tugbeawo and to their benefactors. Benefactors will also have the option of writing letters to their student.

History

After spending 4 weeks in Ghana during the summer of 2007, Elise met Reverend Sister Elizabeth Kwame. Sister Kwame teaches at St. Theresa’s Junior Secondary School. Elise had an opportunity to volunteer at St. Theresa’s for one week. She was impressed by the fact that there were enough desks for all the students and that they had concrete floors, especially after having been in schools with dirt floors that were often just large mud puddles. In addition, the teachers were engaging, smart, and challenging.

After returning, Sister Kwame contacted Elise explaining the situation. She described walking through the town seeing her students, who should be in school but instead are walking the streets or working as maids. They simply could not afford to pay the school fees because they are either orphans or live in poverty.

Together, we decided the scholarship fund, named Tugbeawo, would be the best for the students and the community.

Future

Our current goal is to provide 20 students with scholarships. Our future goals, however, encompass much more. Using the idea of “participatory development”, we will encourage these girls to target the issues most pressing in their community. The girls will also be engaged in open dialogue through beginning their own newsletters, discussing important, and sometimes controversial, topics, and tapping into their own creative minds.
Although we can’t promise which direction the group will go, we can promise that it will be inspiring, and worthwhile.

Name

After much deliberation, Elizabeth Kwame and Elise decided on using Tugbeawo as the name of the organization. Tugbeawo is Ewe, the language of Ghana, for “many beautiful people.” Ms. Kwame and I want to promote beauty, not in regards to appearances, but in the sense of confidence, strength, independence, creativity and responsibility. We want to nurture these girls to grow up to become the beautiful women they are.

Purpose & Goals

Some of the most profound issues of our time are population growth, HIV and AIDS, peace and security, and the widening gap between the rich and poor.

Tugbeawo will tackle these issues by educating women. Our goals include:

• help girls enroll and stay in school

• help girls create new educational, financial, and social resources in their communities.

• help girls improve their own lives, the lives of their families and the conditions in the their communities.

• help girls to be able to make informed decisions about their futures, and be able to protect themselves from trafficking, sexual exploitation, HIV and AIDS, for example.
  

• help girls develop skills that allow them to make decisions and develop careers.

Support

Elizabeth Kwame is the head of Tugbeawo in Hohoe. She will be in charge of picking up the money, paying school fees, buying supplies and uniforms, and any extra school-related fees the recipients may need assistance with. She will also be in charge of sending receipts and documentation on how the money is spent.

The Campus Y at the University of North Carolina will provide the financial institutions needed to collect and send the scholarship money to Elizabeth Kwame. It will also provide meeting space and a forum for publicity of any additional fundraisers that will occur.

The Alpha Chi Omega Sorority at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will fund some of the scholarships. Money will be given from the sorority’s overall philanthropy fund and some will be in the form of private donations from members of the sorority. Alpha Chi Omega will also write letters to the scholarship recipients and act as potential mentors or role models for the students.

Lastly, private donations written as dedicated contributions for Tugbeawo to the Campus Y will fund any scholarships that are not funded by Alpha Chi Omega.

Q & A with Elizabeth Kwame

1) What does an education cost at St. Theresa’s school?

Extra classes 135,000.00
PTA 50,000.00
Exercise books 18,000.00
Note books 75,000.00
Reading materials 250,000.00 * 10
Total 528,000.00 annually per a pupil.

($56.00)

2) How much are uniforms?

Uniforms 2*120=240,000.00 per a pupil

($25.89)

3) How are the student’s fees spent?

The money is used to develop the infrastructural of the school and the teachers.

4) How do we ensure that the money is being spent appropriately?

Termly reports on the activities of the beneficiaries will be sent to you and the benefactors.
In addition, the children will express their appreciation through writing.

5) What girls are in need of additional funds?

The orphans who need special care.

6) Why are these girls in need of funding?

It is because some their parents are poor, some are living with relatives and some are even been treated as maids.

7) What determines whether or not a student is in need of funding?

Those with difficulty in paying fees.

Those who come to school in torn uniforms.
Those who come to school with empty stomach and therefore lack concentration during lessons.

8) Are they willing to work hard?

Yes

9) What are the girls’ career goals?

Some dream of becoming doctors, lawyers , teachers, nurses, and accountants

10) How will this funding change their lives?

The funding will indefinitely have a great impact on them because,they will have all the necessary materials and comfort to work with.This will improve upon their performance heading to the attainment of their goals.

11) Who will be in charge of collecting the money and how will they get the money?

Myself, Elizabeth Kwame. I prefer taking or picking up the money from the Western Union.