Tugbeawo

2010

2010-01-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

It has been awhile since I have updated so I thought I would give everyone a recap of 2009 and tell you our plans for 2010.

Sister Kwame moved to Rome to take courses on Religious Education. She is having difficulty learning Italian, but she has not given up yet! She hopes to return to the classroom when she returns to Hohoe as she swears that her first love is being with the children.

Sister Kwame is working closely with Fr. Theophilius Ameka who is going to be in charge of Tugbeawo's bookkeeping while she is away. Per usual, he will be sending the receipts and documentation to us. We are grateful to her for keeping the program running and grateful to Fr. Theo for helping out!

I, Elise, moved to DC and live in a gorgeous house with 4 other girls. I could not have asked for better roommates. Being teachers themselves, they understand the stress of being a first-year teacher and offer great coping strategies-- Chardonnay and M&Ms. In addition, they donated $100 to Tugbeawo for my birthday!

Now, you say, if you off galavanting in DC, who is taking care of Tugbeawo? And that is where Gretchen comes in...

Gretchen has stepped up majorly and has taken over fundraising for Tugbeawo. She established a club at Charlotte Catholic and has lined up several fundraisers where she hopes to meet her goal of raising $2,000 this year! We could not do it without her!

Thanks for your continued support and we look forward to a great year for the girls!

Latest Pictures

2009-08-31T19:01:00.001-07:00

Sister Kwame paying the tuition fees!

The girls' new uniforms!

The books.

Teachers, staff, and Tugbeawo girls

Head Mistress to the left and Sister Kwame to the right.

Update

2009-08-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give everyone an update on our where-abouts!

The girls have started their second year of school at St. Theresa's and are doing great. They remain focused and are extremely grateful for your generosity for the past few years.

Sister Kwame has moved to Rome where she is studying Religious Education and Cathechism. After her 3 year program, she will be the head of Religious Education for the Catholic schools in Ho and Hohoe. So far, she is struggling to learn the Italian language, but remains grateful for this incredible opportunity!

In addition, I have moved to Washington, DC where I am teaching at a local middle school. There have definitely been plenty of challenges so far, but I'm still optimistic that it will be a great year.

As for the future of Tugbeawo, Sister Kwame and I are in the process of determining the best candidate to replace her as Director. Gretchen has taken over fund raising for the time being and has some great ideas up her sleeve. Keep an eye out for updates from her.

If you ever have any questions or comments about the girls or Sister Kwame or how the money is being spent, please feel free to contact me at anytime at heil.eliset@gmail.com.

$1820

2009-05-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks, Tugbeawo has been extremely lucky!!

Alpha Chi Omega, my former sorority, made a HUGE donation of $1,100. In addition, graduation gifts have flooded in. Family and friends have donated a total of $720!!

I'm proud to say that we have officially funded the entire second year of the sholarships!

And.... I graduated!!!

Graduation Gifts

2009-04-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

In lieu of graduation gifts, we are asking that you consider making a small donation to Tugbeawo.

Tugbeawo is a non-profit organization that I started my junior year of college after spending a summer in Hohoe, Ghana. Our goal is to provide scholarship money to 20 deserving and motivated girls. Most of the girls who we sponsor are orphans and the opportunity to go to school frees them from having to work as maids or sell items in the market for less than a dollar a day. In addition to improving their daily lives, the scholarships have the potential to drastically change their future and the future of their children. When a woman is educated, it is very likely that she will also value her children's education. Our hope is that we can provide for the girls as long as they would like to stay in school and hopefully encourage them to develop careers.

To date, we have raised over $3,000 and funded the first year of scholarships- including uniforms, books, and all tuition costs. As the girls grow older, the costs are rising, but our commitment is still the same.

For more information on Tugbeawo, pictures of the girls, and information on how to donate, please keep reading the blog!

Donations

2009-04-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

Tugbeawo would not be possible without the donations from my sorority, family, and friends!

HOW to donate

Write a check made out to Campus Y. In the description line, write “Tugbeawo”. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

You can mail the check directly to the Campus Y or to Elise Heil.

(Campus Y is the umbrella organization for all clubs dealing with Social Justice issues at UNC. For more information, go to campus-y.unc.edu)

Campus Y

118A Cameron Avenue, YMCA Building

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CB #5115

Chapel Hill, NC 27599-5115

919.962.2333 (phone)

919.962.6353 (fax)

Elise Heil*

700 Bolinwood Drive, Apt 14E

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

eheil@email.unc.edu

*Preferred so we can keep accurate and up-to-date financial records.

Tugbeawo Class of 2009

2009-04-26T15:02:00.001-07:00

Here is the first class of Tugbeawo girls!
Sister Kwame is standing in front. Take note of their beautiful uniforms which were paid for by the scholarship.

New Website!

2009-04-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

Eric is currently working on a new website for Tugbeawo. Check back often for updates. It will include more pictures, biographies of the girls, and far better graphics!!

You can check out his work at www.techstyle-design.com.

Cookies for a Cause

2009-04-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Gretchen started "Cookies for a Cause" by placing an ad in the St. Gabriel's Bulletin. She bakes incredibly delicious Sugar Cookies for all sorts of occasions and donates all the profits to Tugbeawo! To date, she's raised over $100!!

If you are interested in ordering cookies from Gretchen, send her a Facebook Message or leave a comment on the blog and she will contact you!

For more information on
Cookies for a Cause" - visit http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=540503

History of Tugbeawo

2009-04-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

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.

New Blog!

2009-04-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new "Tugbeawo" Blog.

I thought this might be a good tool to use for keeping everyone up-to-date on what's been going on with Tugbeawo. I'm about 2 years behind on posting, but I will try to get everyone caught up.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or any ideas for fundraising! You can contact me at tugbeawo@gmail.com or on Facebook!