Supporting building schools and IT education in Ghana

​​Regardless of how you look at it, I have been fortunate with my life. Having been born to a middle-class family in Finland, leading a middle-class life myself, and in all likelihood, passing on that middle-class living standard to my offspring. How did I get there? Opportunity.

I have enjoyed opportunities of infrastructure, nutrition, education, migration. None of these have been denied from me. We are an affluent society, with roads and schools and hospitals and sufficient nutrition available for even the poorest of the poor. My family was reasonably well-off; I was well fed, and still am. See my photo.

I have had the chance to educate myself through primary and secondary education, have degree studies in two Universities virtually free of charge, and work in two other countries in Europe besides Finland. Allow me to emphasize: there is nothing especially unique in this for an educated Finn. These are some of the opportunities I have been presented with; these are the ones I have seized.

So, seizing the opportunities available is what takes an individual forward. Providing those opportunities of advancement is what the Adanu project is all about; giving young people the infrastructure and the tools to advance themselves. We cannot make people successful, but providing the opportunity may well be enough. For the school children in Ghana, these opportunities are a whole lot fewer and further between than what we Finns are accustomed to, and so we are trying to make them less so.

Adanu builds schools and provides tools for training IT skills in primary and secondary schools in Ghana. It’s all about local activity. The communities make the main effort; us outside helpers join in the work, and provide support in both getting the necessary equipment and training the trainers so they can take charge. We provide an aspect of the opportunity, in hopes that the local community seizes it and passes it on to the children, which carries them forward to higher education and skills, thus advancing the society they live in. Empowerment is our motto.

This possibility to join Adanu’s effort came to me quite by chance. I was not actively looking for areas where I could help those less fortunate than me, although I was acutely aware that my contribution to the global society was woefully slim. This was an opportunity that presented itself, and with the support of Salesforce and my employer, Fluido, I was able to seize it.

So, dear reader. Opportunity. By reading this article, you make yourself open to the opportunity to join us and provide further support. I seized mine, and I hope you do so too. You can support the Adanu organization on my Facebook fundraiser. Any funds up to 2 000 EUR will be matched by my employer Fluido.