News in Ghana
Current Projects - The new Science lab at Adumasa Junior High School is finished, but we still need further donations to purchase enough chemicals and science equipment so that whole classes can do experiements together. Kingsbridge Community College recently had a 'science fair' and the money raised will go towards equipping the Adumasa Science Lab.
Bedaase Kitchen Appeal
Above - Blocks ready to start building the new Bedaase school kitchen.
Many of you will have seen photos of the old Bedaase kitchen facilities. The Chief and community at Bedaase requested that we help them to rebuild the old mud block building with a new concrete block purpose built school kitchen. We paid for the materials and the community made the blocks and built the kitchen. We sold 'blocks' at £1 a time to raise the funds we needed, and finally we have finished the building! The new kitchen even has a sink to wash up in, which will soon be supplied with water via a rainwater harvesting system. The cooks are very pleased with their new facilities!
Those churches and Schools in Austria have been busy fund-raising again, with a new library and Kindergarten for Chiransa just opened, and the next two classrooms at Chiransa nearly complete (now 4 new classrooms); all we need to do now is refurbish some of the old classrooms. The Rotary Club in Kumasi has also stepped in with funding to provide new latrines at Chiransa and Bedaase, and to pay for a new water pump actually in the Chiransa school grounds, so they don't need to share with the village (what luxury!).
Above - The new water pump for Chiransa school.
We have finally started to create an IT Suite and High School Library at Adumasa Junior High School. Thurlestone Primary School have recently raised enough money to buy a further 2 computers, hooray! So far we have 5 secondhand computers and 2 laptops installed in a room next to the staff room in the Latimer Block of the Junior High School. On on last trip (March 2011) we purchased a router that will enable 4 computers to be connected to the internet at once, using a mobile dongle. The new library is to be created in two small rooms at the end of the Latimer block, the rooms are to be combined to create a library and study space for the Junior High Schooo students. The library has some bookcases but very few books; so we'll need to continue to fund-raise to complete both these projects.
The Senior High School at Adumasa has closed (the JHS will use the SHS classrooms), this was a hard decision but the Senior High School was struggling to attract and retain students and the Junior High School is turning students away. The students at the Senior High School (only 30) have been relocated to SHS's in Kumasi, and assistance has been provided where necessary. This enables us to focus on where we can do the most good with our limited funds, and will benefit the greatest number of students.
Older News
Some churches and schools in Austria have been very busy fund-raising for the ADUMASA projects in Ghana, so far they have paid for a new four wheel drive pickup for our full-time administrator in Ghana (really needed when you see the roads!), and they have also raised enough money to build two new classrooms at Chiransa for P5 and P 6 classes. We are becoming a truly international project - Praise the Lord!
Above - Old classrooms at Chiransa.
Above - New Classrooms at Chiransa.
Teachers in Bedaase now have bicycles to get to school on... Due to the generousity of ADUMASA Alternative Gift givers in 2007 we have now been able to supply 5 bicycles to the hardworking teachers at Bedaase,who previously had a very long walk to get to school. Alternative gift givers have also paid for new bookcases and cupboards in the classrooms at Bedaase Primary School, not to mention more books for the library and stationary!
All three villages now have fresh, clean water from boreholes, thanks to all the generous donations we have recieved. Clean water really is the difference between life and death in Ghana, and everyone's health has improved as a consequence.
Our 2008 Emergency Appeal, to continue feeding the children following the huge increase in rice prices, was a massive success, with many generous one off donations, as well as increases to monthly giving from new and old sponsors alike. Thank to everyone who dug deep to help us to continue to feed the children. It really does make a huge difference for the children to receive 5 hot meals a week.
Newsletter archive
This section will contain an archive of previous additions of the Adumasa newsletter. For the most up to date newsletter please download a version from our Adumasa homepage but if you have missed an issue you can catch up with all the goings on by downloading from this section.
download our Mid-Winter 2011 newsletter (*.doc format).
download our Mid-Winter 2011 newsletter (*.pdf format).
download our Winter 2009-10 newsletter (*.doc format, 1.3 mb).
download our summer 2009 newsletter (webpage).
download our summer 2009 newsletter (*.pdf format, 4.75 mb).
download our Autumn 2008 newsletter (*.pdf format, 2.15 mb).
download our spring 2008 newsletter (*.pdf format, 4.7 mb).
News in the UK
On 28th April 2006, Rosemary Curtis (founder of the Adumasa charity) lost her battle with cancer and was taken home to be with all the saints praising God in heaven. The loss of beloved 'Nana Rose' is mourned by the children of Adumasa, Bedaase and Chiransa, our supporters in Ghana and in the UK; and of course by her husband, Malcolm, her four children and the rest of her family.
A packed memorial service was held on 8th May 2006 at Kingsbridge Baptist Church, where we thanked God for her life and her determination to do God's work against all the odds. Tributes were given by the family and were read out on behalf of the people of Ghana. Donations for the work in Ghana continued to flood in and it is the intention to complete the Vocational Technical School in Adumasa by this Autumn, as Rosemary had hoped. Rosemary's ashes were buried in Ghana in the autumn of 2007. Please view the tribute to Rosemary from YouTube below.
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The Board of Trustees has been increased in size and is committed to continuing the work that God inspired Rosemary to do. On the day that Rosemary died the machines arrived at our third village, Chiransa, to commence drilling on the bore hole to provide clean water for the village.
God is Great!
Holiday Showdown TV programme
On the 27th of November 2003 on ITV at 9pm a popular reality television series called `Holiday Showdown` was aired nationwide, featuring the charity and the people behind it. This programme has since been repeated and continues to draw more people into the work of the charity.
If you are reading this message because you saw the show on ITV, we hope you enjoyed it . Hopefully the reality of the conditions in Ghana was brought home. We are grateful for the opportunity to show you what we are trying to do. Although it was a family show and all about two contrasting families, we hope we touched the hearts of the nation with our work.
We have to step outside the box, and remember that it was more important for the nation to see what can be done to help children like those in Adumasa, than what we get up to as a family on someone else's holiday or in private. How were we portrayed? As we really are or as they chose to edit; are we boring for seeking to help others to survive? Were the reviews in the UK good or bad? None of that matters as long as we touched someone's heart somewhere and somehow.
We think the show was Great!
We have received feedback from so many lovely people.
WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!
Thank you all for tuning in, and thank you for your support.
If you want more info, or simply want to tell us how the show affected you, use the details on the contact us page of this website, we would love to hear from you.
Registered charity no. 1088297.
