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He Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and other volunteers have organised an event to sensitise children at Dawhenya to sanitation and hygiene to commemorate this year’s International Volunteers Day 2023.
The event, targeted at children in the Dawhenya Methodist Basic and Dawhenya D. A. schools, saw the volunteers, who are currently serving in Ghana, engage the children in activities on sanitation and hygiene.
They also donated hygiene items valued at $7,000 to the Dawhenya Cluster of Schools to enable them to practice good hygiene such as proper handwashing and oral health.
Other partners of the event included the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the United States Peace Corps and UN Volunteers.
International Volunteer Day, observed annually, is a United Nations initiative designed to inspire volunteer-involving organisations and individuals to champion volunteerism.
The day is also used to encourage governments to actively support volunteer efforts and acknowledge the invaluable contributions of volunteers towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on local, national and international scales.
The theme for this year’s celebration, “If everyone did” was a clarion call that if everyone played their part in improving lives by responding to challenges facing the world, it would be a better place for peace and development.
The Country Director of KOICA Ghana Office, Dong Hyun Lee, emphasised the special significance of this year's commemoration for KOICA.
He highlighted the ongoing commitment of KOICA to deploy volunteers to developing countries under the World Friends Korea (WFK) Programme.
Mr Lee further underscored KOICA's belief in the pivotal role of a hygienic learning environment and healthy students as the bedrock for inclusive, high-quality education.
That, he said, prompted the collaboration with partner agencies to impart knowledge on proper oral hygiene and handwashing practices to students at the Dawhenya Cluster of Schools.
Mr Lee expressed KOICA's enduring support for Ghana's education system and commended the global community of volunteers for their outstanding efforts in addressing the development needs of countries such as Ghana.
The acting Country Director of Peace Corps Ghana, Jo Anne Yeager, reiterated the importance of volunteerism stressing it helped create positive change in the society.
She said Ghana held a special place in the history of Peace Corp because it was the very first country to host volunteers in 1961.
She said over the past 62 years, Ghana had hosted close to 5,000 volunteers who had worked in underserved communities under agriculture, health and education with a special focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics by providing valuable instruction to Junior High School students.
A Senior Representative of JICA Ghana Office, Kohei Takimoto, commended the partners for coming together to offer support for education and health for the children at Dawhenya which he expressed the hope would go a long way to change behaviours in the community.
The Partnership and Mobilisation Officer, UN Volunteers, Francis Ofosu, said the selflessness exhibited by the volunteers would leave a lasting impact on the children and urged all to embrace volunteerism in order to make a difference in their communities.
The Headteacher of Dawhenya Methodist ‘B’ Basic School, Rita Arhin, said in addition to teaching, the schools in the cluster strongly believed that health was wealth.
Hence from Kindergarten to JHS, the school authorities intentionally and diligently inculcated healthy lifestyle living to promote good health among the learners and their caregivers outside the school.
