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READING FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE – BOOKS DONATED TO CHILDREN OF GHANAIAN COCOA FARMERS

The Executive Director of the Mark Impact Foundation and author of the book “Poverty My Greatest Enemy”, David Nana Edjah, has voiced the need to work together in eradicating child labour in Cocoa-growing communities.

The Mark Impact Foundation is a non-governmental organisation that works primarily for the welfare of children. The foundation distributed copies of Nana Edjah’s book to children in the Eastern Region of Suhum as well as to 2021/2022 World’s Best Cocoa Farmer, Charles Oppong.

Nana Edjah explained that the aim of the book is to move the youth from a poor mindset to a successful mindset, and that the foundation is donating the books as part of its goal to help Ghanaian children love reading.

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The organisation says that children are the future, and it is necessary to invest in their minds to develop a more prosperous country and the wider continent.

Through books, you learn, you travel the world, you understand the world, and you become a global citizen. Our goal is that more and more Ghanaian children, particularly those in cocoa farming communities, will develop the art of reading and a love for books.

Books are full of knowledge, and you can travel anywhere in the world through books. You expand your thinking horizon, and for that reason, we believe that making books available is the key thing, and so this donation today is our widow’s mite.”

David Nana Edjah

He further stressed that it is only possible to start eradicating child labour in the country when everyone gets involved. Child labour not only keeps children out of school, limiting education and opportunities but can also be dangerous if it involves heavy lifting and the use of equipment such as machetes and chemicals.

This topic has been covered many times before, and the issues are not as straightforward as westerners might initially consider. Machetes, for example, are dangerous when used in a certain work context but necessary in other situations, even for children. Attending school is sometimes not an option if the child hasn’t been registered with a birth certificate. While emotive subjects like child labour appear straightforward to us in the West, the reality on the ground is more complex.

Although the issue of child labour is highly contentious and there is no easy solution, most agree that better education for youth in Ghana’s Cocoa-farming communities can only be good for the communities and the industry as a whole.

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