Takeaways From Our Annual Community Service Project

By: Prince Owiredu-Makaal Asabere

On May 27, my colleagues and I had the pleasure of spending time with students at Ngleshie Amanfro Senior High school in Kasoa, Accra as part of our annual community service project.

First of all, I would like to thank my co-fellows for trusting in Isaac Oduro-Mensah and myself to coordinate this project. After such an electrifying program, I am grateful to my colleagues for pushing their weight and choosing to serve wholeheartedly to make sure we were able to achieve a successful outcome.

There is a saying that goes, “if you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far go with others.” The importance of team work on this project therefore could not be understated. Collaborating with one another provided a high level of synergy and productivity that could not be achieved by individual performance. Even though we sometimes had our own ideas, we never swayed from the intended goal. Right from the beginning, we had the end in mind.

As a part of the program, we shared tips on navigating careers after high school, taught students about digital marketing as well as soapmaking. Country Director Moses Cofie shared some life-changing nuggets and took students through career guidance and counseling. Communications Intern Victorine Vondee also taught students about digital marketing and how to monetize their content. My co-fellow Aliyata Uthman also engaged the students in a soap-making tutorial to teach them an in-demand skill.

Our project partner Data Bank emphasized the need for entrepreneurs to cultivate a habit of savings and investments and opened individual accounts for the students with a minimum of GHC 5.00p. As one of the community service project coordinators, I was pleased that we were able to set and achieve the following objectives:

• Guide students on an educational path that is career-aligned
• Empower beneficiaries with an entrepreneurial mindset and skills
• Expose students to educational scholarship opportunities
• Expose students to entrepreneurial opportunities
• Instill a habit of self-development and an attitude of volunteerism in the students

When I had the opportunity to speak, I commended the Headmaster and Student Representative Council (SRC) patronage for allowing us to engage the students on this project. In the spirit of giving back to Ngleshie Amanfro students, their willingness and commitment to capacity building made me realize one thing; we are our own investments and we have to invest in each other. Universally, that is what will keep us going.

The experience is something I will hold dear to my heart. The best form of satisfaction comes when we lose ourselves in every task. Indeed, the journey is always the reward. A very big thank you to the Emerging Public Leaders Ghana staff for the opportunity and immense support throughout the project.