With a line out the front door and people sitting on every seat available, Konastone apologises to his clients and asks for a moment to speak about his time at the Challenging Heights Youth Empowerment Programme. The 30-year-old says he started his own printing shop, Konastone, in 2010, but he didn’t have the capital for […]
Sitting behind a sewing machine in the noisy tailor shop at Nkwantanan, in the middle of the four access roads in Winneba, Kwabena Samuel spreads a dress out under the needle, preparing to stitch. He says he never thought a male could sew female clothing, but under Master Bonney’s supervision, he is an apprentice, and […]
Each school year in the middle of the second term, schools from across Winneba come together in friendly competition. Twelve different schools participated this year, in football (soccer), netball, volleyball and handball, over a three-day period. Students had been practicing for weeks before the competition, developing teamwork and strategy. On the first day of the […]
An overwhelming number of children in Accra Town, an island community close toYeji in the Brong-Ahafo Region are not enrolled in school or getting proper education amid persistent child labour in the predominantly fishing community. Children of school going age are often found engaging in fishing with their parents or guardians on the Lake Volta during school […]
For nearly two months, water did not flow from the city lines throughout the town of Winneba. Turning on a faucet and realizing there is no water – is not uncommon in the town, but usually the water may go off for a few hours at a time; that’s when water tanks refill and families […]
As we rehabilitate children rescued from slave labour on Lake Volta, staff at our Hovde House shelter continuously works on behaviour management and discipline as children get ready to go back to their communities. As part of this process, officials from governmental agencies come to the shelter to speak to children about real-life issues and […]
In search of better jobs and more secure income, hundreds of women and a few men join our Challenging Heights Women Economic Empowerment Programme (WEEP) training sessions throughout the year. Part of each training session includes life skills trainings that could help in the future of their businesses, like simple best practices for personal finance […]
Fifteen year-old Ema enjoys reading in the shelter’s library. year-old Ema spent six years fishing as a child slave on Lake Volta. He and others would wake up by 7 a.m., go to the lake and come back for breakfast, but then they would turn back around and work without returning again until evening. Ema […]
In a boisterous training session under a canopy set up next to the Challenging Heights office in Sankor, more than seventy women (and some men!) participated in a soap making training session. From students, to elderly grandparents, the participants were eager to learn how to make liquid and solid soaps that they could use for […]
Caning an entire school class when they continuously show up late. A seventeen year-old dating a nineteen year-old. A seventeen year-old dating a forty-five year-old. Leaving a 4 year-old at home alone for three days. Leaving a 15 year-old at home alone for three days. Do these scenarios depict abuse? Or are they not abuse? […]
