News

All 55 children currently being cared for at the Challenging Heights Hovde House were taken on a day-long excursion to their nation’s capital. Staff accompanied the boys and girls, who had not too long ago, been working in dangerous conditions as slave labour on Lake Volta.

The group first made their way to the Kotoka International Airport in Accra. There, the children learned what a person will need while traveling. They saw first-hand, the process anyone needs to go through at the airport, from start to finish. Airport staff led the children on a complete tour to get them familiar with what it means to check in, check bags, and walk through security.

Shelter director, Linda Osabutey, says the trip was set to help the rescued children develop their social and outing skills, since many of them have little interaction with a broader slice of Ghanian life than what they saw on the lake or at the shelter. Madam Linda hopes excursions like this will cultivate interest in some of the children in the aviation and/or transportation sectors.

After Kotoka, the group made their way to the Kwame Nkrumah Museum. Named for Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, the museum showed the children how Ghana became independent. The students got to hear Nkrumah’s life story, which in many ways, can inspire them to aim high and work toward any goal they set. With determination and hard work, their goals are attainable, just as their first president’s.

In the past, Hovde House staff have taken the children to Kakum National Park and slave castles in Cape Coast and Elmina, but this year, they chose an excursion to Accra.

Meant as a learning experience and broadening the children’s perspective, Linda says the trip was also a great deal of fun.