AN-NISAA FOUNDATION INAUGURATES IT'S STUDENT WING

Group picture of Executive members of An-nisaa Foundation and members of the newly formed Student wing of An-nisaa.


An-nissa Foundation a non governmental organisation made up of professional Muslim women has inaugurated it's student wing called An-nissa Student Association in Islamic Girls Senior High School at Suhum in the Eastern Region.The establishment of the student wing or club in the school forms part of the foundation's long term commitment in empowering and motivating the Ghanaian Girl Child especially then Muslim Girl to take secular education serious, and this is done through a well structured mentorship program design to challenge and equip the girl child with the requisite skills and abilities to compete effectively in every field of endeavor.

AN-NISAA FOUNDATION INAUGURATES IT'S STUDENT WING AT SUHUM

An-nissa Foundation a non governmental organisation made up of professional Muslim women has inaugurated it's student wing called An-nissa Student Association in Islamic Girls Senior High School at Suhum in the Eastern Region.The establishment of the student wing or club in the school forms part of the foundation's long term commitment in empowering and motivating the Ghanaian Girl Child especially then Muslim Girl to take secular education serious, and this is done through a well structured mentorship program design to challenge and equip the girl child with the requisite skills and abilities to compete effectively in every field of endeavor. The President of the foundation, Hajia Rukaya Idriss in her inaugural address stress the need for the Muslim girl to emulate the exemplary role of some outstanding professional Muslim women who through thick and thin have contributed their quota to the upliftment of their societies.She said An-nisaa Foundation is made up of such women of substance and are dedicated to the course of serving as role models to all Muslim girls across the country.Hajia Idriss urge the students to be respectful and obedient to their teachers since by so doing will go long way to ensure their success in future.

The ceremony also witness the swearing in of the new executive of the An-nissa Student Association by the President of the An-nissa Foundation , Hajia Rukaya Idriss and Alhaji Nurudeen , Patron of the newly formed Student wing.
The foundation also donated sanitary pads , books and other items worth thousand of Ghana Cedis to the Association.

Caption for the picture: Group picture of Executive members of An-nisaa Foundation and members of the newly formed Student wing of An-nisaa.

Birth and Death Registry Bemoans low rate of Child birth registration in the country

The Acting Registrar of Birth and Death Mr Stephen Kwaku Amoah has revealed that in 2009 alone, roughly half of the children born in Ghana did not receive birth certificate. According to him because these children lacks birth certificate, they will face difficulties accessing socila program such as health care and education.

Mr. Amoah made these staggering revelation at a stakeholders meeting organised by the Birth and Death Registry for Fiath Base Organisations(FBO) in Accra.

Acknowledging the problem of inadequate birth and death registrations in Ghana as a serious problem,the Acting Registrar pointed out some interventions being taken up by his outfit in sensitizing the general public to improve registration coverage in the country."The Registry has also experimented with a focused registration program called the Community Population Register Program (CPRP) has yielded outstanding results. The Registry partnered with Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Health Service, District Assemblies, Plan Ghana and UNFPA to implement the plan in now 26 communities across the country. The Program uses volunters to help register Vital Events. They submits data to the Registry staff who then process the data at the district offices.

He further noted that to reverse the current trend there is the need for stakeholders including FBO's to join the force to induce creative methods of increasing birth and deaths registration among their followers.

He then contended that Faith Basee Organisations plays a vital role in the lives and cultures of most people throughout the world. Indeed in Ghana about 78 per cent of people identify themselves as members of a religious or spiritual community and attend a religious activies at least once a week and though they may follow different traditions and worship very differently, they invariably can agree on many things, including the importance of Birth and Death registration."Religion and faith base institutions have a great deal of influence among their followers in Ghana. They combined network of these institutions is larely and well structured, with churches, mosques and missions in every part of the country along with affliliated schools, hospitals and community centers. Therefore by increasing collaborations and use of these networks in data collection to feed the vital registratiuon system cannot be overemphasised"

The picture from left to right names: Mr. Mosese Ali ( Birthj and Death), Middle: Mr. Stephen Kwaku Amoah - Acting Registrar Birth and Death and Mr. Nii Odai from the Ghana Statistical Services.


By: Benjamin Nana Appiah Acquaye

AN-NISAA VISIT SUMUM ISLAMIC GIRLS HIGH SCH....

As part of efforts to inspire and empower more girls in making education their bedrock to success, more and more career women are trying to bridge the wide gap between the high turn-out rate for boys and low turn-out rate for girls in our educational circles. Women groups from different professional background are assisting government in encouraging the Ghanaian girl to make education a life time ambition.Right from the Northern to the Southern parts of Ghana these efforts from such women groups has had a positive imparts on the girl child resulting in an encouraging enrollments in all stages of our educational ladder. AN-NISAA Foundation is among some of the women groups that are pushing the agenda for high enrollment of girls in schools.AN-NISAA meanng "WOMAN" in Arabic is a Non Governmental Organisation made up of professional Muslim women whose interest is to EMPOWER and TRANSFORM the Muslim girl through education to face the future with confidence.With hope insight and strong determination to accomplish it ultimate objective AN-NISAA since two months ago has embark on an educational mentoring program to assist the GIRL CHILD and promote quality education in deprived communities in Ghana.The team last week set off to visit the SUHUM ISLAMIC GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL in Suhum a town in the Eastern Region of Ghana.They were met by Hundreds of Students who could not take their eyes off the visitors who have travel all the way from Accra to visit them and share some words of inspiration with them and more interesting was the fact that they were all women in the Muslim faith and at the same time career women.







Let me share this inspirational words with you "Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others."

By: Benjamin Nana Appiah Acquaye

AN-NISAA FOUNDATION EMPOWERING OUR FUTURE LEADERS WITH KNOWLEDGE, INFORMATION AND EDUCATION.......

One of Ghana’s profound and dignifies educationist of all times and one of the most eminent Africans of his day, Dr. James E. Kwegyir Aggrey once quoted ‘if you educate a man you educate a person, but if you educate a woman you educate a whole nation”.
This saying has had it true effect on our dear nation Ghana as our mothers irrespective of the situation, whether favorable or unfavorable conditions strive hard through thick and thin to educate their children to be equiped with Knowledge, Information and Education so as to assume responsible roles in their respective professions, and it is haertwarming to note that heir efforts have yielded positive fruits especially on the socio-economic development of Ghana. This saying of Dr Aggrey seems to have a profound effects on the lives of some few muslim professional women in Ghana and are spearheading a counselling and mentorship educational programs in basic schools located in and around deprived communities across the country and also providing assistance through scholarships schemes for needy but brilliant children.

Hajia Hannatu Kugblenu is an educationist with the Ghana Education Service - school feeding program unit and a member of AN-NISAA Foundation joined by her colleagues visited the Nurumustafia Islamic Basic School located near Tema.

The programm was well attended by pupils and it afforded them the opportunity interact with the visitors.The school children ages between 5 -15 years old really enjoyed listening to their mothers from AN-NISAA Foundation as they take them through series of counselling and mentorship drives.Just sit, relax and go through the pictures and you'll never regret you did..............................








By: Benjamin Nana Appiah Acquaye

AN-NISAA FOUNDATION EMBARKS ON AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM TO MENTOR YOUTH IN DEPRIVED COMMUNITIES

The future looks bright for youths who through good mentoring are able to pursue their dream career to it logical conclusion as one university lecturer at the University of Ghana Legon puts it. This means that assisting and shaping the minds of the Ghanaian youth today holds many illuminating prospects for our dear nation. It is sad to say that in the light of all the benefits , little or no attention is given to mentorship programs in area where it is needed most such as deprived communities be it in urban or rural centers. Its against this back drop that a Non Governmental Organization made up of professional female Muslims known as the AN-NISAA FOUNDATION has embark on a mentoring program with the aim of motivating, reshaping and empowering youths in such deprived communities especially ones in urban centers.

According to the President of the Association Rukiyatu Iddriss in an exclusive interview acknowledged that the youth in our societies are faced with countless challenges and based on some of these challenges, are not able to take the right decisions that would enable them pursue the right careers. She noted that most youths in such deprived communities do not get the necessary help from their parents and in such situations they seek solace in their peers who have no or less experience in life and drugs.

But AN-NISAA FOUNDATION according to Madam Iddriss is trying to close that gap and create an environment or a platform where youths in such communities would have access to any member of the foundation through e-mails, telephone conversations and periodical visit to these areas for encouragements and words of advice. The foundation which is made up of lawyers, Doctors, Business women, Accountants, Bankers and women from other career disciplines visited the Alwalid Islamic School in Nima over the weekend to impact their knowledge through interactions with students of the school.

The headmaster of Alwalid School Mallam Alhassan Sualah in his acceptance speechexpress his profound appreciation to members of the foundation and appeal said such gesture from the foundation will go a long way to assist the students become remodels in their communities. He then appeal for more such visits from other benevolent organizations.

The mentoring program is one of the benevolent initiatives carried out by the AN-NISAA Foundation to assist those who need help most in our society.

By Benjamin Nana Appiah Acquaye

AROUND ELLEMBELLE WITH HON. ARMAH KOFI- BUAH

It’s interesting how Ghana is becoming the toast of international media coverage. Before writing this piece I was wondering why the foreign press are now trooping into the country to have some stories from here. Is it because Ghana has found what most refers to as “BLACK GOLD” oil in commercial quantity at Cape Three Point? Or could it also be that or beloved country is meeting the expectations of the western powers and the world powerful financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF? Well we’ll find out later.
But hey folks! My friends from Slovenia National Televison RTV-SLO National TV led by one of their renowned broadcast journalist Helena Milinkovic were in country to film an EU co-sponsored documentary titled ‘Raising Awareness of the development Impact of our lifestyles between Ghana and the People of Slovenia”, which would be telecast in Slovenia and other European Union Member States beginning from May 2010. The shooting took place in different locations from the ten regions of Ghana. The team for the first week hit their first location which happens to be a shanty town within the capital city -Sodom and Gomorrah and ended up in the Nzema East District in the Western region where the team visited Nkroful the birth place of Ghana first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, they met the District Chief Executive Mr. O.B Eshun and the Member of Parlaiment for Ellembelle Constituency who also double as the Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Petroleum Hon. Armah Kofi-Buah. He took the Slovenian team around his constituency and exposed some magnificent tourist sites including a newly developed Resort situated in between the sea and a lake to them.

by Benjamin Nana Appiah Acquaye

PROTECTING GHANA’S ARTS INDUSRTY – for a better Ghana

Art they say is the body, soul and spirit of a society, that’s why in every community the culture of arts plays an integral role in what ever they do as a people. The African art and culture has over the year gone through lots of transformation to suit the rapid development of a modern integrated society. Remember that Arts promotes culture, it helps identify cultural, ethnic and national groupings and many through arts has been able to project their culture over others creating cultural barriers and cultural inferiority within integrated societies worldwide.

In Ghana our art industry is not as buoyant as other neighboring countries even within our ECOWAS sub region although there are government institutions whose mandate are to see to the development and growth of the Art and Craft industry. We have institutions like the National Commission on Culture under whose umbrellas are the regional centers for national culture and these centers are where one can take a glimpse of our real Ghanaian arts and craft.

The mere observation of these centers will not only draw you closer to the realities of the art and craft industry in the country but also will give you a fair picture of how gloomy the future holds for the world cherished art industry in Ghana. A visit to the center for national culture in Accra popularly known as the ARTS CENTER tells the whole story of how Ghanaian although value arts, pays no or less attention to the up liftment of the art industry. Picture your self walking through the colliders of the administrative block of the ARTS CENTER itself; you would come to appreciate the uniqueness of arts through wood caverns, paintings and craft. But the story ends there immediately one enters into the show rooms where there are lots of colorful paintings, you will be confused with the settings and arrangements of the paintings hanging on the walls which are poorly arranged coupled with electrical and telephone cables left hanging amidst the paintings which are suppose to attract visitors who patronize the center.

Folks this is the center that promotes our arts and culture, I think the folks out there at the center will sit up and do the right thing.
Let me walk you through the place where we have these young dynamic boys carving their craft for OBRONI to admire and purchase it as a souvenir for friends and love ones outside the shores of Ghana. The environment and the condition under which these talented, creative and industrious young men work leaves much to be desired yet they strive to promote and project the Ghanaian art and craft in spite of the odds they are made to go through at the hands of the so call administrative of Ghana’s art and culture.

Rasta is one of the carvers and has been in the carving business for ten years, he says the art and craft business has seen a drastic decline in recent times. According to Rasta he use to sell his finish products on the local and international market and that earned him some good money, but the story has change in recent times because of the high cost of wood on the market and also high taxes impose on them by the A.M.A, other revenue collectors and the center for national culture . Our identity as Ghanaians and the promotion of our diverse culture lies soly in the bosom of Arts let us all rise up to support the art industry before it is too late.

FOREIGN MEDIA ACKNOWLEDGES GHANA’S FOOTBALL LEGEND MOHAMMED POLO

One of Ghana’s most talented and living football legends Mohammed Polo has received huge media publicity recently from big international media organizations. There is no doubt in the minds of many football lovers both young and old that Mohammed Polo is acclaimed as one of Ghana’s most outstanding players ever to emerge in the football scene in the 70’s and 80’s, no doubts that he is also called the “master tactician”.

As Africa prepares itself to host the 2010 World Cup in South Africa the international press outfits are now focusing their camera lenses and microphones on former local players who through the dent of hard work have lifted the fortunes of football game on the African continent. And yes Mohammed Polo of Ghana is one among the few on the continent who have entertain and unite millions from diverse background with their style of play, inspire millions of youngsters into taking football as their professional career.

And the evidence is there for all to see and that is what moved Slovenian Broadcast Journalist Helena Milinkovic from RTV SLO – National TV to meet and interviewed the master dribbler at the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex where Mohammed Polo trains up and coming talented football player inspiring to be the Essien’s and the Stephen Appiah’s. The Slovenian Television team led by their Ghanaian counterparts were thrilled by the Legends own skills with the football right on the football pitch with his boys.

In an interview with Polo on the chances of African teams in the 2010 World Cup, he was optimistic that all the five African teams would make an impact in this year world cup because of it been held here in an African soil and that alone is a motivating factor for all the African teams but stress that all the teams including Ghana should not relent in their efforts in their making the continent proud. He noted the low incentives local players and their teams receives and said if nothing is done about it by Government and its stakeholders it will go a long way to affect the future generation of football players to come.

Mohammed Polo was very much appreciative to the Slovenian Television Team for acknowledging him and seeking an audience with him and hopes that Slovenians would grow to cherish Ghanaian footballers whenever they travel to the country to ply their trade.

The RTV SLO-Natioanl TV team are in the country shooting an EU co-sponsored documentary titled ‘Raising Awareness of the development Impact of our lifestyles between Ghana and the People of Slovenia”, which would be telecast in Slovenia and other European Union Member States beginning from May 2010.
The team includes Ziva Gobbo (Focus association),Helena Milinkovic (RTV Slo – national TV, journalist) Stojan Femec (RTV Slo, cameraman),Ebenezer Parditey (EHT network, coordinator in Ghana and Benjamin Nana Appiah Acquaye a broadcast Journalist currently working with Hot digital radio UK & former news editor of Vibe FM, Ghana.

NDC 8TH DELEGATE CONGRESS @ TAMALE IN PICTURES.......an event that silence critics of the Rawlingses

Tamale the capital city of the northern part of Ghana came to a stand still as delegates, supporters and sympathisers of the ruling National Democratic Congress converged at the Education Ridge specifically the WEAC hall to hold it 8th delegate congress. The congress witness the attendanec of the President Prof John Evan Atta Mills, the Vice President John Dramani Mahama, the founder of the party Ex President JJ Rawlings and wife Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings,members of the diplomatic corp,Ministers of state,MCE and DCE.