Project GROW raising money for Ghana initiatives

Project GROW raising money for Ghana initiatives

UBC student Sterling Nelson adds a leaf to the fund-raising tree signifying that Project GROW has raised $20,000 for women in rural northern Ghana, Africa.

Students at UBC’s Okanagan campus have raised $20,000 and hope to move even closer to their $40,000 fund-raising goal this holiday season for Ghana Rural Opportunities for Women — Project GROW.

Through the sale of holiday greeting cards and donations since 2007, Project GROW has provided donkeys and carts, water barrels, dozens of goats, and family sized mosquito nets for every household in the villages of Nyobok and Nkenzesi in northern Ghana.

“Malaria is down substantially because every family has a net,” says Cindy Bourne, Learning Centre coordinator and a volunteer with Project GROW. “There is income generated through small business started by the women, and there is a school lunch program. Last week, the men of the villages worked to build a structure in which to house a grinding mill which has been purchased by the funds raised by Project GROW.”

Bourne notes that ploughs used to help prepare a site for the grinding mill shed were paid for by a UBC Okanagan student coin drive in 2008. Project GROW helped the villagers purchase everything from the donkeys that pulled the ploughs, to the mill itself.

Greeting cards can be purchased at various locations on the Okanagan campus through next week. The Project GROW website has more information about the greeting cards. Choose from cards that fund mosquito nets, or a goat, donkey, cart, or school lunch program. To place an order, simply send an email to cindy.bourne@ubc.ca and volunteers will contact you.

There are no administrative costs and tax receipts will be provided for donations of over $20. The items will be delivered to Ghana when the School of Nursing transcultural nursing team of fourth-year students visits the region in February.

To find out more about Project GROW visit:
www.ubc.ca/okanagan/students/campuslife/projectgrow.html