It started off as a casual conversation between two colleagues…
A colleague, Debra and I visited Osuben, a cocoa growing community with some customers. After meeting with the Chiefs and Elders of the community, we spotted a school close by and decided to pass by briefly and donate some books.
What was originally planned to be short visit by two colleagues ended up becoming an inspirational Ted Talk as my colleague and I spoke with the students and encouraged them to give off their best as they were about to write their Basic Education Certificate Examination( BECE) at the time.
Later in a conversation with the headmistress Beatrice, she shed some light on the challenges being faced by the young adolescents during their time of the month.
She explained that some of the girls would miss school because of the lack of sanitary products. Others too would go some extreme lengths to get some money to buy pads.
In situations where a girl had “an incident” in school, the teachers would have to quickly mobilize to get her sorted and this sometimes proved uncomfortable with the fact that the school had no proper bathrooms.
Honestly this hit us and immediately we knew we had to do something for our young women.
As we said our goodbyes, Debra promised the young girls of her support in any way possible and asked them to continue studying hard.
The drive back from the Osuben community was more of a strategy session as we thought of ways to get some sanitary supplies to the girls.
We had an “aha” moment when we decided to name our intention as “The Aspire Project”.
Months went by and Debra led a fundraiser which was very fruitful and through that we were able to purchase several boxes of sanitary pads of which about 200 girls were beneficiaries including the Osuben school.
The boys were not left out as we donated packs of books and pens for their studies.
Some of the beneficiary communities were Osuben, Ampehia,Mpintimpii and Larbikrom all in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
The Aspire Project is very dear to my heart.
In my line of work I have visited several communities across the country and it is evident that a lot needs to be done at the rural level however I’m glad that a conversation between two friends turned into a project which has given hope to a lot of girls. For the next six months and more, these young ladies would not have to worry about having dignified periods thanks to a dream which was supported by the kind benevolence of our donors.
So here’s to women who dream
Women who inspire
And most of all, to girls and boys who ASPIRE to be everything they can be!
Photos 📸 Dennis Temituro
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Perspectives With Lorrencia 
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