The Dokua Educational Foundation has awarded a Scholarship fund of GHC5000 to the Presbyterian Primary and Junior High School in Kyebi to support brilliant but needy students in the school.
The presentation was done by the brain behind the fund, Kwaku Boateng, Executive Director of Health Care Sunrise Senior Living, a non-profit making organization based in Virginia in the USA, on December 23, 2017
Speaking to www.ghanaweb, Kwaku Boateng said the foundation was in memory of his late mother Madam Abena Dokua, who passed away in 2001, for her love and interest in education which has brought him and his siblings this far.
He further disclosed that the donation, which has been the norm for the past four years, was birthed when his family came down from abroad to commemorate the 10th anniversary of their late mother in 2011 to continue her legacy.
“We’ve been doing this as a family every year. We come in every year too support them with money so that they will be able to replenish or be a complimentary measure whereby school materials as well as educational support. Those students who need extra classes, stationery, etc, we are able to support them with that,” he explained.
“So for the past four years we’ve been able to support about 24 students throughout that process. So today we wanted to take it up a little notch….so we came in and also donated GHC5000 to continue with the effort of supporting these students who are brilliant but because of the opportunities they lack, they may not be able to achieve what they want to achieve,” he added.
The Executive Director in his speech challenged the students not to see their current state as an excuse to fail in life.
He urged them to take their education serious and “not focus solely on material things which can disappear at any given moment.”
Using himself as an example he said, “I didn’t go to the John Tei’s or Achimotas or whatever. I went to Kibi L.A. That is where I started. Once you know regardless of your background or wherever you went to school or your classmates, if you have that sense of purpose and also have a supportive family you can do anything you want.”
Mr Kwaku Boateng said although the Dokua Educational Foundation is a small venture, he looks forward to expanding the project in the next few years with projects including a library and ICT Centre which would be named after his mother.