Ghana

Ghana stretches more than 330 miles along West Africa’s southern coast. Lowlands run through the south-central area, while a tropical forest area extends along its western border. Lake Volta, the world’s largest manmade lake, covers nearly 3,300 square miles in the east.

Ghana Facts

Primary and middle school education is free and required for children in Ghana. Ghana's education is considered one of the best in sub-Saharan Africa.
While Ghana's economy has grown stronger over the years, the improvements have not reached the poorest segments of the population. Over 40 percent of Ghanaians still live on less than $1 a day-and most of these live in the northern region.
Many health professionals have left Ghana for better paying jobs in other countries because of low funding, weakening the quality of healthcare. However, the government has recently increased AIDS awareness and improved HIV monitoring. Approximately 260,000 people are living with HIV and AIDS-undoubtedly a low estimate since many cases are not reported due to poor education and inadequate health services.

Child Sponsorship

Through sponsorship, World Vision is partnering with families and communities to help meet immediate needs and promote lasting changes that will strengthen communities and move families toward self-reliance.

Each year sponsors receive updates about their sponsored child and their community. Sponsors also learn about the child's continuing activities and new accomplishments so when they correspond with their child, they can encourage them in their education, hobbies and endeavors.

The commitment of World Vision sponsors helps provide children with love, hope, and opportunities for a healthy, productive future. May God bless sponsors as they make a lasting difference in the life of a special child.

World Vision in Ghana Today

World Vision is committed to partnering with the people of Ghana to transform their lives today and to help enact sustainable solutions for the future of their children, families, and communities. World Vision’s child sponsorship program plays a vital role in this partnership, with donors from the United States sponsoring more than 19,800 girls and boys. In addition to sponsorship, World Vision operates other programs that benefit communities in Ghana. Highlights include:

Providing 70,000 residents with access to clean water by drilling wells.
Improving hygiene practices by educating residents on environmental hygiene, common diseases and safe water storage and handling.
Boosting education for children through the construction of 22 new schools for kindergarten, primary and junior high school children.

Geography and people

Ghana’s climate is tropical, with warm, humid weather in the south and hot, dry conditions in the north. Natural resources include gold, timber, diamonds, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, and limestone.

Over 75 ethnic groups make up Ghana’s population. The largest groups are the Akan, Mole-Dagbon, Ewe, and Ga-Dangme. While Ghanaians use the official language of English in schools

and business, they speak more than 250 dialects throughout the country.

Rural Ghanaians usually live with their extended families in a cluster of houses that symbolizes the closeness they feel to each other. They value children, since a large family means more hands to help on the farm and helps to ensure care for the parents in old age.

History

Ghana became the first country in colonial Africa to gain independence from Great Britain in 1957. After a long succession of coups, Jerry Rawlings, a member of the Ghanaian military, overthrew the government in 1981. He led the country as president for 19 years.

Ghanaians elected John Kufuor as president in 2000. Democratic elections continue to this day.

In September 2007, massive floods ravaged the country, killing 56 and affecting more than 300,000 people. After several years with few internal conflicts and a low violent crime level, Ghana was named the most peaceful country in Africa in 2008 by the Global Peace Index.