HISTORY
Two events gave birth to EASE. The first was a BBC correspondent report on the effects of IMF policies on the lives of Ghanaians entitled "Ghana -Prisoner of the IMF" published on November 5th 2001. Below is an excerpt from this article (including the picture and its caption):
The poor have to pay for all the essentials of life, for education; for clean drinking water - even to go to the toilet. A mile or so down the road from the hospital, I come across Mary Agyekum. She breaks stones for a living. Small flint hammer in hand, she sits on the parched ground under the sun, 12 hours a day, chipping away at boulders. Her children help her out. If she's lucky, she receives £2 a week.She tells me of her shame, of the pains she feels carrying her heavy loads of stones. She can only send two of her children to school now, but they are chased home by the teachers if she hasn't paid the fees on time.
-BBC News
Paying school fees is a struggle
After reading this rather touching article, we decided that something had to be done to improve the plight of poverty-stricken children. However, a cultural session on Ghana that Regina (a member of EASE-MIT) presented to 2nd graders at the Carlisle Primary school provided the needed inspiration to start EASE. The children were very excited and teachers suggested that similar sessions be held at other schools for a fee. EASE was originally formed to raise funds to help in the education of poor children, like those of Mary Agyekum, by giving cultural sessions on African countries in Cambridge schools. It has now expanded into a larger-scale, organized student initiative that explores other sources of funding and cultural exchange.
MIT Tech Talk Article:Graduate helps pay school fees for Ghanaian children
FOUNDERS:
EASE was founded by
- Regina Sam
- Arthur Musah
- Curtis Vanderpuije
- Ebenezer Woode
