Common Needs - How best can we help?

Regularly people ask us if we can help them in a variety of ways and each week brings new and different needs to our door. It is not always easy to take the right decision; should we help or not? or should we postpone our help? Although some of the people who come to us we hardly know or have barely met before, we just give them the little help we can, knowing that our assistance will not be very constructive but that it will soften their current situation. Sometimes the requests are for food and sometimes for money to help pay for a hospital bill, school fees or a contribution towards a fund. There are also situations like the one described below which need a little extra attention, where it is no use continuing to give without searching for the real cause of the problem:

"It is still early in the morning and somebody is knocking on the door. A boy (about 14 years old) enters our house. He comes from a village about 12 kms away from Yendi where he visits one of our churches. He is wearing a school uniform. I welcome him, give him some water to drink and ask him the purpose of his visit. He tells me that he is attending Junior High School in Yendi and that he needs 10 Ghana Cedis (about 5 euro) that his parents are supposed to pay as parent's contribution for his schooling. Because the parents have not been able to pay this amount, the boy regularly gets into trouble with his teachers. The boy, Abdul, says that his parents told him to come to our house and that we would help him. I give him the money but am not too happy about the way the parents have referred him to us.

A few days later Abdul visits us again. This time he is not wearing a uniform. He greets me and then tells me that he needs a new uniform but that his parents have no money to buy him one. I ask him about the uniform he was wearing a few days ago. He tells me his teachers have told him the uniform is too old and he needs to replace it. At this time many people are harvesting their crops, so I tell Abdul he should tell his teachers that his parents have no money at the moment, but that after they have finished harvesting and have sold some of their maize he will get a new uniform. But Abdul does not look very happy. He tells me that he walks from his village to Yendi every day (that is 24 kms a day!) and that his parents do not give him any money to buy lunch. I contemplate, is Abdul really telling the truth or are there other problems? But because I do not want anybody to go hungry whilst we have enough to eat, I give him some money to buy lunch for the coming two weeks.

Students ready to go to school - each school has its own uniform

A week or so later, Abdul is back at our house again. It is still early in the morning and he wears his school uniform. He tells me that the school has asked them for a contribution of 2 Ghana Cedis to print the exam papers for the end of this year. I know that this is a common demand from the schools and give him the money otherwise he would not be able to participate in the exams.

This past week, Abdul came to visit us again. He tells me that he has moved to the house of a family member who lives in Yendi so that he does not have such a long walk to school every day. But again he asks for money to buy food. He has to go to school for another four days before they break for Christmas. I give him the money but tell him that I do not think this is the best way to assist him. Abukari and I have talked about Abdul’s situation during this past week. We agree that it is time to visit Abdul’s parents to find out more. Are they taking their responsibility? Are they so hard pressed financially that they cannot even get Abdul food to eat? Abdul has just entered the first year of his secondary school education and still has a long way to go. What are the prospects for his education? And what about the other children they are taking care of? We hope to be able to visit Adbul's parents soon."