HRRG will organize a sensitization workshop to educate students in five (5) JHS and SHS schools in Accra on how to evade the trick of kidnappers as a pilot project before the nationwide campaign is finally rolled out.
Some of the schools identified for the pilot project include Kasoa-based Gateway School Complex, Government Presbyterian School at Dzorwulu, Accra, Morgan Community International School located at Gomoa Manso in the Central Region.
2. Teenage Pregnancy (T) is the next aspect of the project
3. finally, the abuse of Tramadol (T)
As part of our giving back and relieving the plight of the vulnerable girls in our society, we shall embark on a massive donation campaign to seek for donor support to help donate some assorted items such as used clothing, washing soaps, female pads, sachets of water, babies’ diapers, biscuits and soft drinks among others.
Same will be replicated at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital to assist them in their daily needs.
This, we hope to achieve during the Easter festivities. This pilot project will be extended to other parts of Ghana when it is fully implemented across Ghana.
The Sensitization workshop on Kidnapping, Teenage Pregnancy and Tramadol Abuse (KTT Project) will achieve the following objectives.
Educate students on kidnapping and how to evade it.
Educate students on Teenage Pregnancy, its associated challenges and how to avoid it.
Sensitize students on tramadol abuse and its dangers to health and academic work
Contact Us if you want the Human Rights Reporters Ghana to visit your institution to educate students, pupils or members of staff on Kidnapping and how to stay safe. Visit our CONTACT US link for details
Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG), an NGO committed to ending all forms of human rights abuses in the country has enlightened over 200 pupils of the Hilen Springfield School in Accra on modus operandi, techniques and pranks of kidnappers in the country.
The sensitization exercise which was staged at the Hilen Springfield School campus in the early hours of March 28, 2019
School children benefit from KTT Project
saw participants adequately equipped and empowered with knowledge on how to outwit the pranks kidnappers employ to lure their unsuspecting victims.
They were also provided with guidelines and tips on how to unearth those pranks whenever they happened to encounter movement of the so-called kidnappers anywhere near them.
The sensitization exercise which was more of an interactive session was conducted by a team of volunteers made up of lawyers, journalists and human rights activists who are members of the distinguished Human Rights group.
The pupils had turns to ask questions and answers were provided to them in satisfaction.
According to Mr. Joseph Kobla Wemakor, the Executive Director of the group, the need to embark on the sensitization campaign was informed by the rising spate of kidnapping issues involving the youth especially school-going age girls and children in recent times.
The move seeks to help demystify the kidnapping phenomenon in order to help save the country from unrest including other human rights violations that characterized the nation.
“Apart from sensitizing the students on kidnapping issues, Teenage Pregnancy and Tramadol abuse are equally two areas of major concern to us which we will be focusing on as an organization under our project for the year”.
Ghana has been rocked with issues of kidnapping in recent times.
The missing of 21-year-old Priscilla Blessing Bentum on August 17, 2018 followed by 18-year-old Ruth Love Quayson on December 4, 2018 including the phenomenomenal disappearance of 18-year-old Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie since December 21, 2019 without any trace have been a great cause of worry not only to their families but to the entire nation.
Commenting on the sensitization exercise by HRRG, Headmaster of Hilen Springfield School, Mr. Daniel Mensah noted the initiative is a laudable one which ought to be replicated in other schools in the country.
He therefore appealed to well-meaning Ghanaians, corporate institutions, nonprofit organizations among others to support the efforts of the Human Rights group to further take the campaign to other schools within the ten regions of Ghana.
“It’s very pathetic to see children of school-going age kidnapped these days and we don’t even know their whereabouts at all”
“So is a good initiative that it should be replicated across the entire country so that children can learn from it”.
The Protocol Prefect of Hilen Springfield School, Michael Dadzie in an interview advised his colleague students to desist from accepting gifts from strangers.
He also cautioned them against plying through secluded routes to avoid being kidnapped.
Daniel confirmed he has benefited greatly from the training received and was convinced his colleagues did same.
The Hilen Springfield School was established in 2006 by Elder Ernest Danso as a Private Educational Institute to groom students and instill in them Christian values and principles to achieve academic and moral excellence, gain self-confidence among others.
The school, which is situated at Gbawe-Zero within the Greater Accra Region has a population of over 200 students and is noted to have produced brilliant crops of students who are currently pursuing their higher education in top senior high and tertiary schools in the country.
Kidnapping has become a worrying social issue in Ghana and so the HRRG is championing efforts at demystifying the kidnapping phenomenon in Ghana. Human Rights Reporters Ghana, a dynamic NGO with a vision and mission to educate, be an advocate and the voice for women, girls and children has organized a massive sensitization workshop for over 400 pupils of Tower Preparatory & JHS School
The over 400 pupils of the preparatory school located in Accra, were equipped with world-class authentic and adequate knowledge to help stay safe and foil any attempt of kidnappers. The beneficiaries were also provided with basic techniques to help them outsmart tricks used by kidnappers.
The volunteers of the Human Rights Reporters Ghana educated the pupils on the operandi, tactics as well as the plans that are often deployed by kidnappers. Knowledge on this will go a long way to help the children avoid been lured.
In addition, the beneficiaries were armed to the teeth with guidelines that will help them outwit the so-called kidnappers.
The Executive Director of Human Rights Reporters Ghana
Mr. Joseph Wemakor the Executive Director who was on the ground with the hard-working volunteers informed the media that, the sensitization exercise was part of the bigger project of the organization which aims at informing and educating on kidnapping an issue that has gained the attention of the entire country with little been done to educate the populace.
He also informed that media that, other sub-projects within the KTT project of the organization which will be rolled out soon include its flagship training and workshops to help curtail the worrying teenage pregnancy and the abuse of Tramadol by the youth of the country.
This will go a long way to help deal with all manner of miscreants engaged in abduction of our young girls, ladies, children and the vulnerable in general.
It is believed that the training on kidnapping will help in these trying moments when it has escalated and has become a major topic on varied national and international platforms.
Why the Sensitization on kidnapping by Human Rights Reporters Ghana
The mysterious disappearance of (3) girls: Priscilla Blessing Bentum, Ruth Love Quayson and Priscilla Koranteng in the Western Region namely without knowing their whereabouts send shivers the spine of many right thinking members of our society.
This and other human rights violation issues in the country called for this important project which is yielding positive results, educating children and inspiring confidence in our future leaders. This is the time to educate the citizenry and arm them with the relevant skills, and knowledge on such matters .
Support the KTT project – Kidnapping, Teenage Pregnancy and Tramadol Abuse
The impact of this project has been heartwarming although it is at the pilot stage. Soon, the Human Rights Reporters Ghana will roll out the nationwide sensitization in all the ten regions of Ghana. They used the opportunity to appeal to well meaning Ghanaian, Other NGOs, and civil society organizations, Businesses and Philamtropist to support this noble project to reach at least 10 million Ghana’s.
Mr. Marvin Owusu Boateng, the Headmaster of the School has lauded the gallant effort of in the Human Rights Reporters Ghana for the brilliant concept and believes that such programs need to be organized more frequently for the pupils.
As part of measures to halt the burgeoning kidnapping phenomena that has characterized the nation in recent times, the Human Rights Reporters Ghana(HRRG) a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), committed to defending and protecting the rights of people has conducted a sensitization exercise aimed at educating over 30 Junior High School(JHS) students of the Grand Success Academy in Accra on Wednesday March 13, 2019.
The students were vigorously sensitized on the modus operandi, tricks and the techniques being employed by kidnappers to lure their unsuspecting targets who are mostly young girls.
The participants were also armed with tips to serve as a guide so as not to fall victims to the tricks of the so-called ‘miscreants’. In addition, they were also equipped with adequate knowledge and information on how to deal with child traffickers whenever they approach them.
Grand Success Academy is a private school located at Anyaa Palas Town, a suburb of Accra which offers pre-school, primary and Junior High Schools education in a sound environment where teaching and learning thrives. The school which was established in 2008 with a current population of 187 students is responsible for nurturing, providing quality educational training and proper upbringing of children so as to grow up and become useful to the society.
Ghana has been rocked with the worrying issues of kidnapping across the country in recent times. Since time memorial, issues of this nature had never been part of the nation’s history.
The sad disappearance of 21-year-old Priscilla Blessing Bentum since August 17, 2018, followed by the missing of 18-year-old Ruth Love Quayson on December 4, 2018 including the varnishing of 18-year-old Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie since December 21, 2018 without any hope of finding them have sent shock waves across entire nation.
As it stands, not even efforts of the police could make a Nigerian suspect in their custody tell the whereabouts of the missing girls, let’s alone the strong campaign media (#BringBackOurTaadiGirls) to put pressure on the security forces in the country to spur into action to bring back these girls has yielded the desired result.
Restless families of the missing girls now say their hopes are waning with every passing day without the news of whereabouts of their loved ones. The question being asked now is: “Is there any hope of finding these girls?”.
Interacting with the HRRG team on the sidelines of the exercise, the Proprietor of Grand Success Academy, Mr. Douglas Dodoo expressed profound gratitude towards HRRG team for taking time off their busy schedules to visit the school to help educate the students on the two most sensitive human rights issues Ghanaians are battling with in recent times.
While commending the HRRG team for their gesture, he referred to the issue of kidnapping as something which people talk about which probably never happened in Ghana until now and concluded: “As it happens, everyone’s attention has to be brought to it”.
“I’m grateful you’ve been here to talk to the children and their input shows that they’ve benefited well”, he maintained.
The sensitization exercise was conducted by three (3) member team from the Human Rights Reporters Ghana team(HRRG) made up of Mr. Benjamin Halo, Mr. Kojo Aidoo and Mr. Joseph Kobla Wemakor (Executive Director).
Touching on the rationale behind the exercise, Executive Director of Human Rights Reporters Ghana(HRRG), Mr. Joseph Kobla Wemakor maintained it has become crucial for the human rights group to stem in and conduct sensitization exercise in schools taking cognizance of the magnitude of human rights abuses Ghanaians are battling with currently which kidnapping dominates, making children the worst hit.
“Looking at the gory situation at hand, we have no choice as a group than to go ahead and conduct the exercise to help educate the students and equip them with vital knowledge and tips to help them overcome the tricks of the so-called kidnappers whenever they happen to meet them anywhere”.
“We believe it’s the surest way we can contribute our quota as group to prevent further attack on our youth to save our future generations”.
Mr. Wemakor disclosed the sensitization exercise is part of HRRG project which revolves round 3 critical areas; Kidnapping, Teenage Pregnancy and Tramadol Abuse aimed at ending all forms of human rights abuses against women, girls and children in the country. He averred that it will be held in some selected schools across all the regions of Ghana.
According to him the project is currently in its pilot stage which will last three for (3) months period after which the actual project will be rolled out to cover the whole year.
He therefore called on well-meaning Ghanaians, institutions, corporate organizations, CSOs, NGOs as well as the government to partner and support the Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG) in its quest to eliminate Kidnapping, Teenage Pregnancy and Tramadol abuse in Ghana as well as help protect and defend the fundamental human rights of all people especially women girls and children in the country.
The Human Rights Reporters Ghana(HRRG) is an advocacy Non-Governmental Organization(NGO) serving as a critical voice to the voiceless in the fight against all forms of abuse and violence that threatens the freedom and fundamental human rights of people in Ghana and beyond. The Organization is made up of a combined group of journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates who are committed to defending and protecting the rights of all humans on earth as far as enjoying their freedom and fundamental human rights are concerned.
Story by: Joseph Wemakor | HRRG Executive Director
