Ghana - CPYWD
Korczak’s legacy
for African children
Presented by Yakubu Iddrisu
Community Partnership for Youth and Women Development, Ghana
My name is Yakubu Iddrisu and I am the Executive Director of Community Partnership for Youth and Women Development (CPYWD), Ghana. A team working to empower young people especially children to know and accept themselves, be what they want to be with confidence and to contribute their best to the society in which they live.
Our curriculum at CPYWD offers children:
- Opportunity to gain new skills, build meaningful relationships, increase their self esteem, participate in character-building activities, and have a lot of fun.
- Opportunity to children in less equipped schools (poor schools) to interact and learn together with children from well equipped schools
- Challenging, engaging and fun learning experiences to assist children and youth develop and transform their social, emotional, physical, cultural and academic skills
- Remove children and youth people from the streets of Ghana
I like to present, in this write up, my views after having been introduced to Korczak and suggestions about Korczak in Africa, Ghana in particular as far as child care and street work is concerned.
Great men with great visionary services never die. They only transit leaving behind a legacy and heritage worth influencing to peoples way of life and generational life changing. A key example is the Polish doctor, teacher and physician, Janusz Korczak who lived sixty years ago. Korczak ideas and philosophy and pedagogy have travelled that far, across the sea to the shores and soil of Africa, Ghana in particular.
It all happen through a dedicated, committed and voluntary service minded Dutch Girl called Maartje Bos of the Netherlands who by her self buys into the ideas and pedagogy of Korczak.
The name and person of Korczak was first introduced to me in August 2007 by Maartje Bos (see her on the photo) when I was discussing integration as a way of young people development through camps and smaller groups. She was then organizing and facilitating trainings to persons living with disabilities and some church youth leaders in Tamale.
I got to know more about this great man when I had the opportunity (created by Maartje Bos and Theo Cappon) to attend and participate in an International Youth conference in the Netherlands organized by the Dutch Korczak Association when they celebrated their 25th anniversary in October 2007 at Bergen ann Zee.
A brief but concise presentation by Theo Cappon threw more light to my understanding and desire for this great man Korczak. I got to know that he was an educator with difference, physician, a writer and pedagogue who dedicated his life for the interest of children based on his definition and description of who children are, what they could be and how they could get there by themselves. It touched me so much. The library text I read during the conference coupled with the presentation and discussions with some participants who are funs of Korczak motivated me to wish being part of the Korczak family.
What I found very interesting and motivating during the conference was the organization and facilitation of meetings, workshop discussions and interaction of participants. To me it was true reflection of Korczak and his children environment. The friendly, creative and all participatory and all inclusive style that portrayed at the conference was much an inspiration to me. I was very happy about the organization, foresight, observation, reflection after each day. [Read other feedback here].
The methodology, themes and environment had a positive bearing and impact on my day to day life as a social worker with young people.
First my understanding of the child has been shaped by the work, ideas and pedagogy of Korczak. I am spurred to a higher level of dedication to the care for children especially those abandoned and are on the street.
Secondly, I realized, during some of the creative workshops that young people and for that matter children have a right to be as they are, the right to create their own environment, live their own experience and should not be shaped by adults to be ‘somebody’.
Even though we at CPYWD remember children rights in our work, the level of awareness and practice is not enough and therefore needs to be improved upon. The results are partly on the high level of illiteracy and culture. We realize children’s rights in terms of education, health, shelter, food and other basic needs but not to the extend of child rights to taking decisions and be responsible for it as in the case of Korczak.
Our project (CPYWD) tries to educate children and parents about child rights in relation to basic needs.
Having read, listen to and experience about Korczak’s thoughts, ideas and pedagogue and relating them to what we currently do at our project, in Ghana I feel that there are some similarities between what our work and his thoughts. These include but not limited to:
- Caring for children wholistic needs
- Designing and implementing child friendly and child centred programmes
- Listening to the voices of children and taking the joy, need, fears/threats seriously.
- Encouraging children participation and engagement in their environment
- Working to bring hope to hopeless children
After the October 2007 conference in the Netherlands, it has been my desire to share and introduce Korczak (ideas, thoughts and methodology) to my fellow Ghanaian and African social workers in schools, nursery, Early childhood centers, family and hospitals so that respect for children could be deepened according to the views of Korczak. This could be done in partnership with existing and practising Korczak societies, to jointly initiate and support projects like distributing and discussing publications on the role Korczak, organizing of conferences and seminars which will face contemporary issues from Korczak point of view.
Africa with her numerous child related challenges would embraces this so much. There are over twenty thousand children on the streets of Ghana many of whom are illiterates or school dropouts. They need inspiration just like that of Korczak to change their homelessness and hopelessness.
The Ghanaian growing democratic environment, its social freedom and hospitality coupled with the willing spirit of many Ghanaians to learn and apply new ideas is an opportunity to let Korczak be felt in Ghana and in the whole of Africa. Korczak ideas and philosophy, when propagated in Africa, will among other things lead to:
- Reduction or elimination of child mortality
- Children and young people enabled to play their rightful and active role in the African continent.
- Moving towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals
I am proud excited and enthusiastic to have heard and experience Korczak and wish to be associated with his thoughts in my day to day life in my career as a social worker.
Long live Korczak societies; more hope to the children of the world.
Yakubu IDDRISU,
February 22th, 2008
CPYWD, GHANA
Links
- Ghana-pedia, a website about Ghana
- More about Janusz Korczak [in French]
- Some articles about Korczak’s legacy