Scientology: How We Help—A Brighter Future for Ghana Children

The Association for Human Rights and Tolerance and the Church of Scientology of Milan opened the third UNITED for Africa school in Ghana April 13, 2013.

Imagine the children of an entire village celebrating because they have a school to attend. Those who live in the remote western Ghana village of Asukese call this the “Magic School” because its dedication on April 13, 2013, seemed impossible—there has never been a school in this village before and no opportunity for village children to gain an education.

The school consists of six classrooms and an office. It was built by UNITED for Africa, a project of the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance of Italy and the Church of Scientology of Milan. UNITED for Africa funded the school, hired local companies and artisans to build it, and purchased all raw materials for the construction and the school supplies and classroom furniture from local merchants. The community was involved in every aspect of the planning and construction. The school truly belongs to them.

Fiorella Cerchiara, president of the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance of Italy, traveled to Ghana in early April 2013 to dedicate the school and plan future projects.

She was joined in cutting the ribbon by local dignitaries including the district director of education, a representative of the district chief executive's office, the assemblyman over the village, the tribal chief of the village of Asukese and surrounding district, and the paramount chief for the entire region.

District Director of Education Daniel K. Adu thanked UNITED For Africa for making the right to education possible in Asukese—a right the children of this village had never experienced until now.

Paramount Chief Nana Alhassan Serebour said he was touched by the care shown by people from a distant land who have made it possible for the village to improve its future.

UNITED for Africa began in 2007 when a Ghana official asked the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance to visit several Ghana villages. For two weeks, Association representatives toured through six locations—five of them extremely poor, inaccessible villages. In each village, they met with the people and asked about their most crucial need. The answer was always the same—education for the children. Asukese is the third school UNITED for Africa has opened in Ghana.

A human rights initiative, UNITED for Africa is creating schools to empower children with the right to education, a right enshrined in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Each of the children of the village was given copies of What Are Human Rights, a booklet that describes each of the articles of the UDHR in terms youth can easily understand.

Scientologists on five continents engage in collaborative efforts with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about broad-scale awareness and implementation of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights document.

The Church of Scientology published Scientology: How We Help—United for Human Rights, Making Human Rights a Global Reality, to meet requests for more information about the human rights education and awareness initiative the Church supports. To learn more, visit Scientology.org/HumanRights.

Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream,” and the Scientology religion is based on the principles of human rights. The Code of a Scientologist calls on all members of the religion to dedicate themselves “to support true humanitarian endeavors in the fields of human rights.”