Scientologists Make Dream Come True for Ghana Children

The Church of Scientology of Milano cosponsors the creation of schools in Ghana villages. Two Scientologists left for Ghana April 7 for the opening of their latest elementary school, making education available for the first time to children of an entire village.

With funds raised by the Church of Scientology of Milano and the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance of Italy, two Scientologists are carrying out the next stage of a human rights initiative in Ghana to provide education to children who would otherwise have no opportunity to go to school.

Fiorella Cerchiara, president of the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance of Italy, along with her vice president, left for Ghana April 7 to open their third school in that country.

The project began in 2007 when a member of the government asked the Association to visit some Ghana villages in need of help. For two weeks, their delegation toured through six locations—five of them very poor, inaccessible villages. In each village, they met with the people and asked them to tell their most crucial need. The answer was invariably the same—education for the children.

Here were villages so poor that the children had no food, clothing, shoes, or toys, but the same answer came again and again. “They only asked for help to be able to study,” says Cerchiara. “So, we said, ‘Okay, we'll give you schools and school supplies.’”

The creation of these new schools benefits the entire community and surrounding area, as the Association hires local companies and artisans and purchases all construction material, school supplies, uniforms and classroom furniture from local merchants. The community is involved in every aspect of the planning and construction, so the entire project belongs to them.

On this latest trip to Ghana, the Association celebrates the opening of the third school they have built in Ghana—the first in the capital city of Accra and the second and third in remote villages where hundreds of children are gaining an education for the first time.

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.”