Welcome to our December 2023 newsletter
Savannah Education Trust is a charity providing an education for some of the poorest children in West Africa. We now have ten Christian schools in northern Ghana in the villages of Bagri, Gberi, Korh, Pavuu, Mettoh, Tungan-Zagkpee, Boo, Baapari, Danko-Buree and Lyssah. The charity also ensures every schoolchild receives a meal each day and has a programme to support teachers in this remote and poor area.
Dear Supporters,
There is something unforgettable about the first visit to a Savannah school: driving through the green landscape, seeing the first glimpse of the blue walls and hearing the first happy sound of children’s voices.
When some of our trustees visited Ghana for the first time, they were struck by something else too – the dedication and enthusiasm of the students. At Bagri Primary School, the first school built by Savannah, we arrived in the middle of a national teacher strike. Despite this, the children had come into school to revise for their end of year exams coming up later in the week.
Even more striking than the wish to be in school was a group of boys, under the shadow of the eaves, repairing a broken classroom desk. Their care for their school was obvious. They were spending their spare moments in maintenance work, Sammy, who is 12, was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. Before the school was built, his answer would have been predictable: the hard slog of a life of subsistence farming. But his eyes lit up as he said, “a carpenter – so I can build schools.”
At this time of year, we particularly remember the coming of the Lord Jesus who humbled himself to such an extent that the people dismissively asked, “Is not this the carpenter?” (Mark 6:3). But we also take a moment at the end of the year to reflect on all that has happened to the charity to the year: the hundreds of lessons taught and the thousands of meals served. And we think of children like Sammy who are now benefitting from a school. They have the opportunity to dream: whether, as in Sammy’s case, of running a small carpentry business or, like other children at Bagri, becoming medics and teachers, mechanics and entrepreneurs. Now they also have a greater blessing than decent education and future dreams: the hope of the gospel.
Those children gathered in the eaves of Bagri School are not able to thank you personally. It is our greatest privilege to be able to do so on their behalf. When we look at these children and their bright hopes for the future, we know that none of it would be possible without our supporters.
We shared in our most recent newsletter, that our needs are greater than ever and our finances more challenging than at any stage in our two-decade history. Your support is very precious to us.
We join with all of our friends in Ghana in wishing you a very happy Christmas and God’s blessing during 2025.
On behalf of the trustees, and with our thanks,
Paul Ramsbottom