As part of the Club’s area of focus, the Rotary Club of Takoradi-Anaji in collaboration with the Rotary Clubs of Tarkwa and Sekondi-Takoradi, has empowered fifty (50) students of the Takoradi Technical Institute in vocational skills.
The facilitators, SkinCET Consult, trained the beneficiaries on the production of liquid soap, shower gel, bleach and fabric softener.
Speaking to Beach Newsroom, President of the Takoradi-Anaji Rotary Club, Rotarian Angelina Aba Yalley, gave reasons behind her outfits decision to empower the students.
“We have areas of focus; this falls under the theme ‘girl child empowerment and menstrual hygiene’. And it is obligatory for every Rotary Club President to carry out an activity under that theme. So we started by giving them talks on menstrual hygiene and after that empower them with these skills.”
“We usually give them six (6) months supply of sanitary pads. But for how long can that last? So we decided to move a step further by giving them these skills so that they can produce, sell and make some profit to enable them buy the sanitary products on their own through their lives without depending on anybody. This idea is backed by the thoughts of sustainability”, she added.
Mary Nimo, the Senior Girls’ Prefect in an interview with Beach Newsroom said, “so far it’s been wonderful. They brought some health coordinators to educate us on personal hygiene concerning menstruation. And also the soap making, most of us don’t know how to do it. I always say every technical thing is interesting. I would want to a very big thank you to the Rotary Club and SkinCET Consult for coming to support us.”
The Senior House Master of the school, Emmanuel Asare, expressed gratitude and appreciation to the Rotary Club for empowering the students.
He said, “this is a very good initiative considering the fact that we are a technical institute and we give technical training to our students, the Rotary Clubs coming together to give this capacity to our students will go a long way to make them self-sufficient after school and they can also impact the knowledge they have received to their family and friends. We are most grateful for this partnership.”
Mr Asare further called on other institutions to come onboard and empower their students.
“We are open to other NGOs, institutions or corporate bodies who will want to partner us, engage our students or empower them. In what ever way that will help our students, we are ever ready to open our doors to receive such organizations.”
The Rotary Club of Takoradi-Anaji has embarked on a health screening exercise, health insurance registration, marternal care, amongst others for residents of Takoradi.
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to “provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders”. It is a non-political and non-religious organization. There are over 46,000 member clubs worldwide, with a membership of 1.4 million individuals, known as Rotary members or Rotarians.
