A lesson on how to help people: Clothe The Naked
Petra: Dear David [Willie Tyson], we met by chance and you gave me one of
the most memorable moments in Ghana – and my favourite in terms of kindness –.
I then got to know that you’re into charity. I looked at pictures, I got
glimpses into some of your events.
Can you please tell me more about your projects?
David: Clothe The Naked Outreach is a charitable
organisation providing clothing assistance, educational opportunities and
outreach programmes for the less-privileged people of Ghana, West Africa.
Clothe The Naked provides--
Clothing Assistance for the less-privileged people, especially
orphans in orphanages, poor people in deprived communities, mentally-challenged
people in psychiatric hospitals, and prisoners, with our Clothing Drive
Project. The purpose of our Clothing Drive Projects is to redistribute clothing
resources, which is our way of reducing the visible impacts of poverty, usually seen in the wearing of the same old tattered clothes by less-privileged people
who often have less clothes than they need, and also our own way of reducing
the amount of clothes that end up at dumping sites to pollute our environment.
Educational Opportunities for the less-privileged children of Africa.
Clothe The Naked runs a programme known as the CTN SCHOLARSHIP AID, which
funds the education of orphans, abandoned children, and children from poor
families in the deprived communities of Ghana, West Africa. The CTN Scholarship
Aid funds the education of carefully-selected beneficiaries from kindergarten
through to college/university. The purpose of the CTN Scholarship Aid is to
equip needy children with the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed
to change their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.
Clothe The Naked Outreach has also begun the
construction of a school in a deprived community in the Central Region of Ghana
where there is no school. Our CTN School shall provide-- tuition-free
education, free uniforms, free stationery, free lunches, and all other things
needed for a successful education for the children of the Dwen Daama village
and the surrounding communities.
Outreach programmes such as the Love-Machete Project, which
provides free farm machetes and clothes to people living in deprived farming
communities, with a purpose of empowering them to farm so that they can feed
themselves and their families.
Refresh The Orphan Project, which reaches out to children living in
orphanages with clothes and footwear, food and drinks, entertainment, counselling
and health screening – with a purpose of showing love to orphans, enhancing
their sense of belonging and boosting their confidence in life.
Prisons and Psychiatric Outreach, which provides clothing and entertainment to
mentally-challenged people in psychiatric hospitals and inmates of Ghanaian
prisons, with a purpose of showing them love and boosting their sense of
belonging.
Petra: How did it all start?
David: Clothe The Naked Outreach was started by a very passionate and
inspiring young man called Mr. Stephen Quainoo, who believes his purpose here on Earth is to make a difference. Mr. Quainoo’s childhood experiences may have
also contributed to this motivation for helping others; he grew up in a poor
family where he used to wear used clothes that were passed on to him by others.
But as he grew up, he realised that there were so many other people who were
poorer than him, and that made him uncomfortable. He began looking out for ways
to help and the first thing that came to his mind was redistribution of
clothing resources. So he started collecting clothes from those who have more than
needed for distribution to those who have less than needed, and eventually that
grew into a charity organisation which is now called Clothe The Naked
Outreach.
It is also important to note that if not for
the kind courtesies of some strangers who took it upon themselves to fund
Stephen’s education, he would not have been able to complete college, because
his family did not have the means to fund his education.
Therefore, providing clothing assistance and
educational opportunities for the less-privileged people of Ghana is more like
Mr. Quainoo’s way of paying back what was given to him. The simple movement for
clothes redistribution has now become a great organisation, which has benefited
over 10,000 people so far, and I am proud to be a director of this organisation.
Petra: Did you notice an impact on the community, in
general? If so, what changed?
David: So far fourteen (14) needy children are benefiting
from our CTN Scholarship Aid, which funds the education of
less-privileged children in Ghana. Beneficiaries of the CTN Scholarship Aid
receive financial support, which covers their tuition fees, stationery, school
uniforms, school bags, and footwear, school feeding fees or pocket money,
hostel fees, and all other things needed for a successful formal
education, from basic school to tertiary. Children who could have never stepped foot in classrooms are now
schooling comfortably thanks to our aid.
About 600 people in deprived rural farming
communities have received farming tools such as farm machetes from our Love-Machete
Project, which has empowered them to farm and feed themselves and the
thousands of family members who depend on them. These beneficiaries do not
starve, nor go to bed on empty stomachs thanks to our help.
Over 200,000 pieces of clothes wasting away in
people’s wardrobes, which would have ended up in dumpsites to pollute the
environment, have been rescued and distributed to those who need them in
orphanages, psychiatric hospitals, prisons, and deprived rural communities of
Ghana. The over 25,000 beneficiaries of our clothing assistance no longer walk
around in tattered clothes and barefoot, with poverty drawn all over them.
Most of these beneficiaries in orphanages and prisons have also benefited from the
free health screening, free feeding, free entertainment, and free motivational
talks within our outreach programmes.
Petra: Do you feel that you have set an example for other
African nations to follow?
David: Clothe The Naked Outreach operates a very unique and innovative module
of operation worth emulating by other organisations and youth groups in Africa
in particular and around the Globe.
We are a group of young people who have
come together to pull our resources together to help the less-privileged people
in our communities. All our projects are being run and funded by ourselves. We
currently have close to 200 members with a wide range of skill sets, who
volunteer their services for the benefit of our beneficiaries and we also pay
monthly dues to fund our projects. This explains how we have been able to run
successful projects for years without a permanent staff nor external funding or
sponsorship.
It is also important to note that the
clothing assistances that we give out do not come from abroad and they are not
bought nor imported – we provide a channel for redistribution of clothing
assistance by collecting clothes from those who have more than needed in Ghana,
and giving them out to those who have less clothes than needed in Ghana. This
prevents the situation where developing countries become dumping sites for
developed countries.
Petra: What is next on your list? Are you planning
some new events?
David: The next project on our list is the construction of a school building for the children of a deprived rural community called Dwen Daama, in the Central Region of Ghana. This community has over 50 children below 10 years but there is no school in the community – the closest school to Dwen Daama is about 10 kilometres away in another community.
Clothe The Naked Outreach has secured a 2-acre land in Dwen Daama for the construction of
a school for the community. Our school will provide tuition-free education, which
will also provide free uniforms, free stationery, and all other needed things,
for our students.
The purpose of this project is to make education
accessible to the children of Dwen Daama and its
surrounding villages and boost motivation for education among the children and
parents of the community, in pursuance of our mission to empower the
less-privileged people of Ghana for a better future.
Petra: How can we help/contribute?
David: Kind people are not
necessarily the richest people on Earth; kind people are just those people who
are willing to share the little that they have with those who have none. Kind
people do not wait to become millionaires before they help others. We are counting
on the support of kind-hearted individuals like you to make this project a
success.
We
are currently trying to raise US$ 15,000 for the first phase of our school
building project, and your donation of just US$ 6 would buy us one
bag of cement for the construction of the school for the children of Dwen
Daama.
Donations
can be sent through
PayPal:
info@ctncharity.org
MTN
Mobile Money Number: +233557808749
For
more information, you may call us +233557808749 or kindly
visit our:
Facebook
page: www.facebook.com/ctncharity
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/ctncharity
Website:
www.ctncharity.orgPictures: © Clothe The Naked
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