To give and to receive are one in truth.

Vision depends upon today’s idea. The light is in it, for it reconciles all seeming opposites. And what is light except the resolution, born of peace, of all your conflicts and mistaken thoughts into one concept which is wholly true? Even that one will disappear, because the Thought behind it will appear instead to take its place. And now you are at peace forever, for the dream is over then.

True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body’s eyes behold. It is a state of mind that has become so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all. And thus what is the same is seen as one, while what is not the same remains unnoticed, for it is not there.

This is the light that shows no opposites, and vision, being healed, has power to heal. This is the light that brings your peace of mind to other minds, to share it and be glad that they are one with you and with themselves. This is the light that heals because it brings single perception, based upon one frame of reference, from which one meaning comes.

Here are both giving and receiving seen as different aspects of one Thought whose truth does not depend on which is seen as first, nor which appears to be in second place. Here it is understood that both occur together, that the Thought remain complete. And in this understanding is the base on which all opposites are reconciled, because they are perceived from the same frame of reference which unifies this Thought.

One thought, completely unified, will serve to unify all thought. This is the same as saying one correction will suffice for all correction, or that to forgive one brother wholly is enough to bring salvation to all minds. For these are but some special cases of one law which holds for every kind of learning, if it be directed by the One Who knows the truth.

To learn that giving and receiving are the same has special usefulness, because it can be tried so easily and seen as true. And when this special case has proved it always works, in every circumstance where it is tried, the thought behind it can be generalized to other areas of doubt and double vision. And from there it will extend, and finally arrive at the one Thought which underlies them all.

WE GIVE AS WE RECEIVE....

We're happy to answer any questions you might have about Making a Donation or sponsoring a child with Helping Africa ...
E-Mail Us Now AT: info.helpingafrica@gmail.com
OR call us on +233 (0) 578-367-576 (Monday to Friday 9:30am to 5:30pm)

HELPING Africa’s History

The charity was founded in 2002 by Bishop JL. Geoff and Dr. Kojo Drahama Kwasi who both share a passion for Africa, especially Accra Ghana. During one fateful trip (and some very questionable map reading!) to Ghana, they found their way to the village of Keta and fell in love with the area. They decided to buy a property there and, with the combination of their skills and a strong passion for Africa, Helping Africa was born.

Keta Primary School was the first school HELPING Africa supported
We believe in empowering local communities to be the solution

HELPING Africa’s projects are based around the rural village of Keta in Accra Ghana. The charity’s overriding aim is to empower communities so they themselves can achieve a sustainable future – we strongly believe that it is the local people who are the solution to many of the challenges they face. We do many things in a small area, as many different issues are closely linked. Everything HELPING Africa does is in response to the local communities’ needs. By enabling the local communities, great things can happen and they are all life changing. HELPING Africa’s belief is “Providing a hand UP and not a hand out,” and that philosophy has been central to the charity’s ideology for over a decade.

Although the charity began with humble roots, employing just a handful of Ghanaian staff and welcoming a few overseas volunteers to help, it wasn’t long before the needs of the community meant that HELPING Africa began to expand, growing one project at a time into the charity it is now.

Today, the charity has over 2,000 people working on HELPING Africa projects on the ground and has a tremendous impact on the local communities. However, despite the charity’s significant achievements and ambitious scope, HELPING Africa is still small enough that the charity remains home-grown and grassroots based, and it is our intention to keep it that way.

We work hard but believe in having fun at our Buckingham head office. Our meeting table is also used for table tennis!
The Ghana head office in Accra, which was built in 2011, is an ideal place for meetings and training sessions

HELPING Africa is very different in its approach to the local community. HELPING Africa believes in empowering local people to manage the projects which affect their own community, and the charity only employs Ghanaian nationals in Ghana (no paid Westerners who could take a local job). The charity is big enough that it is making a huge difference in Ghana, but small enough that it remains effective, efficient, and fun. Above all, HELPING Africa is different because everyone involved is so passionate about what the charity is doing, and it is this great enjoyment and enthusiasm which makes HELPING Africa the charity that it is.

HELPING Africa is committed to all projects in the long term; everything we do is led by the local people, operating at a grassroots level, involving the community in all aspects of its activity helping to ensure that the local communities have a positive, more prosperous and happy future in an amazing country.

Vulnerable people In Africa

By Esther Kamau of Breakthrough Foundation.

a child's life ?

In Ethiopia, the desperate are called “those who cook water”; in Ghana they are called “those with two bags”, one for begging in the hungry season and the other for begging in the season of plenty. They are the ones trapped in the vicious circle of poverty; the orphans, the homeless widows, the exploited and abused girls, the disabled, the old and the sick. They are the powerless, the socially excluded and the invisibles. On a continent where welfare systems are either non-existent or unable yet to cope with the numbers, the worst off are the children, youth and women.

a girl's life ?

Take Njeri for example. When her parents died of Aids when she was only 10 years old, her uncle took her in. Yet he showed her only cruelty, selling off the bit of land her father had left her and treating her like a servant. As Njeri did not go to school, she had little hope of ever having a decent life. She was a typical candidate for the “poverty that lays eggs” as Zimbabweans call it, probably ending up selling her body for food, becoming pregnant and giving birth to a child with little prospect of doing any better. Njeri left her uncle’s home for what she hoped would be a better life on the harsh streets of Nairobi. Luckily she was found by Breakthrough Foundation’s partners in Kenya. She is now being looked after and goes to school.

Supported orphans

That story of vulnerability is one of millions being played out each day in Sub Saharan Africa and many do not have a happy ending. But we can all take someone by the hand, show them caring and give them the tools to become the economic and driving force in their countries. You can do that too by showing your support to the T4A member charities that are making a real difference to the lives of thousands and thousands of vulnerable people in Sub Saharan Africa. You’ll be surprised how little it costs to make a big impact.

Water & Sanitation In Africa

Two things we take for granted. Yet, by 2002, 42% of Africans still had no access to improved sources of water and only 36% enjoyed some sort of improved sanitation. In layman terms, this means no clean water on tap or even within a few hundreds yards and nowhere, private, hygienic or safe for people and the environment to pee and defecate.

the daily grind

In Africa, every year, nearly 700,000 children die before their 5th birthday from diarrhoea. It is estimated that up to 70% of these deaths could be avoided with improvements in drinking water at the point of use; something as simple as boiling water and keeping it in a safe container. But although much ado is done about providing clean water, it is the lack of sanitation that causes the most havock for people’s health and for the environment; ensuring that the vicious circle of contamination is left unbroken.
“Because they don’t have toilets, millions of people practice what is known as ‘open defecation’. They wait for darkness to set off for the fields; or they dump the foul contents of their household bucket in an open drain when no-one is looking; or they squat down on a bread-wrapper or plastic bag and throw the parcel on a dump. Rainfall or a local stream, or maybe scavenging dogs and pigs, help tidy the mess away, or the sun may oblige by baking it dry. But in an increasingly crowded world, millions of people inevitably pick up excreta-related diseases from faecal particles lying about in the open, and 1.5 million small children thereby annually lose their lives.” New Internationalist, Issue 414. For the full article and lots more fascinating information.

Education & Training In Africa

To understand the importance of education in fighting poverty you need only pass through any community in Africa. Before we discovered Kadzinuni we traveled across Kenya by road passing through tiny villages, small towns and through the congested streets of Nairobi and Mombasa. The one thing that you notice more than anything is the schools.

Their roadside sign posts proudly announce them, often with their motto or slogan proclaiming the benefit of attending The Rise & Shine Academy or the Tana River Primary School. From the outside most appear poorly built and maintained; often a long way from where the students live. Do not be dismayed or put off by the appearance because as you step inside you’ll be hit hard by the most amazing experience. There will usually be few resources, huge class sizes, few desks and hot and stuffy classrooms with students gently baking under the corrugated iron roof.

wonderfully behaved

BUT despite all that you will invariably find beautifully behaved young people, extraordinary teachers and an excitement around learning that can take your breath away. The reason for this is simple, education is valued; it is quite clearly the most important thing in their lives, after water and food.

A new classroom

Everywhere in Africa there is deep seated hunger for education which is why supporting causes that promote education in Africa is so rewarding. Letters we receive from students we support demonstrate it day in day out; letters that fill you with such joy as they share their journey through school with you. I saw a school roof near Nairobi once, on it was painted quite roughly “Education is a weapon”. It really is that simple, in the fight against poverty, education is the only real strategy.

Health & HIV/AIDS In Africa

HIV/AIDS in West Africa
Of the estimated 33 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, 2/3 of those people live in West Africa (UNAIDS/ WHO, 2009). Heterosexual intercourse is the primary mode of transmission in Africa. HIV prevalence rates among sex workers continue to be high, and there is a myriad of social, cultural, traditional and economic reasons why people have multiple sexual partners and why they may not be able to practice safe sex.Transmission of HIV from mothers to their newborn and breastfed babies is significant, while new trends showing notable infection rates among men who have sex with men and injecting drug users in some countries, indicate that epidemics across West, Southern and East Africa are much more varied than previously understood (UNAIDS/ WHO, 2009).
Why is the problem so bad?
The reasons for the high prevalence of HIV in Africa are numerous and complex. Awareness of HIV/AIDS is not so much the problem- widespread sensitisation campaigns have ensured that most people in West Africa know that HIV exists.

Acting is used to inform

Indeed surveys have showed that in Liberia and Ghana, there was almost universal knowledge of HIV (Ghana Commission for AIDS et al., 2008; Ndayiragueet al., 2008b). The difficulty is that many people do not have a comprehensive enough grasp of the facts to understand how HIV is transmitted or how that information applies to them. Through our work with communities in African countries, we have observed that, due to a host of social, cultural and economic circumstances, people are unable to choose to protect themselves. Hence, a significant part of the mission of T4A members working in the field of HIV/AIDS is to contribute to empowering people to be able to make a choice about whether or not they contract or transmit HIV.
Moving forward

Campaigning in Zambia

Encouragingly, evidence suggests that the situation is improving and that HIV prevention programmes are working. For example, a recent study showed a trend towards safer sexual behaviour amongst young people in Africa (Gouws et al., 2008). Access to antiretroviral treatment has also dramatically improved over the last few years, which has had an impact on the numbers of people willing to be tested for HIV. Other initiatives, such as compulsory testing and treatment of pregnant women in Zambia, have helped significantly in the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT). Stover et al. (2008) found that the annual number of new HIV infections among children declined five-fold in Botswana between 1999 and 2007 as PMTCT initiatives were increased.
Overall, trends published by the World Health Organisation show that prevalence of HIV in SSA have started to plateau over the last few years. However, there is still a long way to go. Our own experience is concurrent with the literature, which indicates that effective HIV/AIDS outreach varies hugely across SSA. Crucial populations are still to be reached and there is still much to be done before comprehensive coverage is achieved. As a coalition, T4A is committed to playing its part in facilitating outreach in African communities that will empower people to become HIV/AIDS competent and to be able to make positive life choices.

WHO WE ARE

Helping Africa is a nonprofit charity organization based in Accra Ghana with alliance from U.S. & Western-based churches and organization with the full commitment of helping children, families, and communities throughout Western Africa.

Helping Africa members are all dedicated to solving the complex, inter-related challenges facing Africa. Our members realize that, as effective as they each are on their own, they can be even more powerful when they approach Africa’s issues as a group.

Together our members, with their partners on the ground in Africa, touch almost every aspect of the African community. Whether they are collecting and distributing books to school children, introducing medical strategies to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and Ebola virus, or identifying and supporting women’s micro-enterprise projects, Helping Africa’s members have one thing in common—a passionate desire to help the people of Africa solve critical problems and build a better future for their children and communities.

Organizations wishing to become part of the Helping Africa partnership must meet stringent tests of fiscal accountability, governance and programmatic impact.

If you would like to support the work of Helping Africa, please contact Us for a donation.

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OUR OBJECTIVES

To share knowledge and improve our skills in order to become more effective within our own charities.
To increase our fundraising opportunities and diversify our income streams through activities that can only be undertaken if there is a pool of volunteers, contacts, technical expertise and financial resources.
To raise the profile of our own charities.
To raise the profile of the development activities that are needed in Africa and of the ones we are particularly familiar with.
To raise the profile of the great work small charities do at grassroots level, mostly on a shoestring.
To get the opportunity of attracting more volunteers.
To create a pool of information so that, in time, no charity needs to waste time searching information that is already known / used by others.
To build strong, equally valued relationships to inspire and boost motivation.
To create working partnerships so that if opportunities or needs arise, one charity may help another on some particular project.
To work towards an independent coalition of members that can attract funding in its own right to be redistributed to its members for projects in Africa and to provide training opportunities for ourselves.

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In a Nutshell

“I love Africa in general; South Africa and West Africa, they are both great countries” said Paris Hilton. Well, Paris is not alone in getting muddled about Africa and as George Kimble once said “The darkest thing about Africa has always been our ignorance of it.” So, with a lot of outside help, because you have to admit Africa is a big subject, we are going to try and bring some clarity to this “thing” about Africa and you are welcome to join in.

But, to keep up with the generalization for a little while longer, it must be said that the Africa of today is not the Africa of the days of Independence (from late 50’s to the early 70’s for most), or even of the Africa of the 80’s and even 90’s. In the last 10 years, political and economic progress has been the order of the day for many of the countries, albeit slow and sometimes ill inspired. But most of the countries of Africa had a huge mountain to climb at independence. Bereft of infrastructure or an ambitious middle class able to drive the economy and pay taxes to a Government accountable to them instead of their old masters and later the aid business; the path to progess was always going to be a tough one.First, and in defence of Paris, Africa is all too often described, talked about, as if it were one big country, when it is in fact a continent of some 53 countries with different cultures, languages, environment and of course economic and political set ups. Unfortunately for us, we tend to hear only about those countries that make the headlines and usually for the wrong reasons. Yet, just equally, you could say Africa is a country because all African people have a common history, one that predates the artificial and recently imposed borderlines, a common past experience of slavery and colonialism, a common present experience of struggles and hopefully a common future of economic, political and social freedom. But for now, studying Africa, country by country is a fair and practical way to do justice to the efforts of each one of them. So over the next few months, we will open a “dossier” for as many countries as we can, starting with those where our members are actively engaged.

But today Africa is the only continent that grew faster in 2008 than it did in 2007. It even has less debt than any other continents and its diaspora sends more money back home than it receives in aid from the rest of the world. Over 50% of countries now hold democratic elections that can be deemed free and fair. Those tackling corruption head on, such as Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and even Nigeria are finding that investors are sniffing around, although much unnessary red tape (a remnant of colonialism?) is still a real obstacle to doing business in Africa.

But while it is right to see a ray of optimism, the challenges are still huge. Sub saharan Africa is still the poorest region in the world with over 700 million people living on less than a dollar a day and unlikely to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. We have put up a page for you to see what they are and to help you compare progress. Do also check out our links and information page for more information and unusual, and sometime funny, facts and fiction. Enjoy Africa, we certainly do