Hayley returns to Ghana (2008)

[martindn]

Hi Roger,

Thanks for the pictures. It is lovely to see Hayley doing this, and making a difference to these people's lives. Hayley just seems to spread joy and love wherever she goes. Fabolous!

Martin

[Sing]

Hi everyone
Whilst brousing through this weeks edition (?)of Hello! magazine (with Kylie Minnogue on the front cover) I found a short interview with Hayley about her recent trip to Ghana, It also includes two pictures of her in Ghana

Here's the article.

Hayley Westenra A chorus of approval as the singer returns to Africa to back a campaign for pure water

Since finding fame at 16, there have been many high points in the career of New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra. But few can match the satisfaction of her recent trip to Afric, where she saw first-hand the difference her Bikes for Ghana project- which she launched in 2005- had made to local children.
"We were greeted with a warm, musical welcome, I was even invited to dance," explains the singer, dressed in a smock given to her by the local chief. [shown in the left picture] "I've met people benefiting from the project. Before they were walkingm arriving later and getting behind at school. Now they can use their bikes to collect water and firewood as well as make it to school, safely."
But her work there is far from over and Hayley, 21, has turned her attention to the need for clean water for the country's children. She is now spearheading UNICEF's campaign to install water pumps that help flush out a parasite that causes a painful disease. "The end is in sight," she says

/// Sing

[postscript]

Thanks sing for you Ghana contribution. `any chance of a picture scan, please?
Peter S.

[grant]

Thanks for the tip off Sing!

I will get myself a copy tomorrow!!

Best wishes
Grant

[graemek]

Hi Peter & Grant,
Thanks from me too Sing.

You got me curious re Hello magazine & so I looked up the web & found that you can buy a digital magazine download straight off the net.
It has a program called zinio which it runs on. Price for 1 issue was about $AU4.37.
Hayley is on page 67, these are screen caps of that page:


Graeme

[Richard]

Hello everybody!

I've just received this great new video of Hayley's trip to Ghana from Decca/UCJ.

Enjoy!

Richard

[grant]

Hi Richard

Thank you for the gorgious video. I particularly liked the bit where Hayley was blowing bubbles for the children and the wonderous look on their faces when Hayley sang for them.

Brilliant!!

Best wishes
Grant

[Andrew]

Hi Richard,

I would like to echo what Grant says... Thank you so much for sharing the link to Hayley's Ghana video with us!

I was very moved when I watched it.

Andrew

[Martin]

Hi Richard
Many thanks also for this very moving video. There wasn't a dry eye to be seen by the end.

Martin

[martindn]

Richard,

That is fabulous. How wonderful it is to see Hayley doing things like that. And how beautiful she sounds singing unaccompanied, who needs an orchestra. Thanks for posting that link!

Martin

[Richard]

Here's an interesting article from UNICEF.

Digital Diary: Bernice reports on the benefits of giving bikes to Ghanaian schoolgirls

UNICEF Radio and Voices of Youth Digital Diarist Bernice Akuamoah interviews
Rahinatu Alhassan, (left), 15, and Sherifatu Zakaria, 16, who have both benefited
from UNICEF-sponsored bicycles at their school in Tarikpaa, Ghana.

NEW YORK, USA, 7 January 2009 – In much of the developing world, young girls are often left behind when it comes to their education. While sons are encouraged to attend school and strike out on their own, many daughters find that their education is of secondary importance to parents who are struggling to make ends meet.

Bernice Akuamoah, 22, a Voices of Youth and UNICEF Radio Digital Diarist, saw this neglect firsthand while growing up in Ghana, where many of her female classmates had to do chores before homework.

But programmes that encourage parents to school their children – and especially their daughters – now proliferate in Ghana and around the world. Bernice recently visited one such project in Northern Ghana along with the project's founder, UNICEF Ambassador Hayley Westenra.

‘Bikes for Ghana’

Ms. Westenra, 21, an internationally renowned singer from New Zealand, is one of UNICEF's youngest Goodwill Ambassadors. She first visited Ghana with UNICEF in 2005, and while there she started the ‘Bikes for Ghana’ programme, which gives bicycles to children who live so far from the nearest school that it can take them over an hour to make the journey on foot.

The programme has reached roughly 6,000 girls from deprived rural communities, helping them to attend classes regularly and return home in time to finish both their chores and their studies.

"In the northern part of Ghana, most of these girls, and even boys, are very far away from their schools, so these bicycles enable them to commute to school easily and to come back home early," Bernice said.

On time to learn

"I was coming to school late every day because of the time that it took to finish my housework and come to school," said Rahinatu, 15, one of the beneficiaries of the programme. "So the bicycle helped me to come to school early."

Rahinatu said that before she received her bike, she would miss school two or three times a week.

Mussa Amin, one of the teachers who works with the bicycle project, confirmed that before the bikes arrived, attendance was very poor.

"Absenteeism was so much," he said. “But after getting the bicycles, we are so impressed because they are now able to come to school punctually, and when we teach them they get the information very well."

Richard

[postscript]

Thank you Richard for your UNICEF link and new story. It is really great to read of Hayley in a world context and the success of her charity involvement. I had not realised that she was effectively 'running' the project and it was effectively 'her show'. That is great news.
Peter S.

[Richard]

Hello everybody!

There are now two radio interviews with Hayley on this page: www.unicef.org.nz/page/53/Ghanaproject.html

RealPlayer is required.

Richard

[Dori]

Oct 24, 2008 15:17:29 GMT Richard said:

Hello everybody!

I've just received this great new video of Hayley's trip to Ghana from Decca/UCJ.

Enjoy!

Richard

The video doesn't work for me, Richard. Can someone fix it?

Dori

[roger]

Hi Dori,

If it is UCJ's video, we couldn't fix it but it plays fine for me.

Roger