There is one thing we all now keep as a mantra: to be learners; to crave for opportunities and to be willing to serve humanity, first, and then embrace the affliction aftermath.
Happiness Project, being a major club in Academic City College, comes with a lot of responsibilities. Also, we being one of the first clubs among the few to be started on campus adds up to the pressure. Ours is the will to succeed and to sustain the beauty of what we do for all prospective students to make a meaningful impact, too- so as to keep the ball rolling.
Aside our weekly fun packed activities on campus, and our “take the calendar moments” (that is, taking advantage of events on the yearly calendar to surprise the community on campus), this semester, we decided to reach out to a community. This mission, we are happy to say, took us to the Reading Spots and the people of Ekawso in the Eastern Region. The truth is, we all wanted to serve; and we felt the need to organize book drive and also gather some writing materials in that regard.
Frankly speaking, there were days when some of us lost it all. We were just tired of not seeing any successful end to this. There were days when our strength faltered but we halted not. Our only optimism was to constantly envisage ourselves at Nkawkaw (Ekawso) smiling back at what we predicted will be a gleaming smile from school going children who do not have equal privileges as most of us do. We deeply felt the need to tacitly add value to a community that is ready to welcome positive change from wherever it may come from.
It is worth being thankful to our donors for their immense contribution towards this project: The Dean of students, lecturers and staff members of Academic City College, our neighbors back home, students of Academic City College, members and executives of the club. We also thank Mr. Kwami Sefa Kayi of Peace FM who, through his ward, organized transportation for us to and from Ekawso. All of these people won with us.
Throughout this journey, we have explored, partly, that side of our world; we have had chance to know a little bit about some of the pupil volunteers from the Sevenoaks School and their campus life. And we have also learnt about community entry. The point is, this is not about us: it is about kindness; it is about giving hope where it seems dwindling, and giving shininess where it seems dull.
While our overall success will depend on whether they make good use of these materials or not, we think it is encouraging to congratulate ourselves for this gesture.
In all, we are grateful to the Reading Spots and the Ekawso community for giving us the opportunity to serve beautifully. We hope to be of support again in the future.
Written by Issac Amponsah Appiah, President of the Academy City Happiness Project
