February 13, 2016 - This year, the Ashesi community chose a special way to mark the Valentine’s Day Season – repainting the Berekuso classroom block including the headmistress’ and teachers’ cottages. Themed LoveSplash, the exercise jointly organized by the Student Council and the Office of Community Engagement brought the Ashesi community and Berekuso school pupils together on the eve of Valentine’ s Day, to repaint their school.
“We’ve been in the dirt for a long time, “ said Margaret Teiko, Headmistress of the Berekuso Complex Schools. “Really, [Ashesi] has taken the school as a demonstration school, and I’m highly impressed with what they are doing. I hope it will enlighten our students and teachers.”
Over the years, the classroom block, comprising six classrooms, has received little attention with regards to maintenance. While the buildings remain largely intact, the wall paint has significantly worn away, essentially creating an eyesore for classrooms. Disbursement of funds from the federal educational services is usually a long drawn out process, thus schools like the Berekuso Complex Schools are left waiting in line for a while.
Thus for Ashesi, this project not only presented an opportunity for our first major corporate social responsibility project for the year, but also gave the community an opportunity to engage with the Berekuso community in an exciting way, while addressing a pressing need.
“I was excited about the turnout as we marked Valentine's Day in a unique way,” said Melissa Akita '17, Outreach Committee Chairperson. “Providing a more conducive learning environment for the Berekuso school children motivated us to paint their school. I hope we achieved our aim of making the kids yearn for school each day, and also find inspiration in our artwork.”
The event took on a competitive edge as various residence halls contended for the best artwork and design in the classrooms. Thus, they went beyond just painting the classrooms to making murals and in some cases laying wallpaper on some of the classroom walls.
“[Artwork] makes me more lively, and so for children who may be more appreciative of art, hopefully it does the same for them,” said Joy Dzidzor Asamoah ’16, “It’s fun to look at, and hopefully it helps make their experience more fun and lively.
The exercise eventually was not just a community engagement opportunity; it was an opening to impart values into the lives of the children and other members of the community.“The turnout was impressive,” said Penelope Bloom Thompson of the Business Administration Department. “It’s great to have some of the children here to see the kind of effort we put into this, working as teams. So hopefully it instills the value of teamwork in them. It’s also exciting that even after two or three years, we can come back to see the painted walls and designs.”
