Charles Kofi Frimpong A 52 year old farmer from Surano, Charles was trained in January 2008 to be a Community Health Worker concentrating on Malaria reduction. Charles has 3 children but he lost his daughter Adwoa Manuh to malaria when she was just 7 years old. This has made him determined to use his training to improve malaria prevention in his village. He says, “I want to assist the community. Malaria has too much of an impact in the community so we have to work to prevent it. It brings poverty because we use our money for daily clinics and can’t work on our farms when a member of the family is sick. We go around the village, telling people to clean their compound.” When visiting community households, “sometimes we have to rehang the bednet. If we see a hole, we will sew the net for them so they will be sleeping under it.” He is enthusiastic for the future saying that the malaria intervention “will enable us to keep money to do something better. In five years Surano will completely change. Something better will come of it.”

Enock Abeyie Nkrumah – “Happy” Our Youth Education Program Manager is from the community and was involved in the initial baseline health survey conducted by GHEI before the start of programs. He joined in 2007 and says that “when I was coming to GHEI, I had in my mind to help my brothers and sisters in the community.” Talking about the impact of GHEI, he gives the example of Isaac Osei who learnt how to use a computer at the computer center and has since been able to publish a book. His background is in Agricultural Technology and so it’s no surprise that he thinks one of the biggest benefits to the community has been GHEI’s introduction of Wienco, an agricultural inputs organisation, who have provided microloans, education on farming techniques and increased availability of good quality fertilisers and insecticides to farmers’ groups. This has led to increased yield for cocoa farmers, meaning more money in people’s pockets.