It was a very sad start to 2023 which saw the tragic loss of Arms Around The Child’s ambassador Christian Atsu during the devastating earthquake in Turkey/Syria. Christian had written to Arms Around The Child the week before the earthquake to say how excited he was about the progress of the school and how much he wanted the building to be finished in June 2023 for the children at Becky’s Home and the local community to have their own school after the closure of the old school. It was a time when Christian would have been in Ghana and was looking forward to being there with his Black Star friends and family to honour everyone’s achievements in building the school.
We travelled to Senya Beraku with Christian in 2016 and visited the local school which was in a very dilapidated state and had recently been patched up from a storm that created a river running through the classrooms as it was built on a hill. The school had been built underneath an electricity pylon, had no washroom facilities, no windows and very little protection from the rain and the winds. It was at this point Christian and Arms Around The Child had the vision for a new school. Suitable land was purchased, and the fundraising began with The Black Star Gala in Newcastle. There followed direct financial support from Christian and major donors including Arms Around The Child, Sono Global, Lazy Susan Furniture UK, and Victorious Festival UK, with recent additional support from Gaynor Fascione, Chelsea FC and Newcastle Toon for Change plus individual donors from around the world. Thank you.
The journey is just beginning, upholding Christian Atsu’s dreams of building a school, raising future leaders and his belief in education for all and the importance of education for reducing poverty. We will be welcoming the first children from Becky’s Foundation into the school at the commissioning on Wednesday 28th June 2023 and invite you to join us. Please RSVP to info@armsaroundthechild.org