December was a quiet month for volunteer activities at Light For Children, giving the staff and long-term volunteers a chance to catch up on administrative details, including grant applications and arranging placements for future volunteers and interns.

Near the beginning of the month, Anne Dalum and Emma Jefelt finished their placements at the Oxford Basic School in Nsuta and left for home. We wish them luck with their continuing travels.

It was also a month for Christmas celebrations, including one at the Children’s Hospital in Kumasi. Mike Owusu and Lisa Parsons attended an event at the Rehabilitation Center for malnourished Children, where families of children with nutritional deficiencies receive nutritional counselling and supplementary foods.

On December 13, Yaw Otchere attended a meeting to introduce a new project called Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountablity (SPEFA). This project is a partnership between the Centre for the Development of People, Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, and other civil society organizations including Light for Children.

Mike and Yaw also attended a workshop dedicated to teaching sign language to hospital staff and others who sometimes have to work with deaf and/or mute patients and clients. There have been some incidences of deaf patients being unable to access emergency medical care because of communication problems, a situation that could be avoided if medical staff have some basic communication skills in sign language. The workshop was organized by the Coalition of NGO’s in Health, of which Light for Children is a leading member.