15.01.2025 – Signing of the MOU at Kpedze Senior High School
The time has come, everything is ready, both the event itself and the MOU and all the attachments are prepared. Together with the principal and the management board, we walk to the schools’ largest room. It is a long way from the Administration Block to the Assembly Hall and we wonder what awaits us there. However, we could not have imagined what we would see. The room is filled with almost 1,000 pupils, all the teachers present, the Management Board, the local dogbe (king) and his entourage. The school choir, dancers and drummers are already waiting to perform. The school has a very special significance for the community, which is also demonstrated by the visit of the Dogbe. It was a great honor for the school to be honored by the king. By the way, in the foreground in front of the king, you can see his spokesman, the one with the sceptre. This is “the linguist”, who speaks for the Paramount Chief. Normally, the king does not speak directly to the people, which makes perfect sense, as this way he always has time to think and, if necessary, consult with the village elder and the Development Chief. Sometimes we would also like to see this kind of behavior from some current politicians. This king deviated from protocol, perhaps because he was also a teacher in normal life, and greeted us warmly. He emphasized how extremely important this cooperation was for his community and especially for the school. At the very end of the event, he urged us to visit him in his palace first before we did our work at the school. We didn’t do that this time.
The event was wonderfully prepared. There was a very nice program, the school choir sang and dancers gave us an insight into Ghanaian culture. The priest blessed the event and said a prayer before there were various speeches. In between, there were always artistic interludes from the various groups. Before the actual signing of the documents took place, the principal Ernestina Peniana, a spokesperson for the teachers and Thomas Erkert from HITA emphasized the special significance and size of this project. We have big plans together!
At the end of the event, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed in a ceremony attended by hundreds of witnesses. This MOU is very special because the principal Ernestina Peniana and we managed to involve all stakeholders right from the start. For example, as an integral part of the MOU, an appendix with a work plan was drawn up, in which all the necessary preparatory work for the school in terms of preparing the rooms was listed and provided with deadlines. It is clear to everyone that we can only manage the installation of 2 PC labs for Kpedze Senior High School together.