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First Published on BBC News
A team of 16 students and young adults from the Central Baptist Church in Chelmsford are going to Atorkor in Ghana to help rebuild a school.
Matt Noble, Assistant Minister at the Central Baptist Church explains that the church wanted to do something worthwhile to celebrate it's centenary this year, 'With the congregation becoming more multicultural we decided to get input from people at the church into what we could do. One woman's grandmother lives in Atorkar so we asked how we could help the village. We hope it's the beginning of a relationship between the church and the village'
Atorkor is a village on the coast of Ghana. Due to the loss of the fishing industry in the area in recent years the village has experienced significant poverty and the school has become rundown. The current building was built without foundations and has become dangerous and inadequate for the 300 pupils.
The team from Chelmsford will be in the village from 29 July - 20 August, working with the Atorkor Development Foundation to complete the building and decorating of the new school. They will also be installing a library with 2,000 books, building and equipping an IT room with 20 computers, training the school's IT instructors, installing a generator to provide backup power and running a holiday club. A satellite terminal is being supplied by a donor so the school can have an Internet connection.
The project has been sponsored by local businesses and individuals and the team is also raising money. Last year 12 men from the church completed the three peak challenge, raising ?4,000 towards the project.
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