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The Plymouth / Ghana Link
The plymouth link was formally established in 2003. The aims of the Link are to encourage and support community linking between Plymouth and Ghana, in particular our link city of Sekondi-Takoradi.
The Association encourages linking for the purposes of:
The Link has grown in strength since its foundation, and each aspect has evolved with independent structures and networks, the Link Association acting as a 'hub' to support growth through the facilitation of sharing good practice and experiences.
The Link is run by a committee of volunteers, representing young people, the education and health sectors, the trade justice movement, faith groups and members of the local Ghanaian community in Plymouth.
The benefits for the local authorities in both cities include greater awareness of global and development issues, greater cohesion in both cities between Link members and the wider community and valuable learning opportunities at the cultural, social and practical levels for council officers, teachers and health workers.
The results are wide-ranging and include skills development for tourism officials, curriclum development in schools, new medical skills for health workers and presentation and leadership skills for young people.
The project is considered a great success in both cities. It has achieved a high profile through media involvement, in particular from the BBC and the local newspaper, the Herald in Plymouth.
The project also has strong support from local MPs.
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Autumn 2002 onwards
Peter Reid lobbied local interest in Plymouth establishing a cultural link with a developing world city, based on a set of criteria constituting some common denominators with Plymouth.
May 2003
Inaugural meeting of those interested chose Sekondi-Takoradi (ST) in Ghana from a short list of 20 African cities. Present was Nick Maurice, secretary of UK One World Link Association (UKOWLA). Ghana High Commission (GHC) endorsed choice and offered support within days.
July 2003
Link launched publicity at Plymouth High School for Girls (PHSG), including GHC representative. Lord Mayor and Linda Gilroy, MP.
October 2003
After initial groundwork at both ends, with considerable benefit from Rotary International contacts, delegation of 10 from Plymouth visit Sekondi-Takoradi to establish initial contacts at both civic and activity levels. Delegation included 2 sixth-form students, selected from applicants and funded by the Link.
November 2003
Delegation reported back to Lord Mayor's reception, and public event at PCAD. Students report their experiences to school groups.
November 2003 onwards
Working groups set up for activity areas and projects. Groups include Education, Youth, Health and Sport.
May 2004
Dudley Tolkien attended UKOWLA meeting with Richard Caborn, MP, Minister of Sport, in House of Commons, on value of sporting links.
August 2004
Visit of civic leaders from Sekondi-Takoradi local authority SAEMA- Mayor Philip Nkrumah and Presiding Member Edwin Philips. Activities include signing of 'Memorandum of Understanding' with Plymouth City Council, meetings with education chiefs and editor of Evening Herald, and being guests of Plymouth Argyle directors on match day.
August 2004 onwards
There were a series of open events, mostly in June/ July to commemorate Link's birthday.
2005
With the cooperation of the European Hernia Society, the Plymouth-Sekondi/Takoradi Link, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit (MDHU) at Derriford Hospital, a team was assembled of six surgeons, one registrar, one hernia nurse specialist, five nurses and one administrative support staff to travel initially to Accra and then onwards to Takoradi, a distance of five hours by road. The surgeons were selected for their known expertise in Hernia surgery either through the European or British Hernia Societies.
29 March 2006
Total eclipse of the sun in Sekondi-Takoradi, attended by some Plymouth Link members.
9 July 2007
The Ghana Day was a great success with 96 children from 15 different schools taking part. Several workshops were available and a representative from the Kakum Rainforest Project made a fascinating and exciting input to the day.
July 2007
The Headteacher from Twin City Special School made a reciprocal visit to Woodlands Special School.
October 2007
Link took part in Plymouth Respect Festival for first time.
November 2007
Visit to Sekondi-Takoradi to perform hernia operations. Information is available at http://www.operationhernia.org.uk/.
December 2007
Visit to Notre Dame RC School by teachers from Archbishop Porter.
March 2008
On Wednesday 19 March 2008 International Development Minister, Shahid Malik visited PHSG to discuss their international development work and was particularly keen to hear about the link with Ahantaman School in Sekondi-Takoradi. He spoke to staff and students and even Evelyn Osei the Headteacher in Ghana. A reciprocal visit by two teachers from Ahantaman took place a few days later which involved them in teaching, a comparison of lifestyles and preparing a meal with the students for a group of visitors that included the Lord Mayor.
March 2008
Dudley Tolkien visited the new stadium built for the Africa Cup 2008 during his recent visit to Sekondi-Takoradi and was most impressed with the quality of the building.
4 June 2008
AGM/5th Birthday Celebration took place in the Pennon Room at the Theatre Royal. Excellent presentations were given as follows: Education, Theatre project, Hernia project and Tourism project.
October 2008
Visits between schools are continuing with six teachers from Stuart Road Primary, Montpelier Primary and Ernesettle Primary schools travelled to Sekondi-Takoradi during the October half term to work with their partner schools.
November 2008
Two teachers from Notre Dame RC School travelled in November to their partner school Archibishop Porter RC School.
November 2008
VSO Global Exchange - Peter Reid and Cletus Moisob attended a meeting regarding a VSO global exchange that pairs the UK with Ghana.
February 2009
Two teachers from Leigham Primary School went to their link school in Sekondi-Takoradi and had an excellent visit despite it being sports week.
PROJECTS
Schools linking
Many Plymouth schools from links with partner schools in Sekondi-Takoradi, including secondary, primary and special schools. There have been numerous exchanges involving teachers, and student exchanges involving geography field trips between Plymouth High School for Girls and Ahantaman in June 2006 and July 2007. In December 2006, Cletus Moisob installed computer networking at Ahantaman for general Sekondi-Takoradi schools' use of internet.
Health
Parties of doctors and nurses spent a week at Sekondi-Takoradi doing hernia operations in autumns of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, and have now established a permanent hernia facility in Sekondi-Takoradi. In June 2006, a party of nurses from Sekondi-Takoradi visited Plymouth Hospital facilities.
Football
In preparation for Ghana's hosting of the African Nations' Cup in Jan/Feb 2008, Plymouth Argyle FC hosted two 3 week knowledge gathering visits for Sekondi-Takoradi's groundsman, Malik, in May 2005 and January 2006, and in Jan 2006 also hosted former Black Stars captain Isaac Paha to pass on stadium managment information.
Theatre Exchange
In the summer of 2005 & 2006, twelve 16 year-old students from both Plymouth and Sekondi-Takoradi rehearsed together and performed productions in both Plymouth and Sekondi-Takoradi. In 2005 they performed ' A Midsummer Night's Dream' with a Ghanaian flavour, and in 2006 the Ghanaian story 'The Marriage of Anansewa'. In both years, the Theatre Royal's Drum Theatre was filled for 4 nights.
Tourism
In March 2005, two Plymouth City Council staff visited Sekondi-Takoradi with substantial funding available for the project, but sadly it got no further. In February 2007 a party led by Win Scutt visited Sekondi-Takoradi on another tourism project, involving City College, Plymouth in partnership with Greenwich College and Takoradi Polytechnic.
VSO Global Xchange Team 95
Global Xchange aims to support the development of active global citizens, committed to working for positive change within communities.
The Global Xchange is a six month programme run by VSO and the British Council. It gives a group of 18 young people the opportunity to volunteer, learn and share valuable skills together whilst making a practical contribution to their local community. Team 95 consisted of nine people from across the UK and nine from Ghana. They worked on a wide range of community projects during their time in Plymouth, and did a huge amount of research. Check out www.davidjamesgreen.co.uk/plymouthghana or email susan.moores@vso.co.uk to find out more about their visit and getting involved in future programmes. For more information visit www.vso.org.uk.
Media
Various exchanges have taken place, involving the Herald and the BBC from Plymouth, and Skyy radio and TV from Sekondi-Takoradi.
Trade Justice
In February 2005, three students visited Sekondi-Takoradi with Sue Errington in conjunction with the Make Poverty History capmaign, and also visited the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa farming co-operative.
Jaipur Limb
This project is in partnership with the Link, but is primarily the work of Rotary International. A centre has been set up on the outskirts of Sekondi-Takoradi providing a low-technology limb replacement workshop, serving as a training hub for West Africa.