Ghana Trip with Drake Univ.

TMP was honored to host Drake University students on their J-Term this past week. We explored education at TMP Academy and discussed what the future holds for Tsipasi which is centered around educational opportunities for children and adults. The group also participated in a job skill training course which will be used to launch a micro-finance opportunity for the adults in the community. With the extra sets of hands, the new kitchen structure received a new paint job and is now ready to have the food and supplies moved in! That was just day one and we traveled to two other communities through the week to provide a full cultural immersive experience. The team was able to get a great view into daily Ghanaian life in various settings throughout the trip.

We love sharing what we're doing up close an personal with people and we're constantly amazed at the discussion, insight, and ideas that come out of trips like this. Our eyes are opened and understanding broadened when we choose to experience people in lands and cultures not our own. 

Summer Trips to Ghana

This Summer, we were able to take two trips to Ghana. We took the first trip in July and spent some time checking on The Move Project Academy school building project.

We are thrilled with how this project is moving along. The building looks great and the crew is hard at work to make sure TMP Academy is ready as soon as possible for the children of Tsipasi. As the construction progresses, we continue to spend time with members of the village in an effort to form long lasting relationships. It is important to us that we stand along side those we serve, getting to know them as people and forming bonds that will last a lifetime. It is in these moments that we get the most joy and consider ourselves so fortunate to take part in this restorative work...and it couldn't happen without you! The Move Project and the people of Tsipasi thank you for your support. 

We followed the site visit with a meeting with women of the village. It quickly became clear the village has some very engaging women leaders.

Tsipasi relies fully on agriculture as its livelihood which keeps everyone busy with the tasks associated with farming their land. In the dry season, however, it is a different story. Without crops to plant, tend to, and harvest, the women of Tsipasi are left without a trade.

That is where TMP will come in. The community expressed a desire to learn entrepreneurial skills that will benefit their families and launch small businesses. We will be working to empower the women of Tsipasi which will further the vision of helping this community alleviate poverty. More to come on these programs as they take shape over the course of this next year.

A little over a month later, we returned as part of a larger group trip to Ghana. TMP partnered with two other non-profit organizations working in Ghana, Acts 2 Collective and AgriHope.

AgriHope is an organization that trains farmers to increase their yields using sustainable farming practices. AgriHope and The Move Project have partnered to bring this training to Tsipasi. To kick off our second trip, representatives from AgriHope reviewed a plan to use the 1-2 acre plot the community donated to TMP Academy to support the school's meal program. The plot of land will be used to train farmers using proven, sustainable farming practices. They will then be able to take their training and apply it to their plots of land. By using the learned practices, the farmers of Tsipasi will be able to achieve better yields which will be one more step on the path to full sustainability as a community. There is a lot of excitement stirring in Tsipasi and this next year will prove to be full of growth and development. 

First things first, however, let's get that school built and ready for the kids. We are roughly half-way to completion, will you join us and donate today?

Education Structure in Ghana - Introduction

As we continue to progress through our largest project yet, The Move Project Academy, we'll not only be sharing updates on that progress but will also communicate how the education system works in Ghana. Although it is comparable to the United States, there are a few significant differences. Over the course of the next three blog posts we'll break down the Ghanaian education system into two parts and the third post will outline the current state of education with a focus on rural education. We will outline how The Move Project Academy will impact that current state for the good of the children we serve in Tsipasi and surrounding villages.

As we've mentioned before, we fully anticipate educating more children than live in Tsipasi once the school is fully functional. Quality education is extremely difficult to find in these rural villages and cost also plays a factor in lack of attendance. The Move Project Academy will work to remedy both of these factors to ensure a quality education for these children. Our immediate plans however factor in roughly 167 school aged children from ages 3-14 yrs old. Our school plans will accommodate grades 1 - 6 and we will utilize the existing structure to develop our KG/Nursery Class, which equates to Kindergarten here in the United States.

The general education structure in Ghana operates on a 6-3-4-4 system:

• Primary School - 6 Years
  • (U.S. Equivalent - Grades 1-6)
• Junior Secondary/High School - 3 Years
  • (U.S. Equivalent - Grades 7-9)
  • Following the completion of grade 9, students write exams to gain entry into Senior Secondary School
• Senior Secondary School - 4 years
  • (U.S. Equivalent - Grades 10-12, +1)

Not every child continues their education beyond Junior Secondary/High School. In order to gain admittance into Senior Secondary School the students must take the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). Continuing education is highly competitive and only a small amount of the total student population (roughly 150,000 nationally) gains entrance annually. 

Our next post will dive into Primary School in Ghana and continue to shed light on the vision and impact we expect The Move Project Academy will have in Tsipasi.

Water Ride Event Re-Cap

This past Saturday, we held our third annual Water Ride. We are thrilled to hold this event every year and we thank everyone who participated to make the event a success!

A very special THANK YOU to our signature sponsor,  Des Moines Water Works. They have been a trusted partner for all three years and for that we are truly grateful!

It is because of partnerships like this that allow us to send 100% of the proceeds from this event, and all previous rides, directly to our ongoing efforts in Ghana. The Water Ride began as a ride to raise funds and awareness for the clean water crisis impacting the villages we have partnered with in Ghana.

These villages, Tsipasi and Korpehem, had never had access to clean water prior to 2014 when we were fortunate enough to install three wells in total.  As this event continues to grow, so do the opportunities to make a profound impact in the lives the the villagers we serve.

As we've mentioned before, we have begun constructing The Move Project Academy to educate nearly 200 children in Tsipasi and surrounding villages. Now that they have access to clean water the next need was education. Through events like The Water Ride, we have begun to transform the future of these villagers.

This year's event saw over 35 riders raise more than $1,180! To date, The Water Ride alone has raised over $22,500! What an impact! Check out our Instagram page (@The_Move_Project) to see photos from the event. We look forward to seeing you on an upcoming ride!

4th Grade Thank Yous

We were recently asked to present the mission of The Move Project to a group of fourth graders at Whittier Elementary in Indianola, IA. The class specifically wanted to hear about our clean water projects in Ghana.

A few weeks prior to our visit, they had discussed the global water crisis. In each classroom the kids were given an article on this crisis that they read and discussed as a group. Once they were finished, we came in to facilitate additional conversation on how important clean water is to people, especially since we take this item for granted in the United States. With pictures, stories of meeting people in the villages we serve through our projects, and demonstrations, the children were able to further engage with the topic.

It is staggering the amount of people globally that do not have access to clean water! It is currently estimated that roughly 358 million people are without access in Africa alone. We discussed how lack of access to clean water impacts children just like them. In Africa, women and children spend about 140 million hours a day just collecting water. In most cases, the water they are collecting is contaminated and causes illness when consumed, which keeps kids out of school. If kids are out of school, they aren't properly educated. Without proper education their lives are profoundly negatively impacted. This cycle plays a significant role in the extreme poverty we still see today.

 Having access to clean water disrupts that cycle.

We spent our time with these elementary children talking about how we can help. There are very practical things they can do as children to impact the lives of other children on the other side of the world. They were also able to carry a jar of water on their heads to get a better sense of what collecting water really means in Africa. As they learned, it's not as easy as turning on the faucet or getting a drink out of the fountain.

We received some wonderful questions from the children following our visit that we'll be responding to this week on our Facebook page. We also received some very creative and colorful Thank You cards which we'll highlight on our Instagram account (@The_Move_Project) with the hashtag #4thGradeThankYous. Give us a follow to see the wonderful creations!

Indoor Water Ride - A Success!

The mission of The Move Project is to pursue holistic poverty alleviation one project at a time.

Our strategy is to create repeatable, sustainable projects that are realized through community engagement.

Our goal is to raise awareness and present opportunities for others to join the pursuit of poverty alleviation through a clear call to action.

To this end, we host annual bike rides for clean water, both indoor and outdoor. We have partnered with the Indianola YMCA to bring our signature event, The Water Ride, indoors. Our latest Indoor Water Ride, held on Saturday, April 11th was a huge success! We saw 77 people jump on a stationary bikes and pedal for clean water, raising just over $2,100!! Because of our generous sponsors, 100% of all event proceeds from The Water Ride (both indoor and outdoor) go directly to our ongoing projects in Ghana, West Africa.

Since the Water Ride's inception, we have had over 370 people participate and a total of $21,353.47 has been raised, and we've installed three wells to provide access to clean water for villages that have NEVER had access!

We couldn't be more thrilled about this progress and we have YOU to thank! We are so grateful for your participation over the years and we look forward to seeing you at an upcoming ride.

If you haven't ridden in a Water Ride event yet, don't worry. We have our annual outdoor event coming up on Saturday, May 16th and we would love to have you ride. Click the Register Now button below to purchase your ticket today.

If you aren't local to Des Moines or aren't available but still want to participate, you can give using the "Donation" ticket! 

Educational opportunities will be presented to inform riders on the need and  importance of clean water as well as the water projects we are currently working on and are planning for the future.

How The Water Ride Began

With our second annual Indoor Water Ride on Saturday, April 11th quickly approaching. And with our third annual Outdoor Water Ride coming into focus we thought we'd take a moment and let you know how this all came to be.

A post from Emily Boyd, co-founder of The Water Ride:

"In 2012 I journeyed across the country on a bicycle. During the ride, our group was raising money for clean water in Kenya. Every time I wanted to give up I kept pedaling because I knew that someone in Kenya was suffering way more than me and all I had to do was turn my legs round and round and round.

I came back from that trip completely & utterly changed. I was so empowered to continue serving our friends who don't get to go to school because they're fetching water, so I started a bike ride. It was one of those ... "it would be so cool if I could host a bike ride in Des Moines" ... and at a nonprofit fair at Simpson College, I connected with Sam and Nick from The Move Project. I mentioned my idea and we met to discuss. It was the perfect partnership as our passions and vision both lined up. We shared our story with Des Moines Water Works Park and they committed to financially supporting our ride, and have now been our Corporate sponsor for three years in a row! We pulled together a team of friends and committed do-gooders and made the ride a reality.

Since May 11, 2013, The Water Ride has hosted four different rides, raising over $19,000. Three wells have been installed in Ghana and now funds are being raised to build a school. We are hosting The Water Ride on May 16 (and our Indoor Water Ride on April 11!) and my hope is that this becomes bigger and better every year. Putting your ideas out into this world is a beautiful and dangerous thing."