Art Cares Foundation gifts over 70 black dolls to young girls in Chorkor

Art Cares Foundation, a black-owned charity organization in collaboration with Basics International have distributed over 70 black play dolls to some young girls in Chorkor, a suburb of Accra.

This initiative, which has been dubbed ‘Baby Like Me’ forms part of measures by the two foundations to contribute to developing the esteem and confidence of young girls in their skin.

According to organisers, the programme is targeted at reaching female children within the age brackets of 5 – 11 years and those in older age groups who may be interested in owning black play dolls. It must be noted however that no definitive selection process was adopted for the project.

Speaking in an interaction with GhanaWeb at a brief event held, Wednesday, September 9, 2020, to outdoor the project, Executive Director of Art Cares Foundation, Maurice Cheethan said, “we’re promoting positive self-esteem and appreciation of natural beauty in our young girls. Let them know that inside they’re beautiful…we appreciate all cultures and we believe specifically in a child’s development that they should have an image that looks like them…we want to prepare our young women they’re the future…”

As far as the future of the project is concerned, Mr Cheethan hinted that Art Cares Foundation in the coming weeks, will in a similar fashion, distribute dolls to young girls in other parts of the country.

“This is an ongoing programme and we’re going to be giving out 100 baby dolls every month and we’re going to be in different regions in Ghana, in different municipalities and organisations. So, it’s not going to be just Accra-based. We’re going to be in Eastern Region, in Kumasi, Cape Coast, Takoradi and up north and we’ll do every month,” he added.

Mr Cheethan said sponsorship for the project has been largely based on funds from private individuals living in the diaspora. He said they are yet to step up to government for any collaboration or support there is.

Also present at the brief event was Ivy Prosper, a media professional and social media handler for Ghana’s Year of Return and Beyond the Return initiative.