Atlas Copco Day –out with children

Atlas Copco Ghana Limited had out with children of the Street Children Empowerment

Foundation (SCEF) at an event dubbed “Be Free ….Be You. The maiden edition of the

“Be free… be you” was held the aviation social center on the 19th of November, 2011

from 10am – 6pm. The program, solely sponsored by Atlas Copco Ghana Limited was

powered by Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF) and supported by volunteers

from Move the Globe foundation.

Driven by Atlas Copco’s core values of interaction, commitment and innovation, the

company found the request of partnering with Street Children Empowerment Foundation

(SCEF) to support the initiative of “BE FREE…....BE YOU” a laudable one; an

educative, motivational and entertaining event for vulnerable street children to be

in sync with some aspects our Corporate Social Responsibility Theme for 2011.

Atlas Copco continuously strives to contribute to social development as part our

corporate social responsibility. We have made significant strides towards the

continuous development of the Obuasi community where the company has its operational

hub. The company has been involved in various charity and community engagement

projects with special focus on health, education, and disaster relief.

Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF) holds firmly the expression that

Education is a Human Right and is working assiduously to make this dream possible.

With over a half three hundred (300) vulnerable street children in our database,

being sponsored through formal school from primary to tertiary level and engaged in

various activities, An educated populace is a key to a better future for the whole

Ghana.

In line with our vision, SCEF seeks to become the leading NGO in Ghana providing

educational support for street children. Our mission of SCEF is to strategically

position and equip our team with the skills and resources needed to create that

enabling environment for the empowerment of the street child through training and

education. The overall objective of SCEF is to reduce to the barest minimum school

dropouts and illiteracy among street and vulnerable children. While empowering them

to a sustainable livelihood though advocacy, Education, Skill Training, activities

and projects.

The “Be Free … Be You” event was offered an avenue for empowerment and career

guidance to these under privileged children with the assistance of volunteers from

Move the Globe Foundation whose specialized is child care and training in deprived

communities. The Sports Hour had 8 kinds of sports to offer. The most familiar ones

were basketball, volleyball and Ghana’s number 1 sport football. These ball games

were all about playing the game. Athletics included running against the time and

long jump. Some great runs and jumps were measured, but world records still remained

unbeaten… In Relays children were running and sack jumping trying to help their team

to perform well. Team Building was about working as a group. Every member of the

group had to be part of the human buildings or it would not be completed. All kinds

of choreographies were seen and even high pyramids were built. In Children’s Games

German volunteers taught kids few of their favorite European school games from their

own childhood and Tug of War created some tough battles between the two teams

pulling the heavy rope.

The workshops gave education about important issues through fun and interesting

interactions, instead of just talking passively to listening children about them. We

had 10 different workshops, 2 each, so all in all 20 workshops were placed around

the Aviation Centre, among which are basic fire fighting aid, first aid, nutrition,

sign language, Making of Dream Books and Canvass.

In Atlas Copco Ghana, we recognize the importance of aligning our activities with

the expectations of our stakeholders for sustainable development in relation to our

economic, social and environmental activities and the larger community in which we

operate. The importance of educating children who are our future leaders cannot be

over emphasized. We believe that education balls down to the total grooming of these

kids, these activities helped unearth and hone their potential for future

development.

Atlas Copco is committed to fostering its responsible in its operating communities

with sustainable investments.

Source

Name: Paul Semeh

Email: paulsemeh@yahoo.com/sceffoundation@gmail.com

Contacts: 0243438580/ 0302 632086

Website: www.scefinternational.org