Last Chance to Be…

Thanks to everybody who contributed, I have great news.

Last week the cash was sent to Hagan and he has paid his Uni fees for the year. It took me quite a while to convince Western Union that Hagan wasn’t the nephew of a late great uncle who was trying to smuggle $68 billion dollars from the country, or that he was somebody I met on a dating site.

After that little hurdle I got this

And then I spoke to Hagan on the phone to confirm he got the cash and was all paid up for the year. Amazing. It would have been possible without you (just about) but then I wouldn’t have been able to share this with you.

To all who contributed Hagan told me send his ‘Greetings’ from Accra and a massive, massive thanks. Consider yourself stakeholders in his happiness.

Sorry for the lack of updates by the way, I have been working abroad.

Next up, I will be working out what to do with this site for the next year as I am sure we don’t need a year to raise next year’s cash!

Finally, some words of wisdom from a friend at work today…..

‘If you snooze…..you lose.’

Well I just heard that my students who I put through the NVTI exams have passed! So I did achieve something after all. Good news.

The haganometer needs a push so on good advice I have created a Facebook Group . Let’s see how that goes.

Hagan has informed me that he has his exams coming up soon so he is studying hard. He is dedicated, hard working and cleverer than me so I am sure he will be fine.

I need to get at least £300 by 16th Jan so if you’re about to pay too much money for some imported Chinese moulded plastic and call it a present, think again. How about spending the money on something more productive :p

Just a small update this time.

The Haganometer is rising slowly so thanks all.

The target is £800 - and the total raised so far is £75. Not exactly setting the world on fire here but the important thing is to do what you can. As long as we all do what we can then we can’t do any more right?

Hagan has received my digital camera and after a small bribe he got it from the post office to send us this photo outside of his new university.

My mate Hagan. He doesn’t know I am writing this page about him. I hope he doesn’t mind.

As you may know, I was supposed to train a teacher at my placement. Hagan was my trainee, unfortunately, nobody asked him if he wanted to be a teacher except me, when I got there. Guess what, he doesn’t.

Hagan had Polio as a kid and now has a resultant physical disability. He has not let that stop him becoming the well-rounded, good laugh, loyal and totally dedicated great friend of mine that he now is. If anyone is going to make a difference to the way Africa responds to people with disabilities, it will be more likely to be Hagan, than a VSO volunteer.

Here he is..

The bicycle is called Jerry.

Hagan has now left the school, where he was working as a teacher, to study in University. He will tell you he is there because of me, the truth is, however, he would have got there anyway.

Here are some words from the man himself.

My name is Hagan . I am 27 years old. I have a disability but that is not a limitation. I am the last child of my parents. I have five brothers. Three of them are farmers and two are working with private companies here in Accra the capital of Ghana and at the same time studying. My dad hails from the Volta Region of Ghana and my mom hails from the Eastern Region of Ghana.

My father and mother were both farmers until Eleven (11) years ago when I lost my father. My mother retired from her farming five (5) years ago due to old age and associated health problems. They were still married until my dad died.

For the past two (2) years I have been teaching in a vocational school for persons with disability where I met Jonathan Barrat. I taught English, Maths and Computing and I was an advocate for disability where I have been educating the local community about issues of disability. Currently, I am going to study Telecommunication Engineering, a four years course leading to the award of a Bachelor Degree at Ghana Telecom University College.

So why am I teling you all this? Well if you feel kind of helpless in Britain, working, busy, wanting to do the right thing but not sure what the right thing is, then I can assure you, helping Hagan is the right thing. I have committed to pay half of his university fees for the next four years. I would love your help.

Because Hagan never got the chance to get to Senior Secondary School, he is attending a private university at the cost of $2600 per year, for four years. He has already obtained sponsorship for $1000 per year and I am making up the rest. I have until February to get together $1600 dollars.

So your chance to help is to assist me raise the $1600 per year (apx £800). You can donate using paypal, just click on the link below. I will keep a running total on this site. I have also posted a digital camera to Hagan so he can keep us up to date on how he is getting on and I will try to get regular written updates from him.

If Thank You becomes a cliche, it will be my fault, as it is the most used phrase on this site. Cheers!