The Victory Academy is in the Village of Avesive (pronounced: A-vis-a-vee) in the

Volta Region of Ghana, on the Ghana/Togo Boarder.

Marcia is standing in the Academy grounds, the palm trees behind her are in Togo.

There are 170 Pupils (down on last year’s total of 360 due to the cost of the school

fees which work out at £20 - £25 per pupil per year, SPONSERS WELCOME !) and

10 teachers, they have 9 classrooms in three separate blocks and a Church (two of

the class rooms were taken for the library & computer room, so they now have 7

classrooms)

The school day starts at 6:45am and finishes at 3:30pm with some of the pupils

coming from Togo and some walking 5 miles to, and 5 miles from, the school.

We arrived at the Victory Academy in the Village of Avesive on Thursday 9th

October in our bus that was hired by The Victory Bible Church International.

There were fourteen of us, Myself and my wife from Griffin Industrial Services

Ltd and the other twelve were clergy & parishioners from The Victory Bible

Church International in Lewisham, including Bishop Clement, the Reverend

Sylvester Cobbold, his wife Pastor Sefa Cobbold and three nurses from The

London Free Hospital, St. Thomas’s Hospital and Holloway

Prison Hospital who held an open clinic on the Saturday.

We began by unpacking the equipment that had been sea freighted a month

earlier so it would reach the academy the same time we did.

The equipment would be used to start a library, a computer room and to

stock the P.E. department.

A list of contributors (along with the equipment they contributed) is at the

bottom of this page in alphabetical order.

Setting up the library

Setting up the computer room

The P.E. equipment

On Friday the exercise books, notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers

& rulers where bagged up and given to the pupils

Also on Friday the church provided dinner (cooked by one of the

nurses) for the whole school.

After receiving the bags with the books, pens etc. and finishing

dinner, the Pupils paraded around the field singing “This is our

day, this is our special day”

On Saturday the nurses held an “Open Clinic” for the school and

surrounding villages.

100’s of people came and the nurses worked tirelessly from 8am

to 6pm and still they had to turn people away.

I look at what we gave and the work we did at the school in the

days that we were there and it was nothing compared to how

hard the nurses worked.

If you would like to sponser a years schooling for one pupil (£20 - £25) please contact:-

Reverend Cobbold at the Victory Bible Church International on 07985316254.

A VIDEO MADE BY THE VICTORY BIBLE CHURCH INTERNATIONAL IS AVAILABLE TO VIEW HERE (YOUTUBE)

List of contributors in alphabetical order (with our Thanks).

Ayrton Moss - 1 Computer

BSS Export – 350 Shorthand Notebooks, 1,000 Ballpoint Pens, 1,020 Pencils, 500 Erasers

Darenth Community Primary School – Computers (8), Text/Reading Books (100’s), Exercise Books (100’s), Poster’s

(100’s),

Draper Tools – 50 Baseball Caps

Fixfast – 5 Genuine World Cup Football with Pumps

Griffin Industrial Services Ltd -

2 Computers

3 Mice

3 Keyboard

10 Mouse Mats

350 6” Plastic Rulers

Cricket Set (Youth/Adult, 2 Bats, 4 Stumps & Bails, Ball, Pads, Gloves)

Cricket Bat (14 Year old)

Cricket Bat (Adult)

Cricket Set (Under 10, Bat, 4 Stumps & Bails, Ball, Pads, Gloves)

Cricket Shin Pads

50 Footballs (Plastic for under 8 year olds)

8 Leather Footballs (youth / Adult) Size 5

50 Tennis Balls

Tennis Rackets & Balls (Under 14’s) X 2

Tennis Rackets (Adult) X 6

Table Tennis Bats (4)

Table Tennis Balls (36)

Table Tennis Net & Posts & Spare Net

Rounder’s Set (Bat, Ball, Stumps, Instructions & Carry Bag)(12 to 14’s)

Rounder’s Bat & Ball (under 12’s)

Rounder’s Bat (Adult)

Netball Balls (2)

Netball Hoops (2) to mount on wall

Rugby Ball

Soft Plastic Balls (103) (Under 10’s)

PLAN OF VICTORY ACADEMY GROUNDS

Cataloguing the books

Making library tickets and stamping the

books with the school name

Small books & big books

Loads of posters to put up

The 1st class to use the new library

Setting up the computers

Testing the computers

The 1st class to use them

Unpacking the P.E. equipment

It’s the World Cup all over again!

Late substitution as Ghana bring

on one of the nurses

Bishop Clement throwing the

first netball goal……

…OK, it took him three tries.

Books, notebooks, pens,

pencils, erasers & rulers.

Ready to be bagged up.

Bagging up

One of the nurses who became

“Chef” for the day – 180 meals

The 4 & 5 year old's in the

church hall

Cartons & straws, never easy

The waiting room

Waiting outside the waiting room

(so many people)

The start of a very long day.

Still smiling after 10 hours