How it started
Follow us on FacebookEducation makes all the difference!
My name is Moniek Jacobs and this story starts in 2002 when KRO Spoorloos finds my biological father in Ghana. "Mister Quashie" and his family know about my existence and I had a very warm welcome. It felt like coming home.
Many people see the Spoorloos broadcast and I spontaneously received donations to help my sick father (Parkinson). I went back for 3 months to get to know my family and to spend the money well. My father gets the right therapy, a bed, and the house is refurbished. I arranged more help so that his daughter Lucy, who takes care of him, can go to school like a normal 12-year-old girl.
Lucy's joy on the day she goes back to school moves me deeply. My father tells me that it is his greatest wish to let his children study. Because of his illness this is no longer possible. Even though it didn't have a name back then, it was this moment the seed for the Quashie School Project was sown. I was going to make sure that his children could go to school and could build an independent life.
Through donations and product sales, four sisters have been able to finish high school and follow vocational training. After my sisters finished, I wanted to stop the project, but the desire to study is present in many of them. Now it is the turn of the next generation. Many nephews and nieces now go to a good school. Five of them receive support up to and including vocational training that they can choose for themselves. The project continues to grow because in addition to the demand from nephews and nieces to continue learning, there is also a demand for education for adults. The difference can be made through good education. Not only for the Quashie children but preferably also far beyond. I keep the project going: I can, and I want nothing else! Are you willing to help by financially supporting the Quashie School Project?
When I first came to Ghana, my father and one cousin were the only ones who could speak English. I could hardly communicate with the rest of the family. By now, many Quashie children speak good English. This is not only important for foreigners who come to visit, but it is also important in their own country. Ghana has 6 main languages and many dialects. The English language builds a bridge between the Ghanaian population and abroad.
In the picture a part of the Quashie family. By now there are more than 30 nephews and nieces. I think it would be great to see them all together.
Moniek Jacobs