One day in the life of a child
at Chance for Children Hebron

My name is Kweku. I am 12 years old and have been living at the CFC project for a year now, where I am staying at a big house together with about 20 other boys. We are living with our house parents, who take care of us and cook our meals. There are also social workers here, who help with our homework and other problems we may have.

I get up at 6 in the morning every day. At that time it is usually already very warm here in Ghana so that I often awake even before the alarm clock rings

Every one of us has their special duty, which we have to take of every day. It is my duty to clean the outside area. There is always plenty of dirt to be cleaned as we have goats and chickens running around freely. The broom I am using is handmade. It consists of palm tree roots that were dried in the sun beforehand

Since it is usually extremely hot around here I often only wear a rag in the morning. After cleaning up I then take a cold shower and then go back to my room, which I am sharing with five other boys. We all have our own bed and a dresser for ourselves. There I keep my stuff: my school uniform, t-shirts, Sunday dresses, some photos, utensils and – which I enjoy especially – my disc-man.

Next I have to hurry up. I put on my school uniform, comb my hair, apply some cocoa butter and rush to the kitchen, where our house mother has already prepared a tasty chocolate drink and some bread. After that I pack my books into my bag and at 6:45 the CFC-bus takes us to school.

This morning starts with my favourite subject – maths. The teacher explains new assignments and we are writing the solutions into our workbooks. There are about 40 students in our class. The classrooms are decorated very scarcely and I sometime wish there were some pictures or paintings on the walls.

For lunch I have a little snack at school. Around three o’clock classes are over and the CFC-bus takes us back home. After arriving there my favourite dish is being served: Kenkey. That’s a corn-paste with hot tomato-chilli sauce and fish. I wash my hands before eating as we consume our meals with our hands.

After the meal I notice that my clothes are dirty. That’s why I wash them by hand with soap and hang them on a string for the sun to dry them.

Then it’s time to play some football with my friends at our field as part of the CFC compound.

Around 6:30 I do my homework. This time I have to answer some questions in English. Our social worker Osman is helping me out, because I don’t understand all of the words. I was going to play the drums for a bit, but homework has taken up too much time. At 8:30 I can hear Osman shout and we children have to get ready for bed.

In case I cannot fall asleep right away, I think about the day that has passed or look forward to exciting upcoming events.