By Yakubu Memuna and Yahaya Huzeifa

“My husband looked at me as if I were a stranger and said, ‘Why should an illiterate woman like you be my wife? Go back to where you came from.’” I was 12 years old when my father decided to pull me out of school and give me up for marriage to the son of one of his friends. In marrying me off, he knew that he would receive a bride price, and that he would no longer be financially responsible for me.

My grandmother took me to a different community in an effort to protect me. For two years, all of my family members tried to convince my father that I was too young to marry, but my father married me off anyway, at the age of 14.

Within five years, I gave birth to three children. When I was 20 years old, my husband took a second wife, leaving me and my children to fend for ourselves. My children were ages two, three, and five. (more…)

Six teachers from the Northern Region of Ghana swapped classrooms earlier this month with schools across East Anglia as part of Camfed’s Schools Partnership Project. The teachers’ exchange was organised by Camfed in partnership with the Harambee Centre for Development Education, to encourage greater understanding between children in the UK and Ghana. (more…)

In June, best-selling author and journalist Allison Pearson launched Camfed’s Class of 2010 Appeal to raise support for 2,000 girls in Africa to complete secondary school in 2010. Since then, Camfed’s supporters have pledged an astonishing £65,000 over the next four years to help some of the poorest girls in Africa. (more…)

During May, teachers from 4 schools in East Anglia embarked on the trip of a lifetime to visit children and teachers in their remote partner schools in northern Ghana. The UK teachers have spent the last 2 years bringing the spirit of Africa to their classrooms with pupils in the UK and Ghana exchanging letters, drawings and poems as part of Camfed’s Schools Partnership Project. Camfed’s partners, Harambee and RAINS, work together to encourage greater understanding between children in the UK and Ghana. (more…)