The Little Feet Foundation is set to host about 700 students at the maiden edition of the Bolgatanga Youth Empowerment Summit in the Upper East Region on August 3,2024.
The Summit is a dynamic and influential gathering of youth leaders, entrepreneurs, and change-makers, and it presents a unique opportunity for young people in the Upper East Region and Northern Ghana to come together, network and inspire themselves for greater heights.
The Bolgatanga YES is dedicated to empowering young individuals from diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skills, and inspiration needed to tackle the challenges of our ever-changing world.
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Speaking on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie with Nana Afia Oforiwaa, the Founder of Little Feet Foundation, Ms Sally Lariba Azoteyine narrated that the Little Feet Foundation started about 9 years ago in the area of education.
According to her, the name Little Feet came from seeing a small girl who walked to school without shoes on and hurting herself and bleeding her way to school.
Ms Sally Lariba Azoteyine said she had to give the girl shoes that very moment and this inspired the forming of the Foundation.
The Founder of the Foundation narrated how a lot of children drop out of school due to basic needs, saying that gradually, the Foundation started providing educational materials to children in deprived communities in the Upper East Region who dropped out of school because there were no shoes, books, school bags or uniforms for them.
After two years, Ms Sally Lariba Azoteyine said the Foundation also introduced the health aspect, noting that people could not go to school if they were unhealthy.
According to her, the Foundation organised free health screening for the children, bringing onboard experienced doctors from Accra and Kumasi to take care of their health needs.
Ms Sally Lariba Azoteyine stated that the impact has been very good, adding that so far, they still have records of children who have stayed in school till now because of the support the Foundation gave them.
“We have donated some equipment to CHPS compounds and community clinics that do not have these things and as of now, these are equipment that are helping the communities,” she said.
She continued,”We also have the socioeconomic side where we do training, teaching women, mothers of malnourished children how to make soap, dishes, and drinks to empower them.”
The Founder also stated that the project is usually funded by themselves, therefore calling on stakeholders to support them to empower the youth.
“We need support from stakeholders, the Ghana Education Service, the National Youth Authority and anyone who works with the youth or has the youth at heart, we do need your support,”she added.
For his part, the Head of Media and IT at Little Feet Foundation, Mr George Kwame Nyarko Osei observed that sometimes, young people complete school but do not know what to do.
In view of that, he said the Foundation expects that the summit to enable the students speak with mentors to know which fields they should look up to based on their talents.
Meanwhile, the summit will be held at the Bolgatanga GNAT Hall on August 3 at 9 am.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori