Over time, Jaynii has identified the need to support ongoing efforts by government and civil society to keep children off the streets and in school. As a poor, marginalized and deprived area, many children are found walking on the beach and in the streets during school hours when they should be discovering their talents and learning the skills to impact positively on their generation, others hawking goods or performing on street corners for spare change without even enough money for pens or paper.
Most of these children come from deprived homes. Their parents are mainly fishermen who rely on the fishing season to net in a good catch. During the lean season, there are no alternative sources of income, and innocent children are left to fend for themselves. Moreover, many of these parents are themselves illiterate and do not appreciate the value of investing in their childrenÃs education now to harvest an improved standard of living in the future.
So far, Jaynii has identified fifty (50) children aged between 4 to 16 years who have been enrolled into our Streetwise Project. These 24 girls and 26 boys, who were hitherto spending their childhood walking aimlessly on the Jamestown Beach, are now enrolled at schools in the communities- Accra Sempe Primary School in Classes 1 to 6 and St. Thomas Day Care Centre. Jaynii, without assistance from parents, bought school uniforms, shoes, bags and exercise books for all thirty children and registered them in school. After school hours, they come to the Jaynii Beach for lunch as well as extra classes and entertainment.
With a panoramic view of fishermen bringing in their catch, against the historical James Fort and the monumental Lighthouse is the Jaynii Beach resort, the only nice beach in the heart of the Accra city- Situated right behind the James Town Light house, where turtles are often found ashore.
1 Improving the quality of lives of young people
2 Getting children off the street/social vices and putting them into the classroom
3 Empowering children and youth
4 Providing children and youth with skills
5 Enabling Africans to appreciate their cultural values
6 Exposing the rich culture of Ghana to the world
7 Using music and dance to entertain, educate and preach peace, love and unity
All members of the group have their areas of specialty in dealing with children and youth, sports, music and dance.
There are executive members made up of the president, vice president (operations), vice president (administration) secretary, coordinator, financial secretary, treasurer, and P.R.O. Other members are the facilitating team and the JayNii Cultural Troupe.
-Drumming, dance and folk music
-Interactive Theatre
-Story telling
-African cuisine
-Crafts and artefacts
-Cultural tourism
-Batik / Tie & Die hands-on workshops