Dreamland School was founded in the year 2003 by James Donkor Dugger and Agartha Amponsah (a couple) who saw the need to helping the orphans and the disadvantage ones in and around the Akumadan co
The increasing number of orphans, needy and less-fortunate children became a matter of grave concern to me and touched my heart so much so that since the year 2000 I began having sleepless nights over it. Whenever I came across children of school going age (between 5yrs and 6yrs) roaming our community during school hours my heart jumped and I became down hearted. I would confront some of them and questioned why they were not in school and most invariably the answer was “my parents are dead and there is no one to take care of me”. Others would reply “my parents say they cannot afford my school fees, uniform, exercise books, textbooks etc.” This moved me to conceive the idea of establishing Dreamland School for orphans, needy and less-fortunate children in my community as my modest contribution to mankind.
I know that almost all children are naturally endowed with very useful talents which can be realized to help them and society at large. However, those who unfortunately lose one parent or both early in life, or born into abject poverty may never realize their dream or potential. I chose the name “Dreamland” in order to encourage such disadvantaged children to gain confidence that with the needed support through education, there is no difference between them and the other children and that they too can attain their “DREAM” (maximum potential) in life.
The motto of Dreamland School is “Giving a Helping Hand”
I have always felt that to avert the rising crime rate in our society such as armed robbery, senseless, killings, sniffing of cocaine, smoking of Indian hemp, rape etc. by the youth, all hands must be on desk to pull resources to support the less-fortunate right from their infancy. When they are well educated they will serve society rather than becoming a burden and a nuisance to society.
Education is the greatest asset that anyone can acquire in this modern world. Knowledge is power. Education can equip the less fortunate children with the requisite skills and abilities to enable them take up jobs in future to better their life and also contribute their quote to the national development effort. Without education these children will be prone to social vices.
I feel fulfilled when I see that God is using me to get disadvantaged children off the streets into the classroom where they are equipped with employable skills and knowledge. I feel really good when it dawns on me that my dream of transforming these children is, at last, being realized.
Textbooks, exercise books, pens, pencils, tables, chairs and (used) computers are the things we need most. Provided one has funds these resources are readily available in the open market.
I began the school in a church building hoping to later save or raise some money to acquire some plots of land on which I would put up a classroom block to properly and conveniently house the children, as the number grew. Currently I have moved the school from the church building to a temporary five-classroom wooden structure. I have, with the help of the caretaker chiefs of Akumadan, acquired plots of land with a view to building a permanent six-classroom block, with two offices a dormitory, a kitchen etc.
It will cost about GH¢36,800 = £18,400 to complete the building of the 6-unit classroom block for the Dreamland Primary.
I would like to give three square meals to them everyday, provide decent accommodation, medical care and recreational facilities for them. In addition, a mini-bus to help convey them to places of interest such as tourist sites, inter-school football and athletic games as well as help in the purchases of foodstuffs for the school.
We would make school garden/farm. Some of the produce would be used to support the feeding of the children, while the rest would be sold to earn income to buy other things needed for the running of the school.
We intend forming a Parents/Guardians and Teachers Association (PTA) which would be orientated to contribute their widow’s mite to support the running of the school.
During the past two decades street-children has become the order of the day in Ghana, especially in the regional capitals and the other big cities and towns. This has been traced to the rural-urban drift. This has its attendant social vices such as armed robbery, rape, teenage pregnancies, cocaine sniffing, Indian hemp smoking, child delinquency, senseless killings etc. Studies have shown that less fortunate children who do not have access to education form the greater proportion of those who take to these anti-social behaviours. Dreamland School, which began in October 2003 with ten (10) needy children and five (5) orphans, now has ninety (60) needy children and forty (40) orphans. I feel if I am supported financially to sustain and increase the intake of this number of disadvantaged children it will be beneficial to the Ghanaian society and the world at large since due to globalization crime in Ghana is crime everywhere.
My dream for the children of Dreamland School is big. Now the pioneers are in Primary four (P 4). I want Dreamland School to end at the Junior High School (JHS) level.
In five years’ time the first batch of students would be awaiting their Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) results and I expect a 100 percentage pass with excellence for all the students.
I expect Dreamland School to be counted among the best schools in Ghana in general and in Ashanti Region in particular. This can make the children feel proud and complete with their other counterparts at the Senior High School (SHS) level.
Not withstanding the teething problems, especially financial, that Dreamland School has been undergoing, I am not perturbed or disturbed. As a God-fearing man, my joy is full when I see the children who look unto me (and their volunteer teachers) as their fathers. I now see myself as not being the father of my own children alone, but of some orphans and needy children.