Our children help pupils to brush up
Toothbrushes bring a happy smile
Stirling area schoolchildren have put a smile on the faces of their counterparts in a school in Ghana – by sending them new toothbrushes.
Dr Mary Higgins, who spent 20 years as a GP with Allan Park Practice, has just returned from her 11th visit to the Let Us Shine Girls’ Academy in the country.
Thanks to the children of three primary schools - Our Lady’s, St Mary’s Bannockburn and St Margaret’s Cowie - and a donation from Tesco, all the girls at the Ghanian school were provided with a new toothbrush.
Mary said: “The girls are tremendously proud of their teeth which are in great condition - mainly due to the lack of sugar in their diet.”
Let Us Shine is a Scottish charity founded by Fiona Mawuena, a young pharmacist from East Kilbride who had worked with Mary’s son, Paul, a paediatrician who became a trustee with the charity.
The boarding school was founded in Kpandai, one of the most impoverished areas of Northern Ghana, in 2007, for girls who would not otherwise have had access to formal education.
It started with two classrooms, 60 pupils, two teachers, a house mother and a manager.
Now there are 200 girls in the school and it has scored in the top five per cent for Ghana in the national exams.
A classroom at the school is dedicated to Mary’s late husband John, a retired paediatrician who worked at Stirling and Falkirk hospitals, who died in October 2008. Money raised at his funeral funded the classroom plus a sick bay named ‘Higgins Hut’.
Mary said of her latest visit: “I had a great time - apart from the 14-hour car journey from Accra to Kpandai village. Due to the torrential rain, the ferry landing platform had turned into mud and heavy vehicles had to be rescued by excavator trucks.
“The first cohort of students has completed senior high school education and some are already pursuing careers in teaching and midwifery.
“Without the existence of the boarding school provision for these girls, at Let us Shine, many from distant villages may not even have had access to formal primary education.”
For further details go to www. letusshine.org or write to Let Us Shine, 45, Randolph Rd, Stirling. FK8 2AP.