WORKS BEYOND WORDS


My life is my message.
I stand for women and children.
When a nation is peace wrecked, it is women and children that suffer the most.It is in this vein, that I cannot keep silent but move out of my comfort zone and beyond writing, to reach out to these youths from all walks of life, to mentor them on peace and educate them on reasons why they should not avail themselves to be manipulated and used as weapons of war during this 2016 elections in Ghana.

As part of the mentorship program, I took the children through the documentary "PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL" which talks about the Liberian war, how boys were given guns to kill their mothers and fathers, girls were being raped, families could not even afford a cup of rice and the many other atrocities related to war.This was to

give the youths a more picturesque view of what war entails and what it means to enjoy National Peace.

Our lives begin to end the day that we remain silent about the things that matter.
A lot of things indeed matter in this life and our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about them.
Beyond the peace talks with the youths, we had other fruitful discussions such as issues affecting women and children, youth in community development, leadership, coping with decision making, our impact on the environment, wisdom of the elderly and also, we engaged in other projects such as tree planting, clean up, flood
mitigation, amongst many others.

All of these great and wonderful activities happened during Peace Jam Ghana Youth Conference 2016 organized by West Africa Center For Peace Foundation,where we had with us the 2011 Noble Peace Laureate Madam Leymah Gbowee gracing the occasion and sharing so much with us concerning peace.

After this great conference, I felt fulfilled because of the opportunity to impact lives, of which I believe that my life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives and humanity.
Reaching out to the children through mentorship and taking part in active educative games and projects brought nothing but joy and happiness to my heart.
I also had the opportunity to advocate for peace on HB Connet Live, of which i gladly did because the peace of Ghana is my peace, and the peace of all women and children.

During the conference, I did not only go and deliver what I have for these youths, but I also availed myself to learn from them. It was great, having learn a lot from these youths of which i will share something brief, a young girl of Junior High School level shared concerning youths and sexuality...

And it reads,

In life, everyone wants the best. Students want grade A in exams and not a grade C.
But in our sexual life, despite how unprepared the youths may be, they don't want the best which is the A (ABSTINENCE) rather, they prefer the C (CONTRACEPTIVES AND CONDOM USE)
She concluded by advising all youths to always go in for the best which is A (ABSTINENCE) and not the C.

It was awesome and memorable, moving beyond WORDS to WORKS to impact lives.



My life is my message.
I believe in WORKS beyond WORDS.
I believe in walking my talks.
I believe in emptying myself for humanity.
I stand for all women and children.


By; Joyce Ohenewaa Kwapong
0267968373
joycekwapong@gmail.com
Activist, Women and Children
University of Ghana, Accra City campus