BASKETBALL CLINICS HELD IN MUSLIM NORTHERN GHANA

UNCLAS ACCRA 002320

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO SCUL OIIP OEXC PGOV GH
SUBJECT: BASKETBALL CLINICS HELD IN MUSLIM NORTHERN GHANA


1. Summary. Post, in coordination with the Department's
CultureConnect Program, organized two days of basketball
clinics for 40 girls in the predominantly-Muslim Northern
Region of Ghana on November 12-13, 2004. Cultural Envoys
and former Georgetown University basketball players,
Courtland Freeman and Omari J. Faulkner, along with Senior
Adviser and Special Coordinator for Cultural Programs, Brian

J. Sexton, conducted the clinics for girls, aged 7-18.
Twenty-five to 30 percent of girls in the north drop out of
school by age 13 to get married or have children, and an
ongoing basketball program in the north is one incentive for
them to continue their education. The clinics were covered
by the national press, and were praised by government
officials and parents alike for focusing attention on needs
of the north. The program forged another link in post's
outreach to Muslim audiences in Ghana. End Summary.


2. Post and the Makarigu Female Basketball Academy, a local
non-governmental organization, hosted the two days of
clinics at a secondary school's outdoor basketball courts in
Tamale, capital of the Northern Region. Mr. Freeman
supervised basketball clinics for 20 girls, aged 10-18,
while Mr. Faulkner coached 20 younger girls, aged 7-9. The
clinics culminated with a formal awards ceremony and dinner
at a local hotel, honoring each girl and her parents,
members of the Basketball Academy and local coaches. About
80 people attended the ceremony, in which the girls were
awarded certificates, given autographed photos of the
Cultural Envoys and had their pictures taken while holding
their certificates and flanked by the Envoys, Special
Coordinator and Embassy staff. November 13 marked the end
of Ramadan in Ghana and therefore, Muslims were able to join
in the celebratory dinner that evening.


3. Reaction to the two-day event was phenomenal. The
program was covered by national television stations, Ghana
Broadcasting Corporation and TV3, by the nationally-
circulated Ghanaian Times newspaper, as well as by four
local FM radio stations (Radio Savannah, Radio Filla, Radio
Justice, and Diamond FM). The Envoys and Special
Coordinator met with the Minister of Works and Housing and
Member of Parliament from the Northern Region, Mustafa Idris
Ali, who said the idea of using basketball to encourage
young girls to remain in school has the full backing of the
Ghanaian government. A cab driver with no formal education
said he was very proud of his two daughters for attending
school and participating in the clinics. He said that
through them, he had interacted with Americans for the first
time, and was honored as a guest for dinner at the hotel, a
place he had passed by many times, but never stopped.
Another father said he had watched the U.S. women's
basketball team compete at the Olympic games in Athens last
summer and wondered when Ghanaian girls would be playing
basketball; he said it was a dream to see his 8-year-old
daughter playing basketball for the first time.


4. Several girls said that before the Basketball Academy
began operations November 6, 2004 they went to school late
and had little interest in their studies. Now that the
Academy has been organized (practice sessions are held three
times a week, including two days after school),the local
coaches report that many girls arrive at school early in the
morning, hoping to play basketball before classes begin.
Under the Academy's rules, girls are allowed to play
basketball only if their teachers verify they are attending
class; once a girl is truant, she is dropped from the
Academy. The Basketball Academy is currently training 20
girls, aged 7-9 years of age, from 10 schools in Tamale and
the surrounding villages. Thirty-five percent of the
Academy trainees are Muslim. The Academy hopes to expand
the program if more funding is available; nearly 40 other
girls who applied to join are on a waiting list.


5. Post appreciates the support provided by R, AF-PD and
ECA in organizing and funding these basketball clinics,
which were very successful and raised post's profile among
Muslim groups in the Northern Region of Ghana. Post also
appreciates the additional help provided by Embassy-
Ouagadougou, especially PAO Haskell, GSO McCarthy and
expediter Zoungrana, for their assistance in facilitating
travel by the visitors in Burkina Faso and to Niger, and in
arranging the group's lodging in Ouagadougou.

YATES