Global Host Project trains women in dressmaking

Eighteen underprivileged young women from seven communities in the Cape Coast Metropolis have benefitted from the "Seamstress Training Project," an initiative of the Global Host Project (GHP), a United States based Non-Profit Organisation.The beneficiaries were selected from Amoyaw, Ebubonko, Ammisaano, Seiwen, Nanaba, Dankwakrom, Bessakrom, and communities near the Cape Coast Polytechnic where they received the one year training.In addition to paying for the training handled by the Fashion Design and Textile Studies Department of the Cape Coast Polytechnic, GHP, also provided beneficiaries with sewing machines as part of their start- up package.Mr. Oduah Kwesi Sampson, the Country Director and Co-Founder of GHP, at a ceremony, said GHC 4,500 had been set aside as start-up capital for the beneficiaries, who would be divided into three cooperatives.He said the project was aimed at supporting the beneficiaries to be self-dependent and expressed optimism that the beneficiaries could now improve their livelihoods, families and respective communities.He said container cabins were being constructed at Ebubonko, Amoyaw and Ammisaano to be allocated to each cooperative as workshop with a fourth container, mounted at the Central Business District in Cape Coast to serve as a showroom and sales point. Mr Sampson said the beneficiaries were selected last year based on recommendation from their respective community leaders, after which they were vetted.Mr. Sampson, therefore, called on philanthropists, individuals or groups to support the GHP to implement other life changing projects.In a brief address at the ceremony, Professor Ann Reed, the board secretary of GHP, described the project as 'the beginning of partnership with the Cape Coast Polytechnic, in identifying community problems and solving them at the grassroots level.'She expressed gratitude to the GHP's donors as well as the Polytechnic authorities, and called on stakeholders to form an effective partnership with the NGO to help the underprivileged and also solve "everyday problems".Ms. Felicia Tormeti, who emerged the best trainee, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) described the project as 'an opportunity to improve upon her life and that of her family,' saying, "I will generate more income to support my household".She expressed gratitude to the GHP and called on other NGOs to initiate more of such projects since there were many other underprivileged persons who needed such opportunities to make a difference in their lives.