On the 25th of January, the Vodafone January Birthday Stars Celebration, coupled with key activities such as Coding and Web Development was organised at the Akropong School for the Blind to honour World Education Day and to donate Braille and fix the windows at the school. The purpose of the gathering was to introduce coding and digital skills to persons with visual and hearing-impairment and also to celebrate Vodafone’s January born. The event was graced by the Gospel Musician Noble Nketia and Winner of TV3 Talented Kids Season 10 Nakeeyat.
The program started with an opening prayer by a rep from the school for the blind. Afterwards, Mr Satu, the headmaster of the school of the deaf gave the welcome address. In his address, he stated that they were grateful for Vodafone and all the stakeholders for making them feel part of society. Mr Amaris N. A. Perbi, the head of Vodafone Ghana foundation addressed all who had gathered on the essence of this meeting. In his speech he stated that since it was the international day of education, they decided to partner with Soronko Academy to educate the visually and hearing impaired on coding and web development. This collaboration was to ensure that the visually and hearing-impaired are not left behind in our digital world.
Later, we had a performance by a visually impaired student named Stephen to entertain everyone. It was such a heartwarming performance. Next, the Soronko Academy Team started an educational session with the students in coding and web development. This was to teach them how to create a single-page website using HTML. We went for a sanitiser break, followed by a performance by students who were both visually and hearing-impaired.
We then had an entertaining activity called the egg and spoon activity. This activity was fun and thrilling to watch. The game had representatives from Soronko Academy, Vodafone and students included.
The students got back to their coding classes to practice what they had learned by creating a simple web page. They were tasked to on their pages, their name, favourite food and background colour. The birthday celebrants, together with the Vodafone January Birthday celebrants danced with the students. Naakeyat also gave a speech in honour of the Global Education Day and the Gospel Musician, Noble Nketia who happens to celebrate his birthday in January also performed beautifully.
Braille presentations were made to the school of the blind by the Vodafone Birthday Stars. Soronko Academy also gave souvenirs to students who did exceptionally well in the coding class and gave certificates to each student who participated in the coding lessons. The Vodafone Ghana Foundation promised to renovate the dining hall for the school of the blind.
An eloquent female student from the Akropong School of the blind gave the vote of thanks and a Vodafone staff volunteer said the closing prayer.