Children in Ghana

receive a new mobile playground

27 Oct 2010

Children in Ghana are enjoying the benefits of SNUG, a loose parts mobile playground which has been donated by playground equipment designer and manufacturer Sutcliffe Play. The company was contacted by The SAFE Foundation, a charity set up in the UK to help implement sustainable development projects to marginalised people in developing countries.

Almost two years ago, in Kumasi, Ghana, the charity teamed up with a local organisation, TeensNet Foundation, to combine efforts to help marginalised communities gain access to health care in a ‘Centre of Hope’.

The mutual aims of both charities are to especially help children suffering from HIV and AIDS who require ongoing medical treatment. A team of volunteers has recently returned from a trip which saw them build a new school.

“The SNUG play equipment donated by Sutcliffe Play, has given a new lease of life to underprivileged children who have no access to the very basic of human rights – happiness,” explains Lucy Dickenson, Managing Director of The SAFE Foundation. “There were no recreation facilities at all in Kumasi, and the introduction of this innovative type of playground has combined fun, education, physical activity and social engagement to children contributing to an overall improvement in their quality of life.”

With the help of TeensNet, the play equipment will be transported around the region so that they can reach children in more remote areas. SNUG is fully modular and can be moved around easily allowing children to be in control of their own play landscapes and encouraging them to use their imagination and stimulate creativity.

TeensNet in Ghana will employ local people to drive the equipment around the region and they will receive payment from The SAFE Foundation through their ongoing fundraising activities.

Lucy continues: “As planned we have been rotating SNUG equipment around Kumasi schools at a small fee to the school to raise money for our wider project, providing facilities and services to AIDS and HIV sufferers in the slums and squats on the outskirts of the city.

“I can’t thank Sutcliffe Play enough for their donation. SNUG has been an amazing resource and we’ve been able to get more people palliative and medical care as a result of their contribution. In just a few short months we’ve already been able to benefit about 300 children with funds we’ve raised through the donation of SNUG.”

Rob Whitelock, SNUG Creative Advisor in the UK says: “We believe that play is crucially important to the intellectual, social, emotional and physical development of children. It helps them to develop their own sense of risk and teaches them how to work independently and as part of a team.

“Play for plays sake should be an essential part of childhood, wherever you live in the world, so we’re delighted to be working with SAFE on such a worthy project that will introduce play, and its benefits, to children across Ghana.”

Having recently passed the twentieth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, this donation from SAFE and Sutcliffe Play is a fantastic opportunity for children in the poorest communities in Kumasi to experience the freedom, fun and access to play that every child is entitled to. It will also motivate adults of the community to take action in child development and to be more proactive in securing a bright future for their families.