US embassy cable - 04ACCRA2320

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