I am Father Frank Owusu Ayakwah, SVD, a catholic missionary priest currently working in Madagascar. I have been in the priesthood for 7 years and I would like to share my experience of the CHEERS Children’s Club with all reading this note. On a personal level, at childhood, I got very much enlightened and broadened my knowledge in the Bible at CHEERS apart from the normal Sunday school Bible lessons we were taking at church. The time passed at CHEERS with other children from different denominations helped me to know more about the Bible. And I will admit that this knowledge acquired went a long way to help me in the seminary and even now. Thus an intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge (Cf. Prov. 8,15). However, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of this knowledge (Prov. 1,7) and whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. In this sense, not only does CHEERS impact knowledge but I also learnt to be disciplined in my life and thus become fruitful to the society and my place of mission; touching the lives of the people of God. In all we say, true knowledge and wisdom come from God (Cf. Prov. 2,6) and so we thank Him for His enormous blessings and grace in my life. Moreover, we thank God for using the CHEERS Good News club as an instrument in my life so that I could also become a source of blessings to others in the society.

The years with CHEERS have been amazing and I’m so glad to be part of this great compassionate organization. CHEERS has impacted greatly on my reading skills, especially during the period I was the Librarian for the Madina Library. My emotional intelligence has improved with respect to children. I’m now more patient with them and make room for them to express their opinions. Because of the selfless leadership of this organization, I have acquired great leadership and organizational skills through our annual CHEERS Bazaar (Christmas CHEERS) I will always recommend CHEERS to all at any given time. CHEERS is the best non-governmental organization for children who want their faith increase and reading skills improved

“CHEERS” has been part and parcel of me since 1999. So that makes me a pioneer of this noble organisation . .As a JHS graduate, I could count the number of books that I had read, but thanks to CHEERS it exposed me to so many authors. The Good News Club was an extraordinary one. Although I had attended a lot of Sunday Schools, the CHEERS Good news club was different. The impact on my faith was enormous, I felt loved and welcome. My confidence level increased and I felt important. when I was given a role to make bags for a donation at the Korle-bu Children's ward in 1999 . The time with CHEERS prepared and gave me a firm foundation during my secondary school days.