The Education And Book Appeal for Ghana was founded by Roger Gillman who works as an undertaker in Tooting, London. Tooting has a large community of Ghanaians and six years ago one of their community died. Roger was asked to organise the funeral, and was requested to accompany the body back to Ghana.
After the funeral, when Roger was on his way back to the airport, he asked the driver to stop so that he could have a swim in the Atlantic Ocean. The driver asked where he wanted to stop. Roger said that he didn't mind, so they took the next road down to the sea, where Roger swam. The place he found was the village of Mankoadze.
The children gathered around to watch the very tall white man swim. Roger asked why they weren't at school. The children explained that they had to pay to go to school. Roger visited the school and was amazed at the lack of teaching facilities and the small number of children present.
On his return Roger started to get family and friends to sponsor a child so that they could attend school. He asked for only £15 per child per year. This paid for their books and education. After a number of years, through his contacts within The Rotary Club, TEABAG was sponsoring 250 children. Fees for schools were abolished after a few years but sponsorship carries on as a child can attend school only if they can afford a uniform. TEABAG now sponsors over 300 children in Mankoadze and two neighbouring villages.
TEABAG has also been asked over the last six years to raise funds for vital medical operations. Additionally, it has exported a library full of school books and has for the last two years supported a village Christmas party.
