What is the aim of Happy Ever After?
Happy Ever After was founded to help people unlock their futures through the therapeutic, educational and empowering benefits of writing.
How will this aim be achieved?
Through workshops, coaching sessions, literacy programmes and talks all targeted at those most in need.
Upcoming projects include ‘Caring for the Carers’ workshops in the UK and the Happy Ever After – Help is Now programme for Ghanaian villages. By linking writers and writing groups in Britain with the Ghanaian Writers’ association, we aim to provide villages with literacy classes for people who are unable to read and write. We hope that the success of this project will lead to it being rolled out across Africa via the Pan African Writers Association.
Naa Otua Launching Happy Ever After in Kwasi Nyarko, Ghana
Why is this project so important to Happy Ever After?
Coming from Ghana, co-founder Naa Otua Cudjoe Swayne knows only too well how desperately this help is needed. With so many people leaving school early, unable to read and write, they are unable to help their own children with their education and so a cycle of illiteracy is created. By teaching these adults to read and write you are not just changing their lives, but the lives of all thsoe around them. Not only will they be able to help their children but they will also improve their employment prospects and increase their earning power. In the case of women who have been widowed or left by their partners this help will prove invaluable. It also provides writers in the UK with a chance to help others less fortunate than themselves.
How will this literacy programme be implemented?
The scheme will be set up on a village by village basis. In each village the programme will be overseen by a member of the Ghanaian Writers’ Association. A retired teacher will be employed to run the class, using a classsrom in the local school. Happy Ever After will pay the teacher’s wages and provide books and equipment such as paper and pens. Each teacher / village will be set targets and there will be regular reviews of their progress. There will also be incentive schemes in place in order to ensure that targets are met.
Are there plans for any other projects in Ghana?
Happy Ever After would also like to fund and help set up reading and writing clubs for children in Ghanaian schools, with regular competitions and prizes to encourage children to take part. Again we would like to provide books and equipment for these clubs through our fund-raising and with the help of our sponsors.
What plans does Happy Ever After have for helping people in Britain?
Through her group workshops and individual coaching, Siobhan Curham helps people regain confidence and direction through writing. Happy Ever After is looking to expand on this with a programme of workshops and talks for people in need in the UK.
How can people help Happy Ever After with their fund-raising efforts?
We desperately need books, particularly children’s picture books or anything suitable for teaching people to read and write. Details of fund-raising events will appear on the Projects page of this website.
For more information or to find out how to donate money or your second-hand books, please email:
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