Holy Cross Skills Center @ 25 – November 29th, 2007

It was on this day 25 years ago that the Holy Cross Skills Project was begun in Ketan, Sekondi-Takoradi. It was quite a modest project in the beginning with one simple goal: teach young men with no other options a skill. Now we have a good amount of land in Anaji, large classrooms, big workshops with decent equipment, a full staff, and about 300 hundred students.
On this we day we all, including all of our visiting brothers, students from the nearby vocational and technical schools, and a host of dignitaries from the Western Region. Our local chief was even there. But the person that I was most excited to meet was the Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Fr. Hugh Cleary. I believe that the figurehead of a Catholic Congregation should be the best representative of the ideal that the Congregation stands for. With this in mind the real reason why I looked forward to meeting him was because of my need to renew my strength.
After talking with Br. Richard Gilman I asked if he could introduce me to Fr. Hugh. He is not a physically imposing man at all. In fact just from his handshake and his greeting one could tell that he is a truly humble man. A gentle man who isn’t always fond of the administrative work. A man who will not abandon an ideal. A man who prefers not to roam outside of the spiritual sphere of life. A man who sees and understands.
I will tell you right now that the words I exchanged with Fr. Hugh were not many, but I feel that we communicated a lot more without them.
So all in all it was a crowd of about 300 plus people. We brought in a “high life” band for the event to help to spice things up. Basically, the event was about three hours worth of speeches, music and awards given to the great benefactors of the Skills Center.
There have been many people over the years that have given so much to make the Center possible. People who donated the overalls for the auto department. People who paid for the power tools that are used. Funds raised to put up the Home of Hope and keep it running each year. One man paying the salary of all the teachers for years when it could no longer be afforded. People who donate books for the library. People who provided free medical attention for our students.
So many people have provided to make the school possible it gave me more inspiration to give the students all that I could. So many people who wanted to take part in this project, to help in the formation of good and honorable young men, to help give these boys some hope for their future…well I can honor their charity by adding to their gifts the best of my efforts in the classroom and around the campus.
The real fun didn’t begin until much later that day when we had a records dance for the boys. Initially, we were going to bring in a live band for the boys, but they said, “Bro! NO NO NO…and they somehow brought in a DJ. Which meant giant speakers blaring Hip Hop and Hip Life all throughout Anaji.
We had the dance outdoors in between the workshops and the administrative block on the flat gravel lot. The boys were going wild and having a great time kicking up dust all over the place. A couple of the boys sneaked in with their “girlfriends” in the back of the crowd…Br. Daniel was keeping a close eye on them. ;)
They were playing some music that took me back to those ridiculous nights at Club Fever or wherever else they play that stuff and I couldn’t help but to smile, tap my feet, and before I knew it I was dancing like a fool in the middle of my students…and it just made them go even more wild.

The time came for a little dance competition and let me tell you some of these boys can dance…I mean wow! One of the boys was sliding around on the gravel like Michael Jackson. He was great. Another could do this dance were it looked as if he were moving in slow motion. The boys were good.
What they were not so good at was free styling which is what they did next. Luckily that kind of faded out quick and it was back to dancing!
So after showing the boys my pathetic version of breakdancing, meaning the worm and a one armed hand stand which received quite an ovation from the boys, it was time to go home and call it a night.
I got some good pictures of the boys from the dance…I think it might help to paint the picture a bit better for you. Enjoy.