GHANA NATIONAL COUNCIL AND GHANAIAN CHURCH AND AFFILIATE IN CHICAGO SPONSORED KIDS  TO SIX FLAGS.

Six flags Great America is designed to give thrill and excitement to its patrons. Children are known to love thrills and fun, especially when they are on vacation. When these two ingredients are mixed at the right time you get one word-fantastic-gives a child the ultimate fun and thrill.

Saturday July 9 2005 will forever be etched in the minds of children of Ghanaian descent living in Chicago when they were treated to free transportation, lunch and tickets by the Ghana National Council of Metropolitan Chicago (GNC), the Church of the Ghanaian Community of Chicago and the Asanteman Association, which is an affiliate of the Ghana National Council, to Six Flags-Great America!

There was a $10.00 registration payment by each child and each registrant was given a free Ghanafest 2005 cap and T-Shirt by the Ghana National Council. The cap and T-shirts were later found to have helped in identifying the group and also the children when they stray away from their packs.

There were 59 children between the ages of  6 and 25 and 9 chaperons. The chaperon’s included the president and vice president of the Ghana National Council, Reuben Hadzide and Ebenezer Antwi-Nsiah respectively. Other chaperon’s were Marian Issakka, Publicity Officer, Josephine Appiah, Organizing and Special Event Secretary and Jane Poku, Financial Secretary and Afua Agyemang, Youth Co-ordinator, all officers of the GNC and assisted by Melody Turkpei, wife of the President, Diana Agyekum and Claudia Boateng who also served as Chaperons.

The organizers provided two convenient locations for pick up and drop off for the children. These were 6100 S. Michigan Avenue (south side) and 4433 N. Ravenswood (north side). Departure times were 8:00 am at the south side location, 8:30 am at the North side and arrival times were 7:45 pm north side and 8:15 pm south side respectively.

The trip, which was one of the most successful co-sponsored events yet organized by the GNC for the youth in recent memory is part of the vision by the new leadership of the GNC to provide activities that will promote among other things, an environment for Ghanaian descent kids to fraternize and know each other.

The planning itself was done by one of the Youth Co-ordinator, Afua Agyeman.

Upon arrival at Six Flags, the planners divided the children into five age groups, the 7-8, 9-10, 11-14, 15-19 and 20-25 year olds. The older groups were openly noticed exchanging phone numbers and email addresses whilst the younger kids were playing and enjoying each other.

The children discovered the ultimate nostalgic rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor. Exhilarating rides and wildly wet water adventures made the outing the best yet for Ghanaian descent children in Chicago as a group! SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN...THE XTREME PARK has the largest collection of XTREME roller coasters on the Planet! Known world wide as a thrill ride haven, Six Flags Magic Mountain features 16 world-class roller coasters and over 100 rides, games and attractions for the entire family. The Park is home to 11 different world records!

Rides like Giant drop, Batman, Déjà Vu, Virtual Velocity, Raging Bull, Superman and Iron wolf combines hairpin turns & zero gravity, spinning and twirling its occupants like a toy. These fast moving rides sends riders to the edge of their seat and ecstasy! An unrestricted drop from the top of a 10-story tower, plunging at 55 miles-per-hour in just two seconds or cars twirling high into the air or get plastered to a wall at a 45-degree angle were designed really for the iron hearted!

One fact clear to the organizers was that, there were more children interested to join the trip than anticipated. Hopefully they will increase publicity of future events like this and plan for larger groups. Since free things are uncommon, we all take advantage of one when the opportunity is presented.

The participating children thanked and passionately requested the organizers to encore the program next year.