Sunyani Community.

 The Sunyani community was established in 2008 in rented quarters and moved to its present permanent site in 2012, when the community was officially blessed. The main reasons for the establishment of the community were the Catholic University in Sunyani (Brothers study there) and the request by the Diocese to take over the Catholic Technical Institute. 

At the Catholic Technical Institute they specialize in electrical engineering; both the former Principal, Bro. Seregeous, and his assistant, Bro. George, have made specialized studies in this subject and know how to handle the subject matter. 

Bro Seregeous writes about the Catholic Technical Institute as follows: ‘The idea of establishing a Catholic Technical Institute in Sunyani was conceived by the late Bishop Owusu in 1973. He was concerned about the young people who finished their basic education and had no chance for further studies. In 1974 Bishop Owusu approached FIC to come and accept the management of the school. This could, however, not be honoured at the time because of lack of personnel. It was Bishop Owusu’s successor, Bishop Gyamfi, who 34 years later revisited FIC with the same request. The result was that in March 2008 an agreement was signed between both parties and in October of that same year I formally took over the management of the school. In 2010 I was joined by Bro. George.’ 

Bro Seregeous continues: ’For me the underlying reasons for which CTI was started over three decades ago, are still relevant in the present time and circumstances. There are now many private vocational/technical schools in the area, but most are profit-orien- ted. At CTI we try to make a difference. We seek to put our students at the centre of our daily operations. We not only train them to acquire practical skills, but also endeavour to help form them for society. As a non-profit entity, fees charged from students are only there to deal with recurrent expenditure of the school which often is woefully inadequate. This for me as head of the school is a cardinal challenge, a source of pressure and a major worry in our bid to turn the school around. 

In taking over a school that was virtually dead, with only 26 stu- dents, the challenges that faced us were very daunting. What we have tried to realize in the past 4 years is to transform the school not only to a befitting status of a Technical Institute, but also to improve on the quality of students it turns out. This has found concrete expression in infrastructural development, staff overhaul, whipping up student intake drives, provision of training equipment and review of the school’s training system among others. The school now has 63 students, five of whom are females. CTI is gradually recovering from its past’. 

In the meantime Bro. Seregeous has handed over the mantle of leadership of the Institute to Bro. Godfrey D, who used to be in charge of St. John’s in Nandom. 

Currently the Sunyani community consists of six Brothers. They are Bro. Godfrey, the principal who took over from Bro. Serege- ous; Bro. George (Technical Institute); Bros. Irenious and Didas (study at CU); Bro. Augustine, who has left the country for a sab- batical; and Bro. Williams, who is a student at the Kumasi campus of the University of Education Winneba (UEW).