.jpg)
When Daughters of Africa Shift, Communities Stir
By Linda A. Annan
January 6, 2010
It is a sunny four o’clock July 29th afternoon in Philadelphia and nighttime in Ghana, home of the world’s second largest cocoa production. After three rings of the telephone, a tender voice responds, and in an undeniably humble tone she introduces herself. The responder is Philomena Amoako, founder and president of Rural Communities Empowerment Center (RCEC), a non-profit organization devoted to developing community resource facilities in rural Ghana.
A historian by training, Amoako loves to read biographies and historical novels. She loves to travel, go to the movies, and, when time permits, even solve game puzzles. But over the last few years, this mother of three has also demonstrated her passions elsewhere:
“I am somebody who wants to take care of my family, but at the same time I want to help the community I came from. I want to somehow make a difference there by giving them what I got when I was a child.” She further adds, “When we were growing up, we had books, we could go out, we could visit, we could drive to places, and we never lacked food or clothing or none of those things.”
The small town of Apirede – located in the eastern part of Ghana – has witnessed the magnanimous hand of this former World Bank ICT Specialist. After considerable exposure to the deterioration of community resources, Amoako engaged in discussions with residents in the region to get a better sense of their needs.
“They needed a place where their children could go to after school. They were running about the place doing nothing after school, no homework. They stayed on the soccer park and in the evening they [went] back home, had their dinner and then [went] to bed. The first idea was to get them a place where they could go and one, do their homework. And two, to get them a place where they could get mentors to help them pass their exams, to move on to higher grades because the majority of them were not making good grades.
“And for the little children also, some place for them to go and play with toys. And then of course, you had women, who also needed skills. Some of them had skills, like tailoring, but they weren’t using them for economic gains. So they learn how to sew and fall by the wayside or become apprentices for somebody and [remain] apprentices for a long time.”
When Amoako incorporated the RCEC in 2002, she was also determined to create a platform that empowered at-risk adolescent girls and disadvantaged women to improve upon their skills or acquire new skills for personal economic gain. This goal was accomplished when Amoako and her daughter masterminded a plan to launch a fashion line that employed services of the women enrolled in the center’s program.
“From polling and looking at the community we realized that the women and the girls liked to sew. With developed skills, it’s easier for them to get a loan to set up their own shop with a few apprentices and then start working from there,” remarks Amoako. “The other projects that could be done, you know, pottery, bread-making, catering and all of that. But we don’t have funding for such programs so we stay away from them, we just concentrate on sewing.”
This tailoring project is what led to the inception of the burgeoning Naana B. handbag line, produced by eight women. As the women learned to sew, they created bags to raise money for the center. Proceeds from the project are divided between maintenance of the fashion line and funding of the center as well as a source of revenue for the women.
The children, on the other hand, are experiencing a different kind of benefit from the organization. With timed schedules, the center makes available an environment conducive to effective after-school work as well as free training in basic and intermediate Information Technology – a completely different ambiance from what Amoako had initially witnessed in the community. Additionally, the center offers free evening mentoring by well-trained teachers in English, Math and Science for the junior and senior high school children.
NATURAL HAIR AT THE WORK PLACE
Posted: July 12, 2010
CUT YOUR LOSSES
Posted: June 09, 2010
WHEN TO CALL IT QUITS
Posted: May 21, 2010
SHATTERING THE GLASS CEILING
Posted: Apr. 22, 2010
WISH THERE WERE MORE OF YOU?
Posted: Apr. 5, 2010
NAME ISSUES
Posted: Mar. 25, 2010