Visiting Ghana

The Building Walls of Wisdom Executive Director, Russ Morgan, recently took a trip to Africa to visit all of our active projects there. Below is his reflection on his trip to Ghana and the communities that we are involved with.

This past November, I had the opportunity to visit Building Walls of Wisdom projects in both Ghana and Kenya. Seeing the communities that our organization, and ultimately our contributors, have helped and will help was truly a remarkable experience.

While over the couple of weeks we will be providing more updates by project, there are a couple of experiences that I would like to share.

Within Ghana, the people I met were extremely proud and passionate about providing their children with every opportunity possible – especially education.

This passion was made evident within the very first community that we visited. The community of Dungu, held a school completion ceremony where the community wanted to recognize Building Walls of Wisdom. This ceremony was so important to the community, that they still held it despite a member of their community passing away that very morning. [Watch our video update for Dungu here.]

In visiting Tua, it was amazing to touch the now finished school house. If you recall, this is the project where community pitched in so much that we were able to build two classrooms instead of one. After being invited to meeting with the village’s chief, it was refreshing to see the pride of community and their appreciation for education of their youth. [Watch our video update for Tua here.]

In seeing both of our completed buildings in these two communities, it was easy to see the difference in construction quality when compared to the government constructed school houses. As explained by Create Change’s construction officer, Emmanuel Gurindow, the local government’s poor selection of materials and design have resulted in buildings that have a life span of less than 7 years. We are fortunate to have such a strong organizational partner in this area as our buildings have been made in such a way that they will lasts for decades upon decades.

The community Adubiliyili was one of the more heart-wrenching locations to visit. As you may know, this past May a storm came through decimating a three classroom building and severely compromising the structural integrity of another. Many of the children are now attending school outdoors and are subject to extreme heat and constant distraction. The remainder of the students that are within the one remaining structure, live in of fear of the building falling down. In looking in the eyes of the parents of this community, I made a very real promise. I committed to share their story with as many people as possible and get their new school block built as quickly as possible. Any help that you can bring to help fulfill this promise would be appreciated by me, but cherished by this very disserving community. [Watch our video update for Adubiliyili here.]

I would like to personally thank everyone that has contributed and will contribute to making a difference in these communities. Well over one hundred students are already attending school in buildings constructed thanks to you. I want to be very clear in saying that every single dollar you donate, or people you share the story of our projects with, makes a real difference in these communities.

While I could write another five thousand words summarizing this trip, I would like to leave you with this. At the end of the day we are all people; people that work, people that laugh, and people that want the best for their children. The only difference is where we are born and the resources that are available. For those of us who live in a country where resources and education are abundant, we have a responsibility to help those communities with less.

If you haven’t already, please join us in our mission to eradicate poverty through education.

Best Regards,

Russ Morgan