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Last updated on January 27, 2008

Our mission is to cultivate the personal growth and fulfillment of impoverished youth in Ghana by providing education, resources, and cultural awareness.

Description:
The Maine Ghana Youth Network is a local-global organization working to educate, empower, and inspire youth in Maine and West Africa. In the impoverished Ghanaian neighborhood of Kissehman, we provide desperately needed resources and educational opportunities, meeting children’s basic needs while encouraging them to learn and grow. In Maine, we work with schools, organizations, and youth groups to facilitate exciting cross-cultural exchange. These programs connect young people to the local and global community, and help develop their full potential as tomorrow’s creative, thoughtful leaders.

History:
In 2003, co-founder Ian Jones studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa, where he met a young man named Mollishmael Kwame Gabah, a resident and community leader of an impoverished but vibrant urban neighborhood called Kissehman. The conditions were shocking—walking to the next town over to fetch water, defecating in “the bush,” playing soccer barefoot on hard gravel, fighting over a single book or a piece of candy, and – if they had enough money, which was rare – attending school for four hours a day in a concrete block building where a single teacher handles 50 or 60 students.

Ian and Mollishmael decided to organize an informal youth program. Mornings consisted of reading, writing, drawing, and singing songs. The afternoons consisted of traditional drumming and dancing. New kids of all ages showed up every day. Grateful mothers brought their small children and babies, and gradually the afternoon rehearsals became a vibrant gathering of the whole community. At the end of Ian’s stay, they organized a community event, and the kids took the stage to sing and dance in front of family, friends, foreign students, and tourists. They used the money raised to buy books, supplies, jump ropes, and a soccer ball. MGYN was born.

Since those beginnings, MGYN has developed the Kissehman Youth Empowerment Program. Field trips, community projects, arts, agriculture, and computer technology have been incorporated into educational programming alongside reading, writing, dancing and drumming. They also have an Apprenticeship Program, which provides youth an opportunity to learn the skills of basket weaving, kente weaving, batik dying, and tailoring. The “Peace and Love Dance Ensemble” was formed and has performed at several events in Accra.

MGYN provides scholarships, instructors, a director, books, supplies, school uniforms, field trips and cook group meals once a week. The kids have soccer cleats, art supplies, a video camera, and a laptop computer. Erin Rhoda of Washington, Maine (Colby ’06) spent one year teaching and organizing in Kissehman on a Global Educator internship. Erin has joined Ian and Mollishmeal to form a trio of leadership for the organization.

Contact person: Erin Rhoda, Board President, (phone), (email)

Address:

C/o DTA Center, 102 Main Street, #A Ellsworth, ME 04605 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.maineghanayouth.org

Directions:

Board meetings are held in Portland, Maine.

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