Gone To Ghana

Since first coming to northern Ghana as volunteers in 2005, the two priorities for our work have become nutrition, education and better health. By day, David volunteers teaching English at village schools, Lisa volunteers as a chiropractor at Kongo-Logre Health Centre.  Our travelogue entries are often about experiences with students and patients. Our free time is devoted to purchasing food staples for a school feeding program and in meetings with high school graduates applying for scholarships to training colleges.

The school feeding program is for primary students in the remote village of Guanwarre. We create a unique and colorful “Gone to Ghana Calendar” to both share our experiences in Ghana and to help raise the $4,000 annual cost of the feeding program.  Lunches are provided during the 6 months of the dry season, when the food stores of subsistence farm families dwindle and most people eat only once per day. In this area of depleted soils and unpredictable harvests, adequate nutrition is key to normal growth, brain development and ability to learn.

The other prong of our efforts is devoted to students that qualify for teachers and nurses training colleges in Ghana. There are currently 12 grateful young adults enrolled in  training programs thanks to the generosity of people in the U.S. Due to the astonishingly low cost of training colleges in Ghana, we can pay school fees of 12 students for a mere $6,000/year.

All of this is only possible thanks to charitable contributions. We have become board members of the charitable organization Yakote Women Farmers, 501(c)(3) number 61-1601382. This organization was formed by our friends Marilyn and Lou Schuster of Salem, OR to improve education, food security and family health in northern Ghana.

We are very grateful for the  generous spirit of our friends and family and their willingness to spread the word about our efforts.  All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Importantly, Lisa, David, Marilyn, Lou and any volunteers affiliated with Yakote Women Farmers pay all of their own expenses related to travel and living in Ghana.  Donations  on behalf of Lisa and David are used exclusively for school feeding and school fees. Marilyn and Lou raising funds to finish construction of a grain storage facility.