About Us

History

You may wonder why Ghana Together is so committed to Ghana? And why Axim, an out-of-the-way town few have heard of?

By way of background, Rich and Maryanne Ward, part of Ghana Together’s current leadership team, have a son, Nathan, who owns a textile exporting business. In 2004, he developed a business relationship with James Kainyiah, Owner and Managing Director of JamKay Limited, a sportswear manufacturing firm in Sekondi, Ghana.

Nathan visited Ghana and became friends with James and his wife Justine. James took Nathan to Axim, where he shared his dream of building a children’s home for orphaned, homeless, impoverished children in Axim. James himself lost his parents at a young age, and struggled during his youth growing up impoverished in this poor fishing town.

You need to know that James is a big man with a big heart who had some years earlier awakened in the middle of the night in Germany, where he was studying, with a strong feeling that he should build a home for orphaned children in his hometown of Axim. That dream never left him as he returned to Ghana, started his business, raised a family, and became a community leader. He married Justine, and she also came to share the dream.

So, fatefully one might say, on the spur of the moment during that rather ordinary business trip, he asked Nathan to help him build his orphanage. But, Nathan, a young businessman in his late 20’s, just starting out with few resources, said he couldn’t help, but he was sure his Mom and Dad would! Christmas 2005 came. Nathan visited the family home, and challenged his newly retired parents to forsake the rocking chairs and possible motor home, and take on something much more exciting! Soon Rich and Maryanne had a long email from James, telling all about his dream project.

Meanwhile, Barbara Gilday, a friend of the Wards, was about to embark on a Global Citizen Journey to Nigeria to build a library. Earlier in her career she had been a CUSO teacher at Konongo-Odumasi Secondary School near Kumasi, Ghana, so after her work in Nigeria was finished, she traveled to Ghana to catch up with friends. On behalf of Rich and Maryanne, she visited the Kainyiahs, heard their story, visited the future site of the dreamed-of children’s home (did we mention James is a persuasive businessman with strong marketing/sales skills?) and came back full of enthusiasm for the project.

Barbara led us to Susan Partnow, Executive Director of Global Citizen Journey, a non-profit based in Seattle, WA, that sponsors journeys to out-of-the-way places to foster connections and cultural understanding—to create “global citizens.” Susan had just led a successful journey to Nigeria and was ready to start working on another. Rich and Maryanne’s vision had broadened—they wanted to put together a richer experience involving others rather than just raising money to construct a building. Susan reviewed the by-now extensive project proposal from James, and agreed that GCJ would sponsor a Journey to Axim, Ghana. Thus was the Axim project born!

GCJ Group in front of orphanage construction

With Rich’s support, Barbara and Maryanne became GCJ Ghana Project Co-directors, recruited a terrific team of delegates, and in 2006 found themselves in Axim. Under Susan Partnow’s and GCJ’s leadership, 15 North American delegates and 15 Ghanaian delegates lived and worked together for nearly three weeks.

We began building the dreamed-of Children’s Home, part of a much-needed community facility for Axim. In time the facility became GCJ Ghana’s “legacy” project.

But, we also engaged in group dialogues to develop cultural understanding and reflect on our work together. Using Appreciative Inquiry as a facilitation tool, we organized the first Axim-wide Town Hall. We brought together leaders from all sectors of the town who focused on what is good about Axim, what Axim’s ideal future might look like, and what each could do to accomplish that dream. Together, Ghanaians and North Americans alike, we had an unforgettable experience that changed us, deepened our mutual understanding, and created new relationships that will probably last our lifetimes.

James not only served as our host, but formed the Western Heritage Home, an NGO registered in Ghana, that has become a community-wide organization in Axim, and now owns and operates the children’s home/community learning center and is engaged in other community activities.

During 2007 and early 2008, although the journey was over, most of the original team of North American delegates continued to support the work in Axim, finishing the Children’s Home portion of the new building, sponsoring 20 orphaned children as residents and ensuring their education, working on a grant to finish the second floor of the building as a community learning center, bringing needed science materials to the local school, and engaging in other projects. Many of us visited Axim during that time. Barbara returned to Konongo-Odumase Secondary School to help dedicate the $20,000 worth of new books for the new library and taught Appreciative Inquiry to over 1100 students, teachers, board members and small business owners!

And so this is the context in which we have formed Ghana Together. As Global Citizen Journey travels to other countries on other Journeys, we GCJ Ghana Project alums are staying in Ghana to focus exclusively on our work there. To support our work, we have formed Ghana Together.

We of Ghana Together are grateful to Global Citizen Journey for its vision, teachings, and for initiating our connection with our partners in Axim. We are building our future on the conceptual underpinnings we received from GCJ about interpersonal understanding across cultures, how to be “global citizens,” and how to use group facilitation processes to develop close relationships with our Ghanaian friends and draw out the power of the Axim community. All of us who have at some time participated as delegates in a GCJ Journey, regardless of the country of destination, feel a sense of family and shared heritage. We encourage others to follow our footsteps.

We invite you to read about Global Citizen Journey and specifically about our Ghana Journey and also view our blog, an accumulation of thoughts and events during and after our travels.