Western Heritage Home Orphanage/Community Learning Center

Our Legacy Project was to build an orphanage and community learning center in Axim. WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT ON DECEMBER 5, 2007, 28 CHILDREN MOVED INTO THEIR NEW HOME!! This project was initiated by our Ghanaian NGO partner, Western Heritage Home (WHH), to fill a crucial community need in Axim, and GCJ decided to help them. The children need shelter, and Axim needs a place for community gatherings, training classes, and vocational workshops of all kinds.

Currently there is no computer training center for adults in the Nzema East District of some 125,000 people. The community center and computer learning lab will provide revenue to support the children’s program. The building is 75% complete, thanks to funding procured by GCJ Ghana delegates/alums.

The GCJ team has worked together to support WHH in building this Orphanage and Learning Center, which will house up to 35 children orphaned due to HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other family tragedies.

The Learning Center will provide a much-needed facility for community leaders to hold meetings and classes on HIV/AIDs and general health awareness, women’s entrepreneurial and empowerment possibilities , and conflict resolution, and hold modest conferences. It will provide a place for Ghanaian and international volunteers to assist in Axim development project. It will house a Comuter Center to provide computer training and internet access to the community.

Staff for the Children’s Home have been hired. We are lacking kitchen counters, cabinets, chairs but the children are moved in. They are calling themselves “pioneers”, because they have moved in before things are quite ready, and are paving the way for future children. They are at home, have been attending school for a year, have had regular after-school meals, and have new hope and purpose for their lives! Thanks to all who have helped us so much.

Host: Western Heritage Home

Western Heritage Home is a Ghanaian-registered, Axim-based NGO which focuses on children, especially orphaned children, school fees, women’s empowerment, promoting AIDS awareness, and conflict resolution. James Kainyiah, WHH Founder and Chairman, is our local host. WHH has developed a vibrant board of men and women to oversee and manage the home and begin developing a sustainability plan, to find ways to generate income to pay ongoing school, living and maintenance costs. When a large number of North American delegates returned in September, they were able to work with Board on developing vision and skills: Barbara and Louise led sessions on Appreciative Inquiry and Maryanne brought bookkeeping software.

Follow-Up Projects

Be sure to check out the inspiring array of activities the Ghana delegates from North America continue to spawn and nurture.  They have formed Ghana Together to continue to support this powerful work.

Follow Up Projects in Axim (WHH Children’s Program to support the orphans, Sanitation Station, Water System Extension, Women’s’ Microfinance)

Other delegate initiated projects in Ghana: (Konongo Library Project, Appreciative Inquiry, Life Story Project)

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Nigeria 2005 Journey Report

In November 2005, 19 Americans and 21 Nigerians came together in Oporoza, a village in the riverine region of the Niger Delta. We worked hard, sweated much, danced often. We laughed in the face of many challenges and were moved to tears by the conditions in this region. We made deep connections and learned an enormous amount-about ourselves, each other, our village hosts and the complex fabric of Nigerian life.

The GCJ Nigeria 2005 project was a regional library, the first public library in the entire riverine region. The Niger Delta Friendship library was successfully completed and commissioned on November 28. The doors are open and more than 1300 books-most of them brought by GCJ delegates in boxes and suitcases-are now available to the community.

• Commemoration speech by the U.S. Consul General 11.22.05, Warri, Nigeria
• Joel’s speech for the Library Commissioning
• Susan’s speech for the Library Commissioning
• Thank you letter from Oporoza student

Reports of some of our delegates:

• Cameron’s travel blog (one of several entries – click previous or next journal for more)
• Kendra’s blog
• Christi’s article: on her perspective as a librarian.
• Article in the Boeing Corporate Philanthropy Report (page 30). Boeing was a significant sponsor of the Journey.

Other info:

• Delegate Bios
• Making Communication Work: a report by Sylvester Aigbe to the Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources, 4th World Congress Conference.
• Article in Real Change News

Greetings from Nigeria!

(report on our first few days) Global Citizen Journey Executive Director, Mary Ella Keblusek lit up the crowd with a brief rendition of “The Bluest Skies are In Seattle”. This, plus the group’s choir of the National Anthem were all part of a joint ceremony with the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce. US citizens were spared this moment of embarrassment.

For most folks, we made the long flight to Lagos with a spur of excitement. The long flight from Europe allowed many to catch up on sleep or take pictures of the vast Sahara. It took about two hours to pass through customs and receive baggage, then about an hours drive to the hotel: a 2.5 star with a local feel. Grilled ram (actually beef) with onions and one too many beers before bed at 1 am.

Many woke up at 5 the next morning with light and the neighborhood’s Imam call to prayer. Breakfast; fish stew with boiled yam with an exotic flare to our western palates, supplemented by tea, oatmeal, and juice. Afterwards, we piled into two minivans an hour and a half drive to the Chevron Nigeria Ltd. headquarters.

The air is heavy with exhaust, but not nearly as much diesel as others remember in Jakarta and distant metropolises. Roads are jammed with 15 to 20 trafficyear old European cars, some Japanese, with only a select few American SUVs. The motorcycles. The bare feet and the transportation. And the Public Transit consists of yellow vans, bigger than minis, but not much, painted yellow with passengers standing outside the sliding door traveling up to 40 miles an hour on narrow, tight lanes. Which buses go where? No one knows from our frame of perspective.

We met with senior managers at Chevron who did a number with words outlining the tensions which occurred 2 years ago. They modeled a new giving plan that invites more participation and involvement among local leaders in deciding which projects receive funding. The folks were Didji Hastrup and Simon Winchester who, with their thoughtful and articulate manners, showed a clear interest in GCJ’s journey and its purpose. Simon was certainly thought thru a lot of the corporation’s involvement, and other whom are providing assistance.

Our minds exhausted, and then off for a picnic lunch on the Nigerian beach off Victoria Island in Lagos where a big bargaining brouhaha over the cost of tents and tables commenced between Joel and the proper stakeholders. Chicken and rice spilled onto our laps amidst the notes of a local guitar player singing Marley and his ubiquitous melodies, but each was able to down their bottles of water and use the extra for other purposes.

Off to the National Museum which had a small, but worthwhile, collection of tribal artifacts, staffs, spears, dance masquerades, swords, armor, and carvings. Too many tribes to keep track of. Too many complexities we slowly learn. It was here that the Chamber hosted us for a dance and music performance which was stunning. During intermission, a Nigerian who does excellent trumpet-mimicry asked Susan and Mary Ella to come up to do Oshe Babalua. He asked for a Seattle song, one local to us, which resulted in The Bluest Skies.

Running out of time more later! And know you are all in our thoughts as we make this pilgrimage of the heart. Thank you for your unending support!

There are reminders that folks haven’t forgotten how tense things were previously-and still remain so. Soldiers stand on the roadways ready to flag cars for papers and as white worms among the crowds, we are strongly encouraged to return home before dark.

Donors and Supporters of GCJ Nigeria

Big thanks to the generous donors who helped make Nigeria 2005 possible.

Major underwriters:

• NNPC/Chevron Nigeria Joint Venture, Lekki Nigeria
• Boeing International Corporation, Ghana

Significant financial supporters:

• National Association of Gbaramantu Students (NAGS), Nigeria
• Associated Airlines, Lagos Nigeria
• Edo-Delta Union of the Pacific Northwest, Seattle/Portland

Significant in-kind donations:

Nigeria-based:

• Delta State Government – lodging, logistics, hotel breakfasts in Warri, transportation support for the delegation in Delta State
• National Association of Gbaramantu Students (NAGS) – volunteer services to build the library
• U.S. Embassy, Abuja, U.S. Consulate, Lagos – logistics, media and outreach support
• Lagos Airport Hotel, Lagos – discounted lodging
• Wellington Hotel, Effurun, Warri – discounted meals and lodging, free use of conference room
• International Foundation for Education and Self Help (IFESH), Port Harcourt – significant donation of books for the library and NIDPRODEV offices
• Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Lagos – reception at the National Museum in Lagos
• Oporoza Community Development Committee (CDC) – hosting delegates and providing much support throughout our stay in Oporoza

U.S.-based:

• Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF), Greenville SC – Computers and printer for the library media room
• Emerald City Graphics, Kent WA – Printing of the Global Citizen Journey brochure
• GAL International, Philadelphia – container space for shipping books to Nigeria
• The Film Connection, Seattle – Educational and documentary DVDs for the library
• NVC Consulting, The Spiral Dynamics People™ – books and resources on Spiral Dynamics, including free scoring of their values test for all delegates
• Seattle businesses that donated books: Elliot Bay Book Company, Magnolia’s Book Store, Toucan Creations, University Book Store

And thanks to all the many individual donors who funded delegates and text books, donated books and gave generously of their time.

Our Partners in Burundi:

Kazoza Kumukenyezy

GCJ is sponsoring a group of women who have formed themselves into a farming collective (leaders pictured below). The group is called “Kazoza Kumukenyezi” which translates as “The woman’s future”. These are strong women, mostly widows, who said, “We want to take care of ourselves, we didn’t want to go to the city and beg.” They are currently farming on little scraps and corners of land that others are sparing them, but they need land, tools, and seed to support their efforts. There are currently 104 women in the group, and they are able to raise enough to help support not only the nutritional needs of themselves and their families but also to sell some surplass in the market to generate income. They  raise two crops in a year, peanuts and rice. They have a leadership group of amazing women who have put together this vision in a place of very scarce resources.

Several GCJ delegates traveled to Burundi in summer of 2008 and connected with these women and other residents of Carama district and Bujumbura through the help of our host partner, Prosper Ndabishuriye.  GCJ has been a sponsor and supporter of this women’s collective since then.  The group has flourished:  over the years we’ve helped them add to the acreage, purchased tools, and seeds.  They’ve had great crops with food to feed their families plus a surplus to the sale and make some extra money to help their children go to school.

Burundi was struck by severe flooding in 2014.  Tragically over a 100 people died, many homes were lost, and the women’s’ fields were totally washed out, along with the loss of their entire crop, all their tools, the storage shed, seeds, etc. We helped replace the tools a few years ago.  Now, in 2017, we hope to continue working with the women of Kazoza Kumukenyezi (“The Women’s Future”): they now have an opportunity to purchase adjacent land to expand their business and capacity.

Want to support this womens’ Burundi project? Just click here to donate. 

Host: Youth in Reconstruction of a World in Deconstruction (JRMD/WRWD)

Our host is Prosper Ndabishuriye, the founder Youth in Reconstruction of a World in Deconstruction (JRMD/YRWD), an organization devoted to building homes for displaced Burundians. After the genocide in 1993, Ndabishuriye decided to do something to help his country—bring Hutu and Tutsi youth together on a mission to replace the thousands of homes destroyed by war. As they traveled through the countryside together on a bus, their unity in the face of violence and hatred was the only thing that saved their lives at roadblock after roadblock.

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