Hey all! Our team is preparing for our project in Ghana that will begin on May 28th. We’ll start our travel this Saturday, and arrive in Ghana on Sunday night. This will be the official blog of the University of Kansas & University of New Mexico partnership with ABAN this summer. Follow our journey here! We’ll update atleast once a week with the progress of our project, the impact of our project in the community, and the impact of the project and the community on ourselves.
ABAN is an organization in Accra, Ghana that provides aid to street girls in Accra, as well as help to improve the environmental conditions of the city. Every day, the same streets that these girls are forced to sleep on are littered with over 40 tons of plastic waste. ABAN helps to teach these girls to recycle these waste products into materials that they can then transform into profitable items, such as bracelets, aprons, and cosmetic bags. ABAN not only teaches the girls the seamstress skills for this trade, but also provides them with shelter, an education, and a savings matching program upon the girls’ graduation. ABAN’s aim is not just to temporarily aid these girls, but to provide them with the life tools they need to end this cycle of poverty.
While we are at ABAN, we will spend our mornings building an outdoor bead center, which will hold the kiln (for the girls to fire their beads). In the afternoons, we will be working one on one with the girls, learning their stories and helping them grow. We’ll be doing a homestay with a man there named Dan, who works with ABAN, and will drive us there and back everyday.
I don’t know exactly what to expect on this trip, but I do know that I am excited beyond belief, and look forward to helping these women and this program grow, just as I am sure it will help all of us to grow.
See you soon, Ghana; I can’t wait to experience what you have in store for us!
- Maddie
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