Family Album

2006 Nic & Ashley in Ghana

Click on each photo for a larger image

Kopeyia Bloomfield School in Ghana

Kopeyia Broomfield School

Ghana

Over 250 students, thatched roofs replaced by tin in 1991

18 classrooms library science lab

over 250 students 

First grade classroom

First Grade Classroom

no fans or A/C 

Drumming and dancing are important forms of expression - everyone involved in this cultural exchange progam learns them

Drums

Dagbe Cultural Institute & Arts Centre in Kopeyia, Denu

Dagbe Cultural Institution

Godwin and friends playing Gameboy

Godwin & Friends with GameBoy

Aku and Pincella showing off their sunglasses!

Aku & Pincella

Ashley and Samson

Ashley with Samson

Enuk, Nic, Gifty and Godwin

Enuk Nic Gifty Godwin

Goats

Goats

Goat in the village

Another Goat

An African gecko!

An African Gecko

                                                                                                                                                   More photos here

The summer of 2006 Nic and Ashley were part of a six-month volunteer program in Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast).  

 

In 1988 the American musician and composer Robert Levin travelled to Kopeyia, Denu in West Africa to study drumming.  At that time the 2,000 inhabitants of this rural farming village in Southeastern Ghana were facing steeply diminishing crop yields and escalating poverty, stemming from generations of illiteracy, a paucity of resources, and continued isolation from the outside world.

 

Levin’s appreciation for Ghanaian culture, and his observation of Kopeyia’s lack of educational opportunity, moved him to offer assistance to Kopeyia’s elders if they wanted to establish a school.  Kopeyia opened its school under a thatched shade on October 10, 1988 where for three years students carried their desks and chairs to and from school each day so the wooden furniture would not be spoiled by rain.

 

Since 1996 more than 75  Kopeyia residents have earned scholarships to attend the region’s best Senior Secondary Schools for grades 10-12, and over 60 have been graduated from high school and vocational school.  The programme at the nearby Dagbe Cultural Institution focuses on African music-making.  Students learn dance, drumming and songs for African music styles.1

                                                                                                                                          to page 2 >>>

 

1Kopeyia Ghana School Fund History  

 

                                                                     


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Updated

2007-04-20 16:13:19