Introduction
Education is the key to a better life. Never has that been more evident than it is today in Ghana, West Africa
That simple fact is what energizes E-quip Africa to collect computers and schools supplies and distribute them to schools in this African nation which honors its traditions even as it builds and strengthens an economy clearly focused on the future.
A friendship between a former U. S. Peace Corps volunteer and a parish priest in Tarkwa, Ghana, West Africa, which began in the late 1980’s has grown to encompass an organization firmly rooted in Willmar, Minnesota, but spreading throughout Central Minnesota and the metropolitan Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Having seen first hand both the learning conditions and the need for the most basic school supplies in Ghana, Doug Wilkowske and colleagues at St. Mary’s Parish began collectingitems that Willmar students schools no longer needed, sending them to the Tarkwa priest.It wasn’t a big leap to see that personal computers which still have many years of service in them but no longer used in the U.S. could be put to use the same way.
After an initial trip where five travelers each carried two personal computers, more than 300 have been shipped to Ghana along with text books, library books, notebooks, markers, pens and pencils. That Ghanaian parish priest, Fr. Francis Tawiah, is now cathedral parish administrator in the Takoradi/Sekondi Diocese and able to assist his American colleagues to discover more schools able to use those supplies.
Rotary, International also plays a part through the collaboration and partnership of chapters in Willmar, Minnesota, and Kumasi, and Sekondi/Takoradi in Ghana.
Truly an ecumenical effort, E-quip Africa has enlisted the assistance of Methodist churches in Central Minnesota to re-build a Methodist-sponsored primary school in Axim, Ghana, West Africa severely damaged by fire. Computers and school supplies came from those donated to E-quip Africa. Lutheran and Covenant churches have contributed as well.
Students, teachers, church and community volunteers re-furbish computers before they are shipped. Communities donate clothing for use as packing material which is later distributed to individuals and families in Ghana.
Founder Doug Wilkowske spent five weeks traveling in Ghana during June and July 2005 on a trip sponsored by The Rotary Foundation. The purpose of his trip was to identify schools throughout Ghana, but especially concentrating in the more rural northern half of the country where schools are more remote, with fewer technical resources and where educational opportunities for girls are less readily available. The Bishop of Yendi has expressed interest in using donations from E-quip Africa as have schools and organizations in Kumasi, Larabanga, Takoradi, Axim, Mampong and Accra.
Doug was accompanied by Kobby Ennin who manages the computer lab and internet café at Star of the Sea Cathedral in Takoradi. Mr. Ennin helped evaluate the physical facilities at each potential school and shared the model of his program at Star of the Sea.
Doug and Kobby laid the groundwork for a resource group for teachers and managers across Ghana whose schools and libraries receive computer donations from E-quip Africa. Working in conjunction with such organizations as The Digital Divide Network, Tech Support Forum and Techsoup.com, E-quip Africa will provide leadership in forming a virtual community of support for Ghanaian institutions new to instructional computing and the internet. Thus teachers and managers will have not only their Ghanaian colleagues to call upon but a network of computer professionals here in the United States through linkage with E-quip Africa.
Because of the intent to concentrate services in Ghana for the foreseeable future, E-quip Africa is in the process of registering as a Ghanaian corporation and obtaining status as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
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