Partnership with the Maine-Ghana Youth Network
MGYN has been an Omprakash partner since May, 2008.
Need for Volunteers
MGYN has a constant need for volunteers to help with its programs in Kissehman. Please contact willy@omprakash.org or erin.rhoda@gmail.com if you are interested
Learn more about volunteering with MGYN>>
Need for Material Resources
Below, please find MGYN’s approximate monthly budget. The organization is always in need of supporters who can either donate directly or help organize fundraising events in Maine and beyond.
Operating Expenses (Groceries, gas, water, internet, fax, etc)- $570
Program Expenses (school materials, housing/structure costs)- $650
Fundraising Expenses- $240
Salaries- $489
Total- $1949
Below, please find a recent newsletter from MGYN:
Dear Friends of the Maine-Ghana Youth Network:
A newsletter is long overdue, and the MGYN has had many developments in the past six months. Unfortunately, a massive flooding Sunday night in Ghana is the main reason why I write now. The MGYN has lost nearly everything.
Many of you are familiar with the MGYN. You have met our director Mollishmael Gabah, been to a presentation, bought a basket or donated, hosted a fundraising event or are friends of the board of directors. You also know of the location at the base of Kissehman named Pacostand. This is where we hold classes for sometimes more than 140 children and feed those children healthy meals. It is also where Mollishmael and volunteers stay, where we store belongings and food, and where there were the beginnings of a farm.
On Sunday, Mollishmael left Pacostand at 6 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m. it started to rain. When he returned around 8 p.m., he couldn’t walk to the house because the water level was up to his chest and was filled with snakes and sewage. He spent the night sleeping on a couch in a public internet café. When he returned in the morning, the water level had gone down, but our home had flooded, filling with four feet of water.
We lost two computers, a generator, water pump, all the children’s school books, food, chairs, tables, the crops, linoleum, the organization’s documents and eight beds. And, Mollishmael is homeless. Our stove sustained damage, but we believe it will work again. Also, the house structure is sound.
We are used to little floods every rainy season. The floods make it difficult to work and run an organization, but we adapt to them like everyone else. We have looked into digging a gutter and raising the land to reduce flooding, but the expense has kept us from pursuing those solutions.
This flood was different. It not only destroyed Pacostand, it spanned to a town about four miles away and demolished everything along the way. Mollishmael said he talked to one man who had to walk through water up to his mouth. The man had six children, which he had to carry above his head to safety. Other low-lying areas of Accra were affected, too.
Our children live on higher ground with their families and were not flooded out of their homes, thankfully. The flood will affect them, however. While we are cleaning and rebuilding, it will be difficult to hold classes or provide meals. We hold classes and breakfast/lunch beneath a beautiful mango tree, but the ground is too muddy to do anything outside for a little while.
We will rebuild as quickly as possible, however. No challenge is too big for people who are willing and able. Often catastrophes turn into blessings.
The flooding will not affect the upcoming trip of Mollishmael and his brother/instructor Peter to the U.S. at the beginning of June—to which I will send a separate newsletter about events and presentations. There are other instructors in Kissehman who can help rebuild while Mollishmael and Peter are away. Later, I also will provide an update about the organization’s additional happenings.
We have options for rebuilding, including possibly digging a gutter to redirect flood waters or spreading mixed gravel to raise the elevation of our area. We will also need to replace items in the house as soon as possible. If you are able to give, please consider doing so.
Checks may be made out to the MGYN and sent to: MGYN, c/o DTA Center for Learning and Growing, 102 Main St., Suite A, Ellsworth, ME 04605. Every little bit helps. If each person on this mailing list donates $10, we will have enough to restore what we have lost.
If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to call my cell phone at (207) 691-8864. Instructors have taken pictures of the damage but were unable to send them because the internet server was down today, and we don’t know when it will be up again.
Thank you for your generosity and help.
Take care,
Erin Rhoda
President
Maine-Ghana Youth Network
www.maineghanayouth.org
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