It Takes a Village
Non-Profit and CSA Members Create Hope for School Children in Ghana
by Yuridia Peña
Through the philanthropic efforts of Future Scholars of the World, Mercedes Qualls, a retired NYC high school Principal, volunteers in Mallam, a fishing village located on the outskirts of Ghana in West Africa, to aid the community of the Oshiyie D/A Primary School, an ill-equipped building that serves 500 students.
“Since I was a young child, I always had a desire to go to that part of Africa because that was the jumping point for the trans-Atlantic slave trade,” said Ms. Qualls, who is now an Assistant Field Director at CSA. Her former school secretary, Barbara Bryant, one of the founders of Future Scholars, sparked her interest in joining the nonprofit, which is committed to building a new 12-room school in Mallam equipped with a library and media center. The presentday building is shabby, and has no running water or electricity.
During her first trip to Ghana, Ms. Qualls observed teachers who lacked a chalkboard and other basics; children shared benches made for far fewer students. And despite the conditions, the school can’t accommodate all the children who wanted to come; the government, at the time, made families pay “public” school tuition. (That policy has since changed.) So Future Scholars raised money in New York to pay for tuition and uniforms. As a result, enrollment rose dramatically, Ms. Qualls said.
That same year, she met a 12 year-old named Mary, whom she has mentored for five years and with whom she developed a deeper relationship. Mary, now 17, is a high school senior who hopes to study nursing. Ms. Qualls paid Mary’s final semester tuition because her parents were unable to cover the costs. “Ghana needs doctors and nurses,” Ms. Qualls explained.
Mary, however, is an anomaly among her peers. For most adolescents in her part of the country, high school is not an option; the young men are expected to work in the fishing trade and contribute to the household income while teenage-girls get married. Those families that would like to educate their children cannot afford the tuition and transportation costs; Mary travels more than two hours to get to school each day.
This past winter, about 15 people from Future Scholars traveled to the village including Ms. Qualls; Denise Byfield-Aboagye, Assistant Principal, Heritage High School, Manhattan; Lascelles Aboagye, Assistant Principal, Law, Government and Community Service High School, Queens; and Deborah Gaston, Assistant Principal, Humanities in the Arts Magnet High School, Queens. They helped teachers organize and implement lessons. (Publishing companies donate professional development books, charts and others resources for teachers.)
Future Scholars, however, is not only focused on the education of children far away. The nonprofit recently gave two $500 scholarships to high school seniors from Queens. Said Ms. Qualls: “It’s not just about Africa. It’s about children.”
