A/R NGO mentor schoolchildren live in rural areas
Umbrella Ghana is a non-profit organization with the aim of educating and mentoring Children/Teens in the Ashanti Region, Ghana, West Africa. Umbrella Ghana has great plans set out for the African child. Its mission is to impact the lives of Children/Teens living in rural areas in Ghana and West Africa. It works in Ghana consists of helping children in rural areas in Ghana to understand there is a big world outside their environments. Their work cuts across showing children that they can be better.
Donate Books, cloths to the students
They do not want these children to imitate hoodlums they see in their communities. This is why they are working to mentor them while they are still young. This task isn’t easy, but they know that they can prevent future damage if they can prepare these kids while they are still young. Their focus is on growing children that will be productive in their society. Last year October they organized an outreach in Juaben Ofoase, Kumasi in collaboration with “Hope for that African Child”. They donated Books, cloths to the students of Juaben Ofoase Methodist JHS. Umbrella Ghana spent a week in the community mentoring the kids about a different topic that interest them.
Won talent of future award
Samuel Kwame Mensah, Founder of Umbrella Ghana and Co-Founder of a Volunteer Organization Hope for that African Child is from the Ashanti Region. he grew up in Lagos, Nigeria in a community called “Ajegunle” before coming back to Ghana to further his education. He has his Bachelor Degree in Communications (Journalism) from African University College of Communications, Accra. he is currently working in three Africa countries (Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa). Samuel Kwame Mensah is also a committee member of Africa’s Mental Health Matters. As a Pan, Africanist he believes in proper mentorship for kids/Teens in impoverished communities in Ghana and West Africa. In 2018 he won the “Talent of Future” Award by Ideation Hub Africa in Lagos, Nigeria.
Support next generation
Samuel Kwame Mensah mission in life he believes wasn’t programmed by him, but by God. His values used to only be honesty, transparency, and humanity but, since he started this Foundation his values have not only become stronger, but they have become core factors in his movement. This will no longer see as work but as a duty to help motherland. He has become more tolerant, he has come to understand that his living is not only for him only but learned to give back to his community. These values have been imbibed in him over the years because of this God-given mission to support the next generation of leaders in Ghana and Africa.
Research to mentorship
According to him one of the projects that he has been following through from the very beginning is Mentoring Teens. He has studied to find out that children who are properly mentored grow up to be more productive. Because of this course, he can now look around his community and see Teens even if not all that is now more confident and have higher self-esteem. They are very intentional about how beautiful and colorful they want the lives of every Ghanaian child born without a silver spoon to be. Nelson Mandela said: “The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children”.
Impact lives in Africa
Umbrella Ghana as a pan-African organization has impacted the lives of children not only in Ghana but in other countries like Nigeria. They had a program in Nigeria recently where they were able to go on a Mentorship tour with 19 Teens from Ajegunle. A community people tagged as a jungle city. One of those Teens is Wale who got to know that his society should not define his life. Wale was mentored by Mrs. Tewa Onasanya, a Mind Stylist and Author of the book “Rule Your Mind”. Wale is now undergoing a vocational class to better his life and assist his family. They have seen a lot of positive developments though they might seem little, they have gone a long way in not only helping children/Teens but reorientating their parents as to how to raise confident children.
Another is that because of the eager hearts of these children to learn and meet new people they have been able to mentor them on taking their studies seriously and the right foundations to lay so they can be better persons in future. they did this by citing examples of successful people to them so that they can be hungry to be better.
Organize Master Class
The children are now conscious of the vices that go on in their community and they all aspire to be better persons to make their communities better. Currently, Umbrella Ghana has interns Teens who are ready to use this platform to learn, network and figure out ways to also give back to their communities. Every Friday Umbrella Ghana organizes Master Class for it interns with professionals from different fields impacting knowledge on how to live their life intentional to make a difference in their world.
Problem in rural communities
He mentions one of the major challenges they are facing in rural communities is convincing the parents that their children need to be mentored properly.
Another is social vices. Umbrella Ghana sees a lot of hoodlums and they are scared this might influence children/teens negatively. Which is why they cannot overemphasize the importance of mentorship. These children need to have better role models to look up to in their communities. One thing he observed during his visit to Nigeria is that the people these kids look up too are the street boys and street girls who believe “school is a scam”. And lastly, they need mentors who will go to rural villages or impoverished communities to speak to teens. They wish they could get more mentors to volunteer to work with their organization to better these communities and to better the lives of teens as they believe Africa, Ghana is in the hands of its younger generation. A solution that he believes will be most productive is to get more mentors in today’s society.
Communitywatchdoggh is reaching out to NGOs in Ghana to share their work, mission, and vision on our platform. We are eager to know what organizations are working on what issues and why, since this is a noteworthy sector in the country and thus having a serious impact in rural areas. By doing so, we create an image of the philanthropic input to local communities in Ghana. Feel like sharing your story too? Contact us!
