Preparing the Container for Africa!

Hi friends! We are counting down now! 3 whole months left before our next trip to Africa. We are preparing the container with school supplies, electrical equipment, construction materials and more. We must raise funds between now and then to reach our goal. Please make a generous donation so that we can make this happen! Real change is happening...right here, right now. One stone at a time is all it takes. One individual who believes in us. That same individual will tell his/her friend, sister, uncle, husband, boss, colleague or pastor to go onto our website and contribute what they can. Nacom and I have Faith that we can ALL turn this into a MOVEMENT. Surely, it is time for us to really BELIEVE in each other. Change IS possible and it's happening all over the world because people, like you and I,we have not only dreams, but also the power to rebuild our communities...one child at a time, one school at a time, one generation at a time. Thank you for believing in us.

Yours truly,
 Donna Carroll

The more the merrier!

Just wanted to stop by and recognize the people who are supporting us by donating their time, materials, electronics, funding and/or whatever else they have to offer. Gisela, Robert, Joe, Bob and Eliana we thank you dearly. Special thanks to Tara, Tim, Stomp and Scott who have been with us in the past. We look forward to your continued support. We are currently planning fundraising events in order to reach monthly goals for the next 5 months before heading back to Africa to build.

This is quite an exciting venture! The ecstatic sensation that thrills you knowing that, at the end of the day, you have done something to help improve and completely transform the lives of young people who genuinely need you. The vision to rebuild our communities, to equip young people with tools for survival, to preserve culture,  this vision is alive in us. Indeed, it is our duty to put forth the effort and SHOW them that we care. Do join us!...The more the merrier!

In prep mode!

First of all, thank you for your interest in and warm thoughts about the Akan Culture Center. We are in prep mode for the next trip to Africa! Due to the uncertainty of the previous rental agreement, we have decided that it is time to build, from the ground up, our very own traditional style school on Nacom's  72 acre land which rests just above the river banks in Mango, Togo. We are in need of volunteers who can help fundraising and who are specialized or educated in the fields of video-graphy and computer technology.

Our goal is to raise money to send volunteers, along with a container full of construction contents and school materials such as computers, desks, software, external hard drives etc. In order to reach our goal, we will host fundraising events each month between California, Utah and Colorado. Please register and contact us via email if you would like to assist in these events where a combination of Nacom's art, tribal art and collected/donated art will be auctioned or sold to raise funds. These items will also be available for purchase online.

Again, thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Donna Carroll

Nacom Koffi

Mango Project gearing up for 2011! Sky is the limit!

Front entrance of the Akan Culture Center.

Special thanks to those who donated and those who volunteered to travel with us to Togo last summer! We were able to establish our first building for the Akan Culture Center! The building is located directly across from the local elementary school in Mango! How convenient! Young people will be able to take advantage of after school programs, recreational activities, computer classes, African art sculpture and design, football leagues, theatrical performances, guest speakers, educational documentary movies nights, academic tutoring and sooo much more!

On our way to check out the building.

So much to see! 

Approaching the door of the gated entry.

Side view.

Nacom is visualising a reconstruction plan to remodel and design the premises!

Our supporters had a blast in Togo!

Overview of the Akan Institute for African Traditional Studies

Overview

The communities of Togo are experiencing cultural deterioration. In order to gain a higher education or make a decent wage after graduating from high school, the Akan youth are forced to leave their local communities and move to nations of greater opportunity. Of the individuals that return after obtaining a higher education, very few are able to find work in their respective fields and again face the dilemma of whether to stay and support their community, essentially letting their skills go to waste, or to once again leave home in search of greater opportunity.

The existing struggle to survive, in conjunction with this exodus of many skilled and educated individuals is contributing to a critical loss of culture. The passing-down of traditions, spiritual beliefs and customs from community elders to the youth has all but disappeared due to the hardships that accompany everyday life in Togo, and surrounding nations. The next few generations of elders are beginning to pass away, and with them they take a wealth of culture, tradition, and knowledge about our planet and its people; a well of information which has been passed down for thousands of years.

The Mango Project will address these issues by partnering with community members of Sansanne, Mango (OTI), Togo, in setting up The Akan Institute for African Studies. In brief, the Institute will capture a visual and audio anthropology of the Akan people, from which it will develop its anthropological curriculum, preserving the culture and history of this great people, and educating the local and international communities in turn.

At present there are considerably few anthropological materials of the Akan people from an inside African perspective. The Akan Institute for African Studies will work to change this before it is too late, while simultaneously creating a means for sustainable economic growth and a catalyst for change as well as improved quality of living.

The Akan Institute for African Traditional Studies (AIATS)

The AIATS will be constructed outside a village in Sansanne, Mango (OTI), situated to allow proper growth and development, and to avoid negative impact to existing communities due to possible, future urbanization.

As we have the unique opportunity to build a new community around the institute, it is our duty to start off on the right foot, by employing environmentally responsible methods of sustainable living, in harmony with the land. The AIATS will embody local traditions of environmental preservation and will receive the majority of its energy, if not all, from the wind and abundant solar rays and the river (OTI River) where we can generate hydraulic energy.

The Institute will provide education in information technologies, communications, world history, and anthropology. By embracing technology and communications, the Akan can strengthen their society, rich in culture and ancient traditions, without sacrificing their core values in order to survive and maintain a competitive posture in the global marketplace; furthermore, the empowerment gained by harnessing the vast network of communications and information spreading the globe, may be this incredible people’s last chance to preserve their way of life.

Akan Culture Center

The Akan Institute for African Studies