Connecting to Africa: Sororities team up in projects for children

By Noha El Maraghi

UK students have made a connection more than 5,600 miles from Lexington, helping with a project in a small town in Ghana.

Nutrition and food science professor Kwaku Addo and his wife, Esther Addo, a nurse at UK’s Chandler Hospital, started the Kentucky Academy in 2001. Both are natives of Ghana.

Kwaku Addo visited the country for a summit with a group of staff and professors and realized the condition schools were in. He and his wife started the Kentucky Academy as a kindergarten school in Esther Addo’s home village of Adjeikrom.

This semester, the Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Zeta sororities raised $1,250 for the school. The money the sororities raised will go toward both short-term and long-term goals, Kwaku Addo said.

Short-term goals include renovating the building because the structure is not adequately maintained, he said. Other renovations include putting up a ceiling and wiring for electricity.

Long-term goals include building a small kitchen and cafeteria, and maybe a library with books and possibly computers for the children.

The fundraising project is called “Pink and Green Goes Global.” Ashley Addo, president of Alpha Kappa Alpha and the daughter of Kwaku and Esther Addo, presented the idea and said she found support quickly. The National Pan-Hellenic Council sorority decided to team up with a Panhellenic sorority that has the same colors: pink and green.

“One of the reasons we did it in conjunction with this sorority is to bridge the gap between predominantly black and white sororities,” Ashley Addo said.

The two sororities went to other Greek organizations. They told the organizations about the school and asked each member of the organization to donate anything they could.

“We realize that these children are less fortunate and one dollar could make a real difference,” Ashley Addo said.

Kwaku Addo said the fundraising by the sororities is one of three funding supporters they have gotten. Up until now, Kwaku and Esther Addo primarily funded the project. He said the local government pays for the teachers’ salaries.

In addition, a number of other organizations have expressed interest in the project, Kwaku Addo said.
Delta Zeta president Katie Lenihan said the biggest challenge was that they were fundraising from students, who have much less money than large businesses. Lenihan said the reason they only fundraised from students was to bring the entire community of students together.

Lenihan said her sorority was excited about the fundraiser.

“We don’t really get a chance to have the opportunity to do something this global, but since Ashley (Addo) had a direct connection, it was possible,” Lenihan said.