The story of Koforidua

A cold call to Village by Village (an absolutely fantastic charity organisation building schools and infrastructure for rural communities in Ghana) found me proposing a raw idea to CEO Neil Kerfoot. I asked to create custom artwork for a school that the team were building and offered to send the canvas to the nearest mailing spot. To my utter suprise and a slight delusion, Neil agreed to collaborate with me on the proposal and soon I sat in front of my laptop camera on a Zoom call with both Neil himself and Aikins Mensa, Volunteer Director on the ground in Ghana. I was given context and history of both the country's trade and environment and recommended further reading to support with the creation of the canvas. Village by Village itself has the backing of Microsoft for some funded projects and to add to my shock, my proposal and artwork was ran past Microsoft for their support of implementing the idea! 

Artwork created and in transit, I waited for the update that it had reached Koforidua. Kukua Primary School had its grand opening just shortly before and when my artwork finally made it, I received some beautiful photos of the canvas being assembled and the students and staff feedback. 

It was on reading the feedback that I noticed how varied the exposure to art was across continents, countries and individuals. Some students had very imaginative interpretations of the artwork while others were unsure what it actually was of. I had been informed that many of these students found education difficult to access and resources were limited. Village by Village operate wonderful programmes to help combat this and are very inspirational in their efforts to minimise this gap. This experience is where my mission began and I am beyond grateful to Neil and Aikins for the memorable and          rewarding opportunity they gave me to collaborate with them.

Photos from Neil Kerfoot and the team at Village by Village