In 2011, as Ashesi finally inaugurated its permanent campus in Berekuso, the Chief of Berekuso explained that "the Berekuso community is ready to partner with the university to help develop models of business and social programmes geared towards improving livelihoods of local folks here and in other parts of Ghana and Africa." In our first full year in Berekuso, community engagement efforts have aimed to do just that.
(Odeefoo Oteng Korankye II, Chief of Berekuso)
Throughout this year, Ashesi students have volunteered to teach weekly math lessons in the local basic school, have organized weekly hands-on ICT lessons for middle school students using Ashesi computer labs. Students have also gone on to organize adult literacy classes for Berekuso residents in the evenings on campus, have launched Santa’s Shoebox (a Christmas fundraising effort to give practical gifts to children in Berekuso), and have started a great fundraising campaign which will support an annual need-based scholarship for a top Berekuso middle school graduate to attend secondary school.
And there’s more: this past semester students taught phonics in the public nursery school every week, ran remedial reading classes twice a week after school for students in Berekuso's basic school, and are completing an information website for the town of Berekuso.
Berekuso residents are now also working on campus as security and catering contractors among others, are earning money by providing rooms for rent to Ashesi students, selling locally grown fruits and vegetables to members of the Ashesi community. As we move on with community engagement efforts in 2013, Ashesi is excited that change is afoot in Berekuso Township.