The Ghanaian Women’s Association of Georgia is helping three young women with family heritage from the West African nation embark on their educational journeys at universities around the nation.
The distribution of three cultural ambassador scholarships comes just before the organization hosts its annual fundraiser gala this Saturday, April 24. The funds generated will go toward outfitting maternity hospitals in Ghana with equipment and supplies, with the goal of improving care for women as they give birth.
Three young women were awarded the $500 scholarships in 2020, including:
1. Gloria Ampadu-Darko – Boston University
2. Laila Harruna – Northeastern University
3. Sara Akyena – Georgia State University
To qualify, recipients must be 18-22 years old, reside in Georgia and have good academic standing and some African or Ghanaian heritage.
In their applications, they were tasked with showcasing how they would take a proactive approach to linking Africa and the U.S.
Ms. Ampadu-Darko was born in London but moved to Georgia at 4 after living with family in Ghana for a few years of her childhood. The Boston University freshman is active in dance and president of the Black Student Union. She hopes to invest in the continent’s future upon graduation.
“My goal is to one day be able to work with NGOs and non-profit organizations in Africa to improve economic development, decrease human rights violations, increase public health and more. I want to have a hand in transforming Africa from a continent of third-world countries to a continent of countries comparable to America and European countries,” she wrote.
Ms. Akenya, meanwhile, is a Ph.D. candidate at Georgia State University studying a topic relevant to GWAG’s mission.
“My research studies the effect of public cash transfer programs on the labor supply decisions of female heads of households, focusing on the impact on their hours of work and decision to enter into the labor market. I am interested in the intersection of welfare policy and the labor supply decisions of households,” she wrote in thanking the association for the scholarship.
Ms. Harruna, a senior at Dacula High School, is also headed to Boston to enroll in Northeastern University where she will be majoring in psychology.
Learn more about GWAG at https://ghanawomen.org or find out more about the scholarship here.
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