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Ghana’s second lady, the wife of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, is to headline a charity gala this weekend focused on improving maternal health in her West African country.
Hajia Samira Bawumia is slated to be guest of honor at the seventh annual fundraising dinner organized by the Ghanaian Women’s Association of Georgia, an event returning to an in-person format after switching to virtual during the pandemic.
The proceeds from the event will go toward equipment donations and other efforts to “improve the birthing experience” at five hospitals in Ghana, a longtime priority of the association. GWAG, which was founded out of a meeting at a Decatur coffee shop 15 years ago, also has been a consistent provider of scholarships to young women in Georgia with Ghanaian heritage and entrepreneurial interests.
Mrs. Bawumia’s priorities dovetail well with those of GWAG, as she operates her own nonprofit, Samira Empowerment and Humanitarian Projects, which focuses on maternity care and childhood education. SEHP recently launched a literature prize for writers in Ghana aged 18-30.
The visit by Mrs. Bawumia comes just a two months after a group of high-ranking Ghanaian government visited Atlanta, including the ministers of tourism and information, deputy minister of trade and industry, along with the head of the state housing company, CEOs of the Ghana Free Zones Authority and Ghana Export Promotion Agency, as well as director of the Diaspora Affairs Office in the Office of the President and head of transformation in the Ministry of Finance. See the full list of dignitaries here
The gala will be held at Atlanta City Hall on Saturday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m. and will feature as speakers and special guests former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis and Ohio-based OB/Gyn Amelia E. Laing. DJ Fisho will provide the Afrobeats, while Ghanaian-American author and community leader Marjy Marj will preside over an auction designed to raise money that will better serve some of Ghana’s most vulnerable moms.
Learn more and buy tickets here.
Learn more about GWAG at http://ghanawomen.org.