Making A Difference

With Francis, one of GMAD's cooks, playing
with a tiny fish called amani, Francis ate it
raw a few moments later!

Monday through Thursday went by in a flash. McKenzie and I along with Felicity Cribbs, another accounting student on the trip, visited the site of Ghana Make A Difference for the first time on Monday. Ghana Make A Difference (GMAD) is a nonprofit organization founded by an LDS couple from Idaho designed to house and help African children generally ages 8-12 who have no family or no family support. The shelter can hold up to 40 kids at a time. Currently there are about 26 kids at the home. About 10 of those kids just arrived there two weeks ago. They were rescued from illegal child labor. The goal of the shelter is to help the children’s families to get to a point where they can support their child or to find a family that will support the children in need. The shelter typically houses, teaches, and supports the kids for about 6 months before they do make it possible for the kids to be supported by a family again.

On Monday, we first met with Richard, the Director of the organization. He is a young Ghanaian man, about 30 years old, married with a daughter and another child on the way, who also studied accounting. He is the Branch President of his branch in Ghana, and Prince, the Assistant Director at GMAD, is also his first counselor. Richard is an exceptional individual. He has a great spirit about him. In our discussion with him, we were able to gather lots of data and find out where we could most help the organization in regards to accounting.

McKenzie and Felicity at the shed where the huge poultry
farm produces its own chicken feed

Inside one of the chicken houses
at the huge poultry farm

One of the things we focused on was a poultry farm operation that they started two years ago in an effort to become more self-reliant as an organization. Currently they have 800 chickens, and they sell the eggs laid by them. The chickens they have are old, so we found a place they can sell them to, and also worked on a budget for them to continue the operation, and even teach kids’ families to start their own self-reliant poultry farms. We also visited a neighboring poultry farm that has 52,000 chickens, and learned more than we ever thought we could about chicken farming. I’m almost tempted to try it out now. We delivered our findings to GMAD in a report. The other things we did for GMAD included creating a system for tracking their inventory of chicken vaccinations so they will always have them on hand, creating a system for tracking food expenditures, and developing meal portion sizes to reduce food waste at the home. We finished all this work and visited the shelter for the last time on Thursday. I hope and pray what we have done is really Ghana Make A Difference!

This is a pretty good view of the
whole shelter at GMAD

All of us with Bernard, the manager
of the 52,000 chicken poultry farm
who showed us around

       
 
I cannot say enough how much we enjoyed working at GMAD. The employees were smart, sharp people, very kind and loving. The Spirit is present at the shelter. It is a wonderful organization truly making a difference in the lives of hundreds of children. If and when you ever feel inclined to donate to a charitable organization, GMAD is a top choice. Great things are happening there. Visit www.ghanamakeadifference.org if you want to learn more about them.

We also had a lot of fun playing around with the kids from time to time. When we gave out candy they went wild over it. They are impressive soccer players, I had a good time with that. We even had the opportunity to see them trying to learn and write English. It was a unique experience, very memorable.

Writing English with the kids at GMAD

On Friday we traveled north to Tamale, the capital of the northern region of Ghana. Yesterday we spent a few hours in the morning engaging and teaching young innovators and business owners in the community (of all faiths) about developing a business plan and keeping accounting records of business operations. I spent most of my time working with a young adult man named Basit, who is a Muslim. He was shocked when after I helped him create a projected income statement, we found his business was likely operating at a loss. It was an eye-opening experience for him; it most definitely helped him understand the value and importance of accounting.

All of us with Prince, GMAD's Assistant Director

All of us with the kids at GMAD following a competitive
soccer match

Ghana is a wonderful country. My love for this place and its people is growing. Tomorrow we get to visit Mole National Park and hopefully see lots of wild African animals, including elephants! More fun posts to come!