Maine Ghana Youth Network (MGYN) is a non-profit organization devoted to improving the lives of children in the Ghanaian neighborhood of Kissehman. Despite its small size and limited resources, MGYN provides a crucial support system for the children. In addition to money for school fees, uniforms and meals, the organization provides a safe and supportive environment for children who would otherwise be wandering the street. It gives the town’s youth opportunities to explore the arts, participate in sports and learn about technology—all of which we take for granted in the United States. Through these efforts, MGYN hopes to create a new generation of leaders, committed to making positive change in their community.
With our Projects for Peace grant we aim to create a short documentary and photo project that captures the daily situation of the children of Kissehman through their eyes. We intend to conduct extensive interviews with the children so that they can share their story in their own words. The purpose of conducting an oral history project is two-fold:
- MGYN has expressed the need for an educational film and photo installation to utilize in its fund-raising and educational campaign in the United States;
- The children of Kissehman have a rich history, which has yet to be told due to the community’s marginalized position within Accra and Ghana as a whole. An oral history project will allow the children and their families to articulate this unique history as a means of communicating their experiences as well as sharing these experiences in a cross-cultural exchange with students and communities in the United States.
While many in the U.S. know only an Africa plagued by war, famine and disease, we hope to show another perspective. Despite the challenges of daily life, the children of Kissehman are just that: children. They play, sing, dance and experience new things just like their peers around the world. Our project will offer an important view of one community in West Africa to a wider audience in the United States. By fostering meaningful and genuine connections between peoples, we offer an opportunity for creating the cultural exchange necessary for constructive understanding, a precursor for real peace on a global scale. Video and photography are powerful and palpable mediums for facilitating this process, allowing viewers to experience the situation of Kissehman’s youth in a vivid and personal manner.
