Nipaba-Brew School in Sampa, Ghana

In 2003 the Harambee Centre began collaborating with the community of Sampa in Ghana, West Africa, through Oregon resident Matt Essieh, who served on our board of directors. Matt was born and raised in Sampa, a place where he says, "families live together and everybody takes care of everybody else."

Sampa was formerly the site of a slave market. It is the largest town in the Jaman North District of Ghana with a population of over 50,000 people in the district. It is a developing town but is still very rural with the majority of the population engaged in trading and subsistence farming.  

In 2005 Harambee helped to raise $37,000 to build a girls' dormitory in Sampa for Nafana Presbyterian Secondary School, which enabled 160 female students to live on-site and complete their secondary studies.   

Matt Essieh has continued his involvement with his community in Ghana. With Harambee, he worked to support and improve Nipaba-Brew pre-school and primary school.  Nipaba-Brew School children are held in high regard for their performances that create awareness in the community about malaria, HIV/AIDS, proper swine flu protection, and living a healthier life. 

 According to the school principal "With the  [help of Harambee] we hope to fix the roofs of our existing buildings and add two more buildings to our school grounds. With two more buildings added to our campus we will be able lower the class sizes taking the strain off of the teachers which is conducive to a proper learning environment. We feel this is a great benefit not only to the students and faculty, but also the community as a whole.  Nipaba serves children from all parts of the region and being able to reduce the class sizes and potentially have the capacity to admit more students is a very big opportunity for everyone."

The school is building two classrooms that should be able to house up to 50 students each.  During projects such as this the community helps by providing water and labor.  Approximately 30% of the labor will be provided for free. The principal feels that it is important for the Sampa community to take an active role in the enhancement of Nipaba school.

The Harambee Center worked with the community to ensure transparency in all aspects of collaboration. Members of the Harambee Board will visited the project.  This project was completed in 2010.

Harambee Centre
P.O. Box 6617
Portland, Oregon 97228-6617 USA
Telephone: (503) 710-8264
info@harambeecentre.org