ghana news American entrepreneur assists Frankadua community

A fifty-year-old  American businessman in Ghana, Jonathan Reynolds and his spouse, Shonda Reynolds, in collaboration with the NINE23 Foundation in the United States of America, have assisted the Frankadua Community in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region with two boreholes, laptops, computers and a six-seater washroom facility.

The laptops and computers donated to the three junior high schools in the Frankadua Morgadzi Electoral area would assist teachers in teaching computing more effectively and help students learn the practical lessons of computing.

The two big boreholes dug for the community will also end an acute water challenge the community has been facing. In the same way, the six-seater washrooms would go a long way to stop open defecation. 

Handing over

At the handing over of the projects to the community at Frankadua last Wednesday, the community used the occasion to install Jonathan Reynolds as the Development Chief of the town with the stool name Torgbi Kofi Dunenyo I.

The Regent of the town, Asempa Adrakpanya, who swore him in, was very grateful to the Torgbi Kofi Dunenyo I for his kind gesture, which has relieved the community of the water shortage they were facing and the open defecation that had persisted for many years. 

‘’The whole Frankadua community is very grateful to you and your collaborators, especially Team CSR, who facilitated all the activities for the facilities you have provided. It used to be a mess in our cemetery due to open defecation. We are therefore grateful that it has come to an end as we began using the washrooms. We are indeed very grateful’’, the regent stated.

The benefactor

The Development Chief, Torgbi Kofi Dunenyo I, for his part, said it was not good for those of them from the diaspora to come and do business in Africa, for that matter, Ghana, without investing in the communities.

‘’I got to know of the plight of the community through the leadership of Team CSR and therefore it touched me to give back to the community, hence these projects.

I want to be emphatic and say that open defecation in this community should be a thing of the past’’, he advised.

According to him, the facilities provided would not be the end but the beginning of more to come as he was going to collaborate with his family and friends in the United States to do more for the Frankadua community, stressing ‘’the most important thing is for you to maintain them and more would be added’’.

The Chairman of Team CSR, Jonathan Akuamoah, and the collaborators of NINE23 Foundation, who provided the background on the provision of the facilities, said that his NGO, Team CSR, had supported many communities in the Asuogyaman District, including Apeguso, Mpankadan, among others.

He said that during his visit to the Frankadua community early this year, he saw many people bathing outside, which exposed their private parts. He called for his collaboration with the benefactors to take Frankadua out of such an unhealthy situation.

He advised the Frankadua community to exercise patience, maintain all the facilities they had been given, as more would be added, saying ‘’sustainability by the community is key.

An opinion leader of the community, Cephas Ayisah, on behalf of the community, thanked the benefactors for their gesture and pledged that the community’s leadership would ensure the facilities were maintained.

The Frankadua community, which is predominantly Ewes, entertained the benefactors with Ewe cultural drumming and dance, to the guests’ admiration.