Akumaa Makes Ghana Proud
GHANA HAS again added another international accolade to its fold as Radio Show hostess Akumaa Mama Zimbi, also known in private life as Joyce Dongotey-Padi, clinched a $20,000 award by the Qatar Foundation (QF) in Doha last Tuesday to support her Widows Alliance Network for Sustainable Economic Development (WANE) initiative.
Dubbed World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) awards, an initiative of the Qatar Foundation, chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Mama Zimbi, now a Sustainability Laureate of the QF, received the prestigious accolade alongside five others at the plush Sheraton Hotel in Doha.
Miss Sheetal Mehta of India, Martin Burt of Paraguay, Peter Levy (USA), Vicky Colbert (Columbia) and Delio Morais from Brazil were the other five recipients.
Prominent personalities such as Mrs. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of the French President; UNESCO's Director General, Mrs. Irina Bokova; Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor and others graced the memorable occasion.
All six were also honoured with a unique hand-made trophy modelled on original artwork of Celine Tilliet for; “Their exceptional impact within the fields of Pluralism, Sustainability and Innovation in education, which coincidentally is the main focus of WISE.
To have merited the coveted awards, they had undertaken diverse innovative projects in shapening and enhancing educational needs of society, especially the poor and vulnerable.
These initiatives are the Widows Alliance Network for Sustainable Economic Development in Ghana (WANE), Project Nanhi Kali, Self-sufficient School, Curriki, Escuela Nueva and Distance Learning in the Amazon Forest respectively”.
However, the WISE Awards winners were chosen by a renowned international jury following a rigorous process of adjudication. It would act as an annual platform to showcase concepts which had successfully made the transition to concrete, workable and effective practices.
Mama Zimbi, who spoke to BEATWAVES in Doha after the award ceremony, expressed her delight and gratefulness to God for her first international acceptance by the Qatar Foundation.
She hoped that this feat would be a step to creating a wider network across the world, in a bid to make life more meaningful to widows and children.
She further hinted that the $20,000 prize would serve her vision of expanding the Mama Zimbi Foundation (MZF) and initiate a state-of-the-art hospital and a vocational training centre for widows, as well as establishing the Akumaa Children's Home.
WANE, which is another wing of projects under the Mama Zimbi Foundation (MZF she said gathered and put 6,000 widows across the country under one roof as a form of security against the barbaric treatments meted out to them by family members of their dead husbands.
“Through this union I empower the women, I give them vocation, I let them know their rights and speak against injustices faced by widows and provide educational needs of their children in Ghana”, she explained.
Although striving to make life more comfortable for the vulnerable in society, she bemoaned that things were a bit difficult since she had no other source of funding other than her meagre means. However, Mama Zimbi never gave up in her quest and fortunately; God answered her prayers through the Qatar Foundation under its WISE project.
Like Oliver Twist, she is still asking for more support from well-meaning philanthropists who have the plight of widows and the vulnerable in society at heart. From Nathaniel Y.Yankson, Doha, Qatar