Bridge-To-Africa Connection (BTAC), a USA nonprofit making organisation, has since 2016, adopted, rehabilitated and equipped eight government schools at the Primary and Junior High School (JHS) levels in the Ashanti Region with the help of great partnerships and a circle of supporters of about 756 visitors to Ghana occasionally to help.
The beneficiary schools are New Kokobriko in Abidjan Nkwanta (Bosomtwe District) and Feyiase R/C Primary School, both in the Bosomtwe District; Hemang M/A JHS and Hemang R/C Primary in the Afigya Kwabre South District.
The rest are the State Experimental Basic 1 and 2, Atasemanso R/C Primary, and Atasemanso M/A JHS in the Kumasi Metropolis.
At the New Kokobiriko Primary School, BTAC installed a borehole, completed a new 10- room block classroom and a new six-stall toilet facility, outfitted 10 classrooms, and provided 200 seated desks, besides providing a breakfast and lunch programme for nursery to class one for 200 children daily.
The BTAC has also installed a borehole and water elements to provide an endless flow of water for the students of Feyiase Primary and JHS.
The non-governmental organisation (NGO) has also renovated all the classrooms and school blocks of the Hemang M/A JHS, and provided each of the six classrooms with 30 seated desks.
The Hemang R/C Primary has had its 12 classrooms renovated and provided with over 250 seated desks, including special round table desks for the kindergarten classes.
The State Experimental Basic 1 and 2 schools have benefitted from the construction of a new 12-stall toilet facility, and the renovation of a four-room block classroom facility and teachers’ lounge, with the provision of 250 seated desks in six classrooms by the BTAC with the help of its developing partners.
The BTAC has also provided the Atasemanso R/C Primary School with a state-of-the-art library, christened “Beautiful Minds Kids Library”, as well as providing over 500 seated desks and the roofing of a four classroom block with the help of Freelance Ghanaian Volgger Wode Maya.
It has also renovated a four classroom block and provided 108 seated desks for the Atasemanso M/A JHS with the assistance of Dr. Donta Morrison and friends.
The BTAC has renovated the Kindergarten (KG) classroom and the bathrooms of Mampong Bunuso and provided “Boots on the Ground” donated primarily by IBWPPI, one of BTAC’s partners, to help the IBWPPI Women Empowerment Group in the village where the women farmers who are taught how to be self sufficient.
The BTAC has a Sistah Cycle Programme, under which girls are taught to manage their menstrual cycle and take care of their bodies, with over 1,500 girls receiving menstrual kits to partake in this Sistah Cycle programme.
Bridge-To-Africa Connection also serves 294 children, primarily in the Ashanti Region, with an initial figure of 12 children in 2016.
With the support of its circle of friends, notably 12-year-old Khloe Kares and Wode Maya, BTAC supports students from KG to Senior High School (SHS) to stay in school by providing clothing, school supplies and hygiene products.
Currently, BTAC is sponsoring the SHS education of 24 students (eight in 2021 and 16 this year) at GH¢3,500 per student in addition to the provision of books and materials.
Madam Dawn Sutherland, alias Adwoa, BTAC’s Executive Director’s passion for the development of Africa, which informed her relocation to Ghana as her second home, explained her tireless efforts to promote education and empower the girl-child and women.
As Dawn was given opportunities to gain higher education, so was her desire for the youth to have an appreciable level of education, hence, her mission “Changing one life, one person at a time,” under the Unlimited Possibilities programme.
A true lover of culture and art, she devotes time in the building and developing a cultural center at her residence at Atasemanso in Kumasi where she has an Arts Collection.
In September last year, Bridge-To-Africa Connections (BTAC) organized a four-week Creative Arts Learning Summer and Talent Mentorship Training programme in Kumasi at the first ever Akatamanso Arts Festival for about 113 school children between the ages of 7 and 17 which training programme was facilitated by Artivist Project of USA.
Following the Creative Arts Learning Summer and Talent Mentorship Training programme in Kumasi, two young artists, out of selected five, Priscilla Bengha and Akram Awudu, both 13-year-old class six pupils of the Atasemanso Roman Catholic Primary School, participated in an art contest in Los Angeles, California, in the USA, and emerged winners, receiving a $100 gift from Noahs Ark Publishing Service, which published the artwork of the winners in a book: “Kids draw Through COVID-19: United Africa Speaks.”
Bridge-To-Africa Connection (BTAC) is dedicated to investing in education and health in Ghana and Africa through development partners of African Americans in the Diaspora.
It was founded by Madam Dawn Sutherland when she relocated from Los Angeles in the USA in 2014 to Kumasi and hit the ground running to empower women and girls and promote education to change lives.
Madam Dawn told Ashanti File that “To date BTAC and its circle of friends have donated over $3Million in real money and supplies to Ghana”.
