Day 5: Brando Magic

One of the best parts of this trip has been watching my friend, Mr. Brando Akoto, in action.  Brando is one of the kindest and most generous and perceptive persons I have ever met, and one of the most passionate, too.  He managed to make a living as a merchant in West Africa, an occupation that requires a great deal of mental dexterity, and then he worked for many years doing grass-roots development in Ghana before moving to the U.S.  The first time we met, we sat and talked for a couple of hours about education and development, and I immediately knew that he would be perfect on Yo Ghana's board.

When speaking with students, Brando shows them affection while commanding their attention and demanding their best.  He challenges them to work hard and dream big, laughs with them, inspires them, tells them that their schools and their communities are strong places, that the quality of their lives is measured not by their material possessions but by their character and their determination.  He insists that they respect themselves and carry themselves with dignity

even as they care for others.

The above photograph is from the Evangelical Church of Ghana school in Tamale, a place where very focused learning takes place, an institution with high standards and low tuition rates.  Then, in the afternoon, we travelled north of town to Savelugu Senior High School, where we also found an outstanding staff--and an audience of several hundred attentive students.  There is in these meetings a tone of formality and earnestness that is most refreshing after so many years of being immersed in the world-weary and ironic ethos of American culture.  These students and the adults who lead them are truly, as they like to say in Ghana, "serious."  And so is our friend Brando--though he has a very ready laugh.