Untold International
Our vision is to collaborate with some of the most underprivileged, under-resourced, and underrepresented communities in Ghana to provide literacy education and resources through libraries of primarily African literature, extracurricular literacy education in both English (the official language) and Asante Twi (or other local language), and writing workshops in both languages to facilitate and practice creative and innovative thinking.
We understand that we undertake a responsibility when engaging in international humanitarian work, and have applied the following four core questions to our organization in order to maintain transparency and accountability.
- Does Untold International privilege collaboration?
Absolutely. From the beginning, Untold International has been focused on the idea that Ghanaian plights must be solved by Ghanaian people using Ghanaian solutions. Kasadwini Atenaeɛ is designed to be a community space, that belongs 100% to the community. While both founders were born and raised in the United States, the organization and project are firmly rooted in Ghana, and are represented by two local librarians and a local board. - Do donations to Untold International actually go to local communities?
Yes–almost 100%. We have been privileged and honored to be welcomed into Asisiriwa with open arms, and the community has provided much of the infrastructure we would have needed to cover with overhead, including housing for our founders for the 8-month (or more) duration of their volunteer work. With the exception of airfare, approximately 100% of donations go toward the project. - Does Untold International accurately and sensitively represent and advocate on behalf of the communities we represent?
This question seems strange for us to answer, but we do our best to use our privilege as a nonprofit organization based out of the United States to provide a platform for less privileged voices. Our goal is to “give a blank page to the unheard,” meaning that rather than try to speak for the communities we aim to assist and collaborate with, we want to give them the resources and skills to speak for themselves. This is so central to our mission that we emphasize the importance of providing literacy education and resources in the local language to the communities we seek to serve, as we believe that innovation is easiest and most effective when it doesn’t have to be translated. If you believe we are falling short or failing in this endeavor, please let us know. - Does Untold International work towards justice-oriented structural change?
The answer to this is unequivocally yes. By partnering with local communities and seeking to collaborate with local leaders like Professor Kofi Agyekum of the University of Ghana, we are coming alongside an already growing movement toward the decolonization of language and education in Africa, and are working toward a more informed, more literate, and more connected African continent–while still recognizing and respecting the differences each language community, nation, kingdom, and culture has to offer.
If you have more questions about who we are and how we operate, please feel free to contact us.
