The story of how we discovered the importance of bringing the right people on board.
The Tale of Three Bookcases
Author: Brady
It’s Finally “Ghana” Open
We went to Ghana with a dream and a couple hundred dollars of donations. Four years later, the literacy center stands as a reminder of where we’ve been – and where we’re going.
End of a Year, Beginning of an Era
As 2018 comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on the victories and setbacks Untold International has experienced in the last twelve months as we attempt to finish a language arts center in a rural village in Ghana. Building progress has been frustratingly slow. We went into Ghana thinking we could get the building done within six months, a …
Untold Profiles: Kwadwo Kumi
Our second Untold Profile is on Kwadwo Iveson Kumi, known to us as simply “Kumi”. He’s the other librarian at Kasadwini Atenaeɛ, the language arts center that we’ve been building alongside the rural Ghanaian village of Asisiriwa. He’s a bright, sensitive, and soft-spoken guy who cares deeply about his community and is always looking for opportunities to learn and grow. He has …
Untold Profiles: Mary Akayini
We are blessed with the opportunity to work and interact with such incredible people, but most of our followers don’t actually get to see them, who they are, or what they do. That’s why we’re launching a new series of blogs called “Untold Profiles”, where we’ll highlight and interview people involved with our project to build a language arts center …
The New Name of the Literacy Center
Names are important. Not only do they give a first impression, but they actually inform the identity of the thing or person they’re attached to. Parents often name their children based on how or who they want them to become. “Look to your namesake, [Alexander, George, Martin Luther, etc.]” Igbo parents embed bold hopes or claims in their children’s names, …
9 Africans Who Are Smarter Than You
Two years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled “9 of the Worst Quotes about Africa”, in which I compiled nine bigoted, colonial, and generally racist things that have been said by people in power about the continent of Africa. I received a lot of xenophobic comments on that one, including this gem, which started off by quoting a line …
I Shall Be a Mosaic
2016 sucked. Sure, I could talk about how it was formative, go on about how it taught us important lessons that I wouldn’t trade for anything, quote that cliché Nietzsche line about whatever doesn’t kill you…but I tend to err towards transparency rather than diplomacy. We’ve been off the radar for a while and you deserve to know why. The …
For the Kids Who Don’t Throw Rocks
Why are we doing this, again? This question becomes aggravatingly common after six months of living in a rural West African village, when being outside of your comfort zone has been the norm for too long, when the little annoyances grow into gross inefficiencies that grind against your sanity. The novelty of being an oburoni has long worn off, the lack of …
Weaving Windows
Sometimes the humanitarian and the local community are both wrong. Sometimes compromise means trying something new. I’ve talked before about the stubbornness of Ghanaians when it comes to their local building techniques. Many of them are resistant to innovation when it comes to construction—at least in the rural area where we live. In their minds, they have found something that …
