United for Africa Concert in Modena Raises Funds for Ghana School

Charity concert benefits hundreds of children by helping fund a school in a remote Ghana village

Modena, Italy, is a center of culture and industry known as the “Capital of Engines” for the Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Maseratis built there. But it is developing a reputation in another quarter as well—as a champion of the right to education.

 

To that end, the city and several organizations hosted the second annual United for Africa benefit concert on June 5, which raised funds to fulfill the right to education for hundreds of children in Ghana in the tiny village of Yong.

Yong lies in the northern region of Ghana on the outskirts of the city of Tamale, but is completely off the grid. There is no dot for the village on Google maps, and it is unknown to Wikipedia. It can’t be found in any catalog of Ghana schools—for the simple reason that no such school exists. Yet hundreds of children in Yong and the surrounding countryside yearn for an education—and for the opportunity to learn the skills they need to create a future.

When the Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance began its United for Africa initiative in 2007, the group was invited to Ghana where they visited remote villages and surveyed village leaders and elders to find out what was needed most. In each case the answer was the same—education for their children. So far, United for Africa has seen to the construction of three schools, each to the specifications of the village concerned and constructed with local labor and materials.

 

United for Africa, a joint human rights initiative of the Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance of Italy, and of the Church of Scientology of Milan, selected Yong to be the fourth village in which it will build a school.

The 2nd Annual Modena United for Africa concert was organized by the Foundation, the Human Rights Office of the Church of Scientology Mission of Modena and Dagomba Maligu Youth of Modena, a group of native Ghanians who carry out projects to aid the Dagomba people of northern Ghana.