Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Samuel Kwame Mensah. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Samuel , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In 2021 I traveled to North East Region, Ghana for the first time after watching a video of school children in a particular village called Soasobigi. In this video, I saw children learning without books and no chairs in their classrooms. I also saw a bunch of children sleeping on the floor, and some were making use of the ground as their substitute books. After watching the video I was angry, and most importantly disappointed at those people assigned to see that these children have the necessary tools and resources needed to experience quality education regardless of their location. This feeling led me to reach out to the Founder of Akua kids Foundation, Miss Joana Mensah, who is also passionate about children and education. I sent the video to her and after watching the video, we went into planning mode to support these children with things they need: a standard desk, bench, and books. The idea we had for the project was to make sure children in Soasobigi village have a proper place to seat and learn. In March 2021, I traveled to North East Region of Ghana, and I visited two villages Soasobigi and Kukugbini . It took me 18 hours to arrive in the village, and this was the longest journey I have ever been on, but I was excited to meet the children. When I arrived in the village it was straight to work, I met the carpenter and we were able to donate benches and standard desks to two classrooms (Kindergarten and Primary 6). When we finished in Soasobigi village the next village was Kukugbini. I traveled to Kukugbini , and with the support of new organizations such as Smiles Africa, an organization based in Cameroon, and Magho Foundation, we donated chairs and desks to two classrooms. After completing this entire project in Kukugbini, and Saosobigi. We visited Namenboku village to see the children in the community Junior High School. Interacting with the children I realized they were having issues in terms of reading, and I got to understand they had no books to read, and according to the students they wanted storybooks. When I arrived in Accra I spoke to Miss Joana Mensah about the situation of the children in 3 Villages in North East Region. Together we were able to come up with a literacy program to promote literacy in two villages and improve the reading and writing proficiency of school children in Namenboku and Soasobigi. We kicked off the project in 2022, and we have been able to start a Literacy Club to assist school children in two villages. We also donated 70 storybooks to Namenboku Junior High School, and we ensure every student has one storybook. This project is important to me because I know the confidence you have when you know how to read and write, and I want to make sure these children have that confidence.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Samuel Kwame Mensah Junior. I am passionate about supporting children in rural and underserved areas. My mission is to mentor and promote literacy in Rural Africa. This journey started when I traveled to Lagos, Nigeria 2019 after completing my University in Ghana. I grew up in a community called Ajegunle, also known as AJ CITY. Ajegunle in the Yoruba language means “A place where riches dwells” It’s often seen as the slum or ghetto of Lagos State. My journey as a child advocate started after seeing the issues and vices affecting children in this community. To give a background story, I remember a particular day I was at a friend’s house, and I saw four children playing with sticks, and they were saying: “E Le won” which means “chase them”. Right, where I was standing, it dawned on me that in the next five to ten years, that stick will turn to cutlas, and these children will be the ones terrorizing the community if nothing is done to change their mindset. I realized this is what the children have seen in the community where gangs use cutlass to fight and destroy properties, and now these children are imitating these gangs. I started speaking to local leaders in Ajegunle to get a better understanding of the issues. One of the issues that stood out was the lack of mentors for children and teenagers. Together with some friends, we organized a project, and the aim was to bring mentors to the community to speak with teenagers. In the first project, we had 90 teenagers in attendance, and after that project, I saw significant changes among the teenagers that attended the project. This was the beginning of my advocacy journey. Since 2019 I have dedicated my time to mentoring children in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. I believe my love and passion for children set me apart, and I am proud I never listened to voices that told me to give up on the children. Literacy is important for every child no matter their location, and this is what UMBRELLA FOR THE AFRICAN CHILD is bringing to communities. Our aim is to ensure every child has a storybook to read and connect with mentors in the process.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

“One child One Book”. This goal inspired us to come up with a project titled “My Book and I” This means every child in rural areas must have a personal storybook. This is my mission and my driving force. When we visit a community, we ensure every child gets a storybook, something they can relate to. The reason for this work is to instill the reading habit in the next generation of leaders. We know a lot of children want to read, but a lack of books prevents them from reading, and this is where we come in to support these children with storybooks and come with a workshop to teach these children how to read and write. Literacy is the heart of every nation’s development, and we believe for underserved areas to develop, the next generation must break that barrier and know how to read and write.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Honestly, I was consistent, and I was never scared to post. I remember when we had 50 followers on Instagram, and anytime I post a picture of children, we only get a notification of three people who liked the post. Back then, I normally say to myself this picture is beautiful, and this video has children smiling how did we get six views? What I never did moving forward was doubt what I was posting, so I remained consistent with the posting, it does not matter if we had six likes I kept posting, and little by little, the right people started following us and sharing our content. When I look back to how we started and where we are now with about one thousand followers, it’s about consistency. The thing about consistency is that it helps people trust your brand or services. My advice for those kings and queens starting to build their social media presence is don’t be scared to share what you do, as long as it’s good and you know people need that product or service. And the last thing is being consistent with sharing your journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://umbrellafortheafricanchild.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juniorkwame_/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://ng.linkedin.com/in/samuel-kwame-mensah-jr-9710b6212
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/4dchildren

Image Credits
I took all the pictures.