Local nonprofit brings clean water to African village, fund-raiser set for May 2
What started as the ultimate field trip for a group of inner-city kids from North Charleston has grown into a humanitarian effort to help others less fortunate in a small village in Ghana. During the summer of 2006, the children of the Djole Dance and Drumming Company from the Union Heights neighborhood in North Charleston embarked on a trip to West Africa to learn more about their ancestry roots. After a moving and eye-opening experience, the children returned home with a mission – determined to help the children of Ghana orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Together with the elders in the community and friends from the Medical University of South Carolina, the children began a partnership with a nonprofit in Ghana and Project Okurase (pronounced Oh-krah-see) was born.
The main focus of Project Okurase is to build a multi-purpose, arts-based center that will provide a loving, home environment for orphaned children, as well as education and jobs-skill training to village residents. The name of the center is the Nkabom Centre, meaning ‘coming together’ in the Ghanaian language of Twi.
Earlier this year, the official ground-breaking for the center took place and village residents are currently making bricks for the construction of the eco-friendly buildings. Students from Clemson University’s Architectural Center are developing the design for the Nkabom Centre and on Saturday, May 2, Project Okurase will host one of the Lowcountry’s most unique music and arts festivals to raise money for a sustainable, clean water treatment system through a partnership with Water Missions International.
The eco-, family-friendly event will take place on the site of the former Food Bank distribution building near the Cosgrove Avenue entrance of the Navy Yard at Noisette in North Charleston. It will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. with an after-party celebration with the popular group The Afromotive, Charleston’s own Dub Island Soundsystem, and all the way from Ghana, master drummer and co-founder of Project Okurase, Samual Yeboah, also known as Powerful from 8 to 11 p.m.
Tickets are available through etix.com and are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Children 12 and under are welcome to attend for free.
Sponsors for the event include the Navy Yard at Noisette, Fisher Recycling, Trio Solutions Inc. and Little Dog Advertising Agency, PDA Green Light and Big Hair Productions.
Sponsorship and volunteer opportunities are available. If you are interested in supporting this event, please contact Jennifer Cherock at jcherock@trio-solutions.com or call (843) 216-0442. More information can also be found at www.projectokurase.org.
The main focus of Project Okurase is to build a multi-purpose, arts-based center that will provide a loving, home environment for orphaned children, as well as education and jobs-skill training to village residents. The name of the center is the Nkabom Centre, meaning ‘coming together’ in the Ghanaian language of Twi.
Earlier this year, the official ground-breaking for the center took place and village residents are currently making bricks for the construction of the eco-friendly buildings. Students from Clemson University’s Architectural Center are developing the design for the Nkabom Centre and on Saturday, May 2, Project Okurase will host one of the Lowcountry’s most unique music and arts festivals to raise money for a sustainable, clean water treatment system through a partnership with Water Missions International.
The eco-, family-friendly event will take place on the site of the former Food Bank distribution building near the Cosgrove Avenue entrance of the Navy Yard at Noisette in North Charleston. It will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. with an after-party celebration with the popular group The Afromotive, Charleston’s own Dub Island Soundsystem, and all the way from Ghana, master drummer and co-founder of Project Okurase, Samual Yeboah, also known as Powerful from 8 to 11 p.m.
Tickets are available through etix.com and are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Children 12 and under are welcome to attend for free.
Sponsors for the event include the Navy Yard at Noisette, Fisher Recycling, Trio Solutions Inc. and Little Dog Advertising Agency, PDA Green Light and Big Hair Productions.
Sponsorship and volunteer opportunities are available. If you are interested in supporting this event, please contact Jennifer Cherock at jcherock@trio-solutions.com or call (843) 216-0442. More information can also be found at www.projectokurase.org.
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