Weaving Hope Together
Every Bolga basket represents connection, linking the far-flung villages of northern Ghana and everywhere the baskets travel, bridging their communities and ours. In this global-minded spirit, we formed our 501(c)3, Weaving Hope Together (WHT), to help alleviate day-to-day hardships in Bolgatanga, promote prosperity in the Upper East region, and strengthen their communities. As an independent non-profit not associated with any religious organization, our humanitarian work is born of compassion and a desire to empower the weavers. By providing necessities like healthcare, school supplies, and clean drinking water, their livelihoods can better flourish, much like the river grass that transforms from a humble seed into a vibrant Bolga basket.
Weaving Hope Together’s executive director, Eleanor, is a native of northern Ghana who spent her childhood in Bolgatanga before earning a scholarship to study non-profit management in the Netherlands and returning home after college. As WHT’s only paid staff member, she plays a crucial role on the ground in Bolga, organizing a team of volunteers who give their time and energy assisting with truck and motorbike transport, logistical support, and outreach in the villages. During the pandemic, Eleanor was steadfast in educating Ghanaians about the threat of COVID-19, distributing hand-made masks, and implementing locally crafted handwashing stations. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors in the United States uses Eleanor’s firsthand feedback, guiding our funding toward where it will be most impactful.
With the belief that all well-being begins with good health, we have provided healthcare for the weavers and their families for almost two decades. Several times a year, Eleanor and other WHT volunteer staff organize healthcare registration events, during which we sign hundreds of villagers up to receive their ID cards from the NHIS (National Health Insurance Scheme), covering their basic health needs. Expanding our efforts every year, we now provide coverage for over 5,000 people annually. Yearly costs are around $3 per person, and we also cover renewals, which usually run about $2 per person, so a donation of just $20 provides healthcare for a family for a whole year.
We often take education and clean water for granted in the developed world, but they are tenuous in Bolgatanga, one of Ghana’s most economically challenged regions. With this in mind, WHT purchases school supplies from local stationary vendors, infusing the local economy with funds while providing notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers, and compasses for entire primary schools, each of which enrolls around 200 students. Schoolchildren often skip school because they lack these basic supplies and must gather drinking water from distant wells, frequently involving an arduous miles-long trip while carrying buckets on their heads. To address this dire need for more accessible clean water, we plan to employ local contractors and build at least one well in 2024, followed by five wells in 2025 and continuing into future years, funding permitting.
Past Weaving Hope Together projects have included working with the US Peace Corps to purchase and distribute mosquito nets, providing malaria prevention instruction, and constructing a weaving center in 2006. In addition to creating a sheltered space to gather and weave, hold healthcare registrations, and host community events, the weaving center sparked other NGO humanitarian groups to provide electricity and toilets, exemplifying the synergy of generosity and collaboration.
With every donation, this chain of goodwill continues, weaving hope and togetherness anew.
