A family from Rocky Hill is proving a difference can be made no matter where you are in the world.
On Saturday, Kwasi Asante-Boateng and Ama Asante-Boateng along with their children and church members of the Dimension Abundant Life Ministries Church in Rocky Hill, worked together to load a 40-foot shipping container with Ghana as its final destination.
The Asante-Boateng family recently took a trip to Ghana where they visited a village that filled them with motivation to help specifically the teachers and students who were learning out of a deteriorated school building.
“They don’t have chairs to sit on, there’s abandoned buildings and kids are standing, they’ve never seen computers before, they don’t have books to read, kids are walking around with no shoes,” Ama Asante- Boateng said.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
After returning from their trip, their son Kofi built the website, everyonecanmakeadifference.netlify.app where he posted his family’s mission, progress photos and specific donations.
Kofi shared how it's been special to help other kids enjoy the same things he does.
"I remember this one girl, just standing and saying 'I want to read, we have a library with just bookshelves, we don't have any books to read' and as someone who loves to read, it really hit me, these students want to learn,” said Kofi.
Local
With the help of Reverend Harris McFarlane and through the website created, the family was able to have a new roof installed at the Akyease/Dida Methodist Junior High School in Ghana, receive 400 donated school chairs and collect over 1,000 school supplies including books, computer monitors and school desks.
Kwasi shared that prior to this mission, he didn’t give the act of giving much thought, but he said his perspective completely changed after seeing the need that’s out in the world.
“These kids go through a lot just to get some form of education so to do something like this, to give them a hope, to give them that, you know what, education is important, it's something that no one can take from you, and have a chance in life.”
The church will be shipping the 40-foot container which is expected to arrive in Ghana in about a month-and-a-half.
They continue to ask for donations for future shipments as well as other local charities they contribute to including but not limited to, writing utensils, cosmetics, and non perishables.
Donations can be delivered to Dimension Abundant Life Ministries at 623 Old Main St. in Rocky Hill.
