When I made the announcement on various social media platforms that I would be moving to Ghana, a lot of people wished me luck and a few people questioned my decision to move back home. To some people, it did not make sense (and it still does not make sense) that I did an internship at Google last summer and I was heading to a rural village in Ghana the following year for an internship. Essentially, people think I am crazy for turning down a paid opportunity for the spring and choosing to serve as a Spring Marketing Fellow at Tarkwa Breman Community Alliance from April to June. But like always, all the decisions I make are not mine alone – they are made after several weeks of fasting and praying to God.

I always set personal and professional development goals every year and in 2017, one of my personal goals was to find my purpose in life. I have held various positions with different non-profit and for-profit companies but I have been having a hard time connecting my experiences and thinking about the path I would like to take after graduating in 2018 – whether to enter the workforce right away or pursue a graduate degree right after.

When I arrived in Ghana, I spent the first week visiting family and friends in Kumasi and Accra and set a personal goal of trying out as many restaurants/local dishes as I could. I will post a couple of images below but my Instagram has a ton of pictures along with a review of each dish I had. A few days leading up to transitioning to the village for my fellowship, I called a good friend of mine and I was a bit emotional and started to shed a few (just a few!) tears. I was not sure if I was making the right decision and to be very honest, I was feeling homesick – just a few days after leaving my family behind. At the end of our call, I soon realized that I was in Ghana for a reason.

After fasting and praying for several months about finding my purpose, God finally gave me a clear sense of what He wanted me to do and here I was, questioning Him. After two weeks of being in Tarkwa Breman, I have realized that this is where God wanted me to be. Every day when I go to work, I know that everything I do in our plywood office will directly impact not only the girls of Tarkwa Breman Girls School, but also the Tarkwa Breman village, plus the surrounding eight villages. For me, this is extremely important as I believe everyone, irrespective of socioeconomic background, should have access to quality education and healthcare. In Day 2 of my role, I was asked to create a short video capturing the CEO and some of the girls saying thank you to Worldreader Inc., an organization donating 50 e-reader tablets to encourage our young girls to continue reading.

I will be with TBCA for 8 weeks before going back to the States for my summer internship and during that time I hope to publish one blog post every two weeks – making it a total of 4 blog posts/updates. Please continue to pray for the entire TBCA team as we continue to embark on this life changing journey.

Stay adventurous, dear friends, and always remember to stay golden. All ways, always.

Sincerely,

Samuella

Met up with one of Ghana’s Top Designers – QuophiAkotuahGH!

Went straight to Sister Afia from the airport to do my hair. She is the only person in Ghana I can trust to touch my hair. She is the best!

Quick shoot with Nana Ama – Independence Arch (Accra)

Quick shoot with Nana Ama – Independence Arch (Accra)

Full Review on Instagram – Mango’s Restaurant

Black Star Square (Independence Arch) – Accra

Full Review on Instagram – Burger and Relish

Full Review on Instagram – Mukasechic

Pictures of the House

Pictures of the House – 2

Pictures of the House – 3

Photobombed by Bethany, our Head of Education Programs – LOL!

TBCA’s Cocoa Farm – Always repping LeBow College of Business!

Always a first time for everything!

Our Scholars!