Out of Africa - Ghana tribal chief comes to United States to bring opportunity to his village, nation

Maple Valley, WA, USA -- Before Chief Nana Kwaku Dapaah II appears in his native village during the yearly celebration, a ceremonial dancer with a painted face performs to herald his arrival.

Then the Maple Valley businessman takes his seat as the paramount chief of the Mo tribe, about 100,000 people who live in northwest Ghana, Africa.

People who see Dapaah at the grocery store or the bank in Maple Valley might not even know they're looking at royalty but in Ghana, he is a member of the National House of Chiefs. He is also president of a traditional council that represents 21 towns and villages. Ghana has two types of leadership -- the traditional tribal chiefs and the formal government.

Dapaah moved his family to Washington state from Africa about five years ago.

As a rule, chiefs aren't typically allowed to be away from their people for so long. An exception is being made in Dapaah's case because of the opportunities he is able to bring back to Ghana. He tries to go home several times a year and stays in contact by phone with several key tribe members who run things while he is gone.

Forging partnerships

``My being here makes me able to do things for them that I wouldn't be able to do (in Africa),'' Dapaah said.

With help from the Real Life Church and the Pacific Institute, Dapaah is learning how to establish economic partnerships to bring development opportunities to his people.

``The government has not been able to spread the wealth,'' he said. ``I think this is the time to take initiative.''

Dapaah lives in Maple Valley with his wife, Gladys Jebuni, and their two sons, Tahoma High School senior Kwaku Jebuni, 17, and Lake Wilderness Elementary third-grader Kwame, 9. They chose to make their home in Maple Valley because they feel a suburban community is safer than a city like Seattle.

The couple wanted to give their sons an American education while learning how to bring economic development to Ghana. Jebuni is working at Enumclaw Health Care to learn the skills she'll need to open a medical clinic when they move back home. The chief runs an import business, selling drums, baskets and other goods from Ghana.

Dapaah, who is a legal immigrant, received a degree in social sciences from the West African College and later completed some private studies in Montana. Jebuni, who is a naturalized citizen, received her associate degree from Seattle Central Community College.

Kwaku is a member of Tahoma High School's ``We the People'' team, which competes in a knowledge-bowl type competition on the U.S. Constitution. The team recently won a regional award at the national competition in Washington D.C. Kwaku is looking forward to attending the University of Washington after graduation.

Kwame's third-grade class has been studying Africa since January, and has pen pals at a Bamboi school. Last week Kwame told the class traditional Anansi the Spider stories from memory that he has heard since he was young.

``The kids were just eating it up,'' said Teacher Jamie Parkinson.

Dapaah also visited the class to talk about his country and give a slide show.

``They are a remarkable family,'' Parkinson said. ``It's amazing how they have blended. The kids are very well-adjusted.''

Fear of lions just a memory

Ghana is a country about the size of Indiana and Illinois combined. While it offers a strong educational system compared to other African countries, the village of Bamboi where Dapaah is chief has no running water and no sewer system and until recently no electricity. People live in grass huts, and the few who are lucky enough to have metal roofs are considered prosperous.

There are several wells for fresh water in Bamboi and the outlying villages, and one phone line connected to a communications center established by the Catholic church.

Dapaah remembers a time in his youth when the people didn't stray far from the village at night for fear of lions, tigers and elephants. Now all the wild animals in the region are gone -- hunted and sold or eaten.

And because there aren't enough jobs in northwest Ghana to support people, many cut down the region's huge trees to burn into charcoal for fuel and to sell. Some women turn to prostitution to bring in money to feed their families.

One of Dapaah's visions for the future is to establish a destination resort on the shores of the Black Volta River, which curls its fingers around the Mo tribe's land.

Several months after Dapaah's family moved to Maple Valley, they began attending Real Life Church. He developed a relationship with the church family and began to share his hopes and dreams for improving conditions in Ghana.

Since then, church members has made three trips to Bamboi, bringing two generators to the village to power street lights. The church is also helping the government purchase a tractor for the village.

Village lights draw truckers

Bamboi sits on the main road between the Ghanan capital of Accra on the southern coast and the rural northern parts of the country, where the pavement ends.

Before church members brought the generators, trucks toting supplies northward would rumble right through the village. But now Bamboi's lights draw truck drivers to stop and buy something to eat and drink, Pastor Steve Murray said.

``The Mo people are traditionally the most poor in Ghana,'' Murray said. ``We've coined a phrase, `The Mo will be po' no mo.'''

Working with Dapaah allows church members to help the Mo people in a way that preserves their dignity.

``We go in there, we see a need and we want to meet that need, but we could actually do more damage because we're not meeting the right need,'' Murray said.

Willing workers; no jobs

Together, Dapaah and church members helped the people of Bamboi start a weaving factory and a tapioca factory, which employ several dozen people.

``The good thing about it is that if you employ one person, they are feeding five mouths,'' Dapaah said, explaining that the average Mo family has five members.

He and church members now have their sights set on a much larger goal: starting a cashew plantation that would create many more jobs and give the tribe a steady income.

Dapaah has researched the industry, and discovered that an acre of land can grow about a half-ton of cashews. The nuts are worth up to $1,000 per ton.

In addition to cashews, they're also considering cayenne pepper chiles and yuca root.

``We have the labor. We have the land,'' Dapaah said.

The Mo people have thousands of acres of fertile, unfarmed land as well as minerals and other resources.

``They're the poorest tribe but probably have the richest land,'' Murray said. ``It's our hope to bring employment up at least 10 percent in the next several years.''

The conditions in remote Ghana kill children and young parents because of a number of causes, including diseases like AIDS.

``They want to develop and advance,'' Murray said. ``The thing that limits them is the way they think.''

``Our goal is to reach the youth of the next generation to bring them out of the poverty that is not necessary through education,'' Murray said.

One of a few educated chiefs

Dapaah has been chief for about 15 years, and is one of only a few educated chiefs in the country, Murray said.

And for Dapaah, the adage ``Knowledge is power'' rings true. When he and a neighboring chief got into a border dispute, Dapaah went to the capital of Accra where the written history is kept and researched the answer so he could resolve the issue.

The position of chief is inherited, going to the eldest son first unless he doesn't have the necessary leadership skills and other qualities. The tribe also has a hereditary ``queen mother,'' who acts somewhat like a vice president and has a veto power.

Dapaah has also attended several training sessions with the Pacific Institute, a privately-owned company that teaches people how to get the most out of what they have. He said he wants to learn how to ``encourage the change to come from within'' by listening to what his people want and trying to help those things happen.

The Seattle-based institute was founded by Lou and Diane Tice in 1971, and now works in 50 countries and 17 languages. The institute's leaders have been involved in South Africa for about 15 years, trying to help the emerging government, said project director Steve Pappajohn.

Churches, wells and schools

Real Life is a 5-year-old church with a congregation of about 450 people who meet at Tahoma High School. Church leaders are in the process of buying 320 acres between Maple Valley and Black Diamond that they plan to split with Camp Barachah, an Auburn ministry.

In addition to their work in Ghana, church members do a lot of inner-city work in Los Angeles and other cities and they build churches, wells and schools in places like Guatemala. The church sent 250 people to help at Ground Zero in New York after the terrorist attacks.