FORDHAM — Maxwell Owobu had an epiphany while visiting relatives in Ghana two years ago that changed his life and put him on a path to changing the lives of others.
For years, Maxwell said, visits to Ghana felt like ordinary family vacations. But when he was 15, he began to see the country differently. As he rode through town, he noticed children his age working in family shops, at street fairs, and anywhere they could to help their families make ends meet.
“It suddenly hit me,” he recalled. “They weren’t in school.”
Right then and there, he decided to do something about it.
Maxwell, now a 17-year-old senior at Fordham Preparatory School, a Catholic boys’ high school in the Bronx, returned from Ghana and got together with two childhood friends, Alexander Chandler and Myles Spive. He told them his idea to start a foundation to raise money to help parents in Ghana pay some of the costs of educating their children, and they quickly got to work.
Their organization, the Yenko Foundation, has been operating for two years, raising about $19,000 and helping 15 children pay for books, uniforms, school lunches, and transportation. Yenko means “Let’s go” in Twi, a language spoken in Ghana.
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Evidence shows that families in Ghana are in need of the kind of help the foundation provides. According to the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform, nearly a quarter (23.4%) of the people of Ghana live below the poverty line.
“The average family has four people — a mother, a father, and two children,” Maxwell explained. “So, being able to pay all of the costs of school after you have paid for food and housing is a hardship for a lot of families.”
The three friends set up a website and began collecting donations almost immediately — at first through family and friends and then as word spread, donations came from website visitors.
Maxwell said he hopes an upcoming “Dress Down Day” at Fordham Prep, in which students pay $5.00 each for the privilege of wearing casual clothing instead of their school uniforms, will yield donations to his foundation.
The Yenko Foundation works primarily with one school in Accra, Ghana — Calvary Methodist School — and identifies which children to help by consulting with school officials.
The foundation tailors its assistance to each child, and the type of financial help it provides depends on the child’s needs. Some parents can’t afford their child’s school uniform, while others need funding for transportation.
Maxwell, who lives on the Upper West Side, said his work with the Yenko Foundation has changed his life by deepening his Christian faith.
“As Christians, we believe in helping people,” he explained. “And I feel like I’m doing that now.”
He also credited Fordham Prep with instilling in him a desire to help others. “Fordham Prep is very much based on service,” he said. “So, I’ve been surrounded by the idea of service since I was a freshman.”
Maxwell, who will graduate from high school in June, has not decided where to go to college, but he does know that he wants to be an entrepreneur.
His goal for the Yenko Foundation is simple.
“We want to raise more money and help as many kids as possible,” he said. “I want these kids to have a future, and education is the best way to do that.”
HOW TO HELP
For more information on donating to the Yenko Foundation, visit the organization’s website at: