GHANA UNION MANNHEIM & LUDWIGSHAFEN e.V.

A SHORT HISTORY

The year 2005 commemorated the 5th anniversary of the Ghana Union Mannheim & Ludwigshafen e.V (MA-LU). Since its re-launch on 30 December 2000, and despite its enormous undertakings, the association has remained true to the mission outlined by its founding members. In the face of difficult economic and living conditions, MA-LU’s ongoing initiatives, enduring to provide the needs of fellow Ghanaians back home indicate a promising future for the people and their community.

The association was first founded in 1991 with the goal to promote unity and to seek the well-being of its members. Due to an ineffective leadership that failed to unite its members, coupled with a non-collegial attitude of some of the members which loyalty was focused on tribal lines, the association could not survive the times and therefore died a natural death.

In or around June 2000, about 15 interested persons met and re-formed the association. They promised to protect and promote the mutual interests of its members, maintain a dignified code of ethics, combat backdoor activities, stimulate the public’s desire to participate and promote MA-LU’s activities.  A constitution for the new association was drafted and approved by the general meeting. Subsequently, the association was duly registered with the county court (Amtsgericht), Mannheim in 2001 where the association has its legal seat.

In this difficult atmosphere of human organization, where the only constant seems to be change, it is extraordinary to realize that MA-LU’s core goals has remained the same 6 years later.

 The aims of the association include:

> To enhance the contact, integration and understanding between Ghanaians and citizens of other nations,

> To offer charitable assistance to institutions like children homes, hospitals, schools and orphanages in Ghana,

> To promote the culture (including the music and the folk dance) of the Ghanaian people.

> The aims of the society would be realised through the interaction with people and institutions that share our views by organising courses, seminars, cultural activities, lectures, by publications and through public relations work.

> The association does not pursue it’s own economic goals.

> The means of the society may only be used for the purposes defined by the statute. The members may not receive any donations from the means of the society. No member may be favoured by expenditures that are alien to the purpose of the society or by reimbursements made in a disproportionate way.

In the first years of the new millennium, MA-LU has continued with its efforts to support and provide for needy institutions in Ghana. The association has stood to its aims of being a non-profit making organization. The Ghana Union Mannheim & Ludwigshafen e.V. has in the past donated drugs and equipment to a considerable number of government health and educational institutions in Ghana. The association supported the victims of the Accra Sports Stadium stampede in May 2001 when dressings and drugs were presented to the authorities of the 37 Military Hospital in Accra that hospitalized most of the injured spectators. The association financed and completed in March 2005 a 10-seat KVIP toilet project for pupils of the Amanhyia Roman Catholic Primary School (a town between Suhum and Koforidua) in the Eastern Region of Ghana. A major project in the pipeline is to construct a vocational training center for the pupils and students of the Amanhyia area. Most recently in 2006 the association with the assistance of the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) shipped over 60 hospital beds, and a quantity of medical equipments to be distributed to 4 selected government hospitals in Ghana.

Activities of the Ghana Union Mannheim & Ludwigshafen e.V. are not only limited to the home country Ghana. The association donated in cash to the 2002 Elbe River floods victims of Riesa, a town in the German Federal State Sachsen. The association is a partner to several kindergartens in the Rhine Neckar Area, and we support their activities from time to time. The association organises video/PowerPoint seminars on Ghana with partner institutions. MA-LU honours invitations and participates in all activities it receives from the Stadt Mannheim.

 The association has kept up its efforts in the area of transparency. MA-LU is improving its membership relations and giving members tools to be active at general meetings in an atmosphere of harmony and trust. The association does not consider any member’s suggestion or statement > based on personal knowledge, ability, aptitude, general qualifications, character, loyalty, or suitability. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” they say, therefore the association organizes a mid-year and end-of-year get-together for its members.

Educationally, MA-LU is working on several new programs with the City of Mannheim, Volkshochschule Mannheim and the Arbeitsamt Mannheim to offer free or reduced-rate German language courses and the opportunity for members to acquire qualifications using life experience and working experience.

The current executive members of the association are;

1. President – Mr. Mac Asomah Yeboah
2. Vice-president – Mr. George Essel Haizel
3. Secretary – Mr. Akwasi Opoku Edusei
4. Coordinator – Mr. Francis Owusu Peprah
5. Organising secretary – Mr. Kwaku Amponsem
6. Financial secretary – Mrs. Agatha Amponsem
7. Treasurer – Mr. Francis Arthur

The association meets once every month at the premises of the Katholische Hochschulgemeinde (KHG), D6, 15 Mannheim. Our contact address is; Ghana Union Mannheim & Ludwigshafen e.V., Postfach 120654, 68057 Mannheim. Visit our website @ http://www.ghanaunion-ma-lu.de/. All are welcome to attend our meetings and activities.

In order for the Mannheim & Ludwigshafen e.V. and its members to stay relevant, the association will not focus on the past of its existence and activities, but on the challenges of its future programmes and projects.

LONG LIVE – GHANA UNION MANNHEIM & LUDWIGSHAFEN e.V.!!!