In April, my parents and I had the incredible opportunity to visit the NGO the Talented Women’s Club, a group of ambitious, intelligent, and very kind women from Accra and the surrounding area in Ghana.

For more than 20 years, CIS Charity Club has supported this group of women. The women are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of their communities and have committed to sharing practical nutrition knowledge with families, friends, local health experts, and community leaders, who then bring that information back to people in their own neighborhoods.

During our visit, we were welcomed with genuine warmth and hospitality and had the chance to see the work we had previously just read and heard about at CIS. We toured the local nutrition clinic and learned about the educational manual they had recently completed on healthy foods, healthy habits, and how these choices affect the body. The manual was developed by researchers at University of Ghana and funded by the Charity Club and is a great step forward.

Coordinator Anas and local architect Joe also showed us the site of the club’s future community center on a farm about an hour outside of Accra, where they hope to host events and create a communal place for sharing nutrition education and supporting community development. The land has already been purchased which, alongside other initiatives and projects in the past, has been made possible through fundraising efforts of CIS Charity Club members.

Now they are working to get the funding needed to begin construction. Throughout the trip, we were inspired by the passion, determination, and generosity of everyone we met. Seeing their vision, hard work, and commitment in person made a lasting impression on us, and we hope that our support will help bring them one step closer to achieving their goals.