January 28, 2009 marked the 20th anniversary of Bellevue Alumnae when sixteen Sorors signed the charter for the 800th Chapter of our beloved sisterhood. Our chapter has been blessed with a stream of hard-working Sorors who continue the Delta legacy. The current chapter members celebrated our 20th year by placing the name of Bellevue Alumnae Chapter on the wall of a K/1 classroom in Kasoa, Ghana because we believe the theme we adopted for that project: “We Are The Village”.
Over the years Bellevue Alumnae Chapter has provided many services to meet its commitment to Delta Sigma Theta programs. Past International Awareness programs included collecting school supplies for children in Africa, donations to World Vision, and integrating international awareness into its successful Delta Academy program. During the 2006 – 2007 year, the Chapter received information from two of its members, who had gone to Kenya over the summer, about how students in Kenya, East Africa were learning despite their need for basic necessities which included the need for something to protect their feet. The Chapter responded with 4000 pairs of flip flop shoes donated to the African American Kenyan Interconnect.
At the end of the 2006 – 2007 year, at the request of a Soror who’d just returned from Ghana, West Africa, members viewed a film about a newly developed school in Ghana, West Africa. Continuing its International Awareness and Involvement Thrust, at the beginning of the 2007– 2008 year, the Chapter invited Janet A. Jones Preston, a Seattle, Washington native and resident who founded the newly developed school in Ghana, West Africa, to share information about her school in Ghana.
Janet’s son lives in Kasoa, Ghana, and while visiting her son, Akili Mosi Secka, former Seattle Public Schools’ graduate (Garfield High) and the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., Janet became concerned about the number of young children in Kasoa who lacked the opportunity to attend school. Janet, with her son, Akili, embarked on a plan to build a school in Kasoa. She obtained funding by leveraging her personal assets ere in Washington in order to purchase land for a school in Kasoa. Janet and Akili’s initiative and perseverance allowed them to break ground and begin school construction in 2005 with Kasoa’s citizens providing the labor force which also served to support the Kasoa economy. The school was officially dedicated in December 2006.
After Janet Preston’s presentation, she was surprised to receive school supplies, socks, and T-shirts valued at $300 as well as checks from sorors totaling six hundred and ninety dollars ($690). Sorors further agreed to donate more school supplies and an additional three hundred dollars ($300) at the end of the 2007 – 2008 year to subsidize the income of teachers and/or food and water for the 32 2nd graders, 32 3rd graders, 32 4th graders, and 28 5th grade students at the school.
The sorors were pleased to learn that a 6thgrade class would begin by the end of the 2007– 2008 year. Later that day, the Bellevue Alumnae Chapter adopted The People’s School of Ghana as their International Awareness project for the Sorority year!
Children of The People’s School for Positive Education Kasoa, Ghana, West Africa With Sorors knowing that learning is life-long, the International Awareness and Involvement Committee proposed that the Chapter continue to make a difference in the lives of children in Kasoa by adding a kindergarten/1st grade classroom to the school.Research shows that the embryonic and formative years in a child’s life are extremely significant. We believe that children younger than second grade age would be greatly enhanced if they were introduced to a formal
education earlier in life. All kindergarten/1st< grade age children in Kasoa would not be served; however, Sorors believe that serving 90 children over a period of three years would be a profound contribution to the children in Kasoa, who without this initiative would go unserved until they reach second grade school age; thus a goal was set by the chapter to build a K/1 to the school.
Using the expertise of the Educators in the chapter and information from Akili in Kasoa, the chapter researched costs involved in building and maintaining a classroom, setting an initial project end date of three (3) years. Using the success of their earlier “Flip-Flops for Kenya” project, and looking for a way to celebrate its 20th Anniversary, the chapter voted to combine the efforts with a celebration entitling the project, “We are the Village”.
The word Kasoa translates to “a meeting place” in a language called Hausa, the most widely spoken language in West Africa. The Bellevue Chapter looks forward to extending its public service across the ocean to Kasoa connecting a caring village here in the US to one in Africa.
We Are The Village
To make a donation for We Are The Village, checks should be made to: Delta Research and Educational Foundation (DREF) #25218, and mailed to:
Bellevue Alumnae Chapter
PO Box 2533
Renton, WA 98056