Chris continued to go back to Maranatha…

That led to the formation of the non-profit Maranatha Development Society – which many friends and colleagues have supported over the years.  It supported the Maranatha Women’s Association – and started training in sewing, so women could have a source of income.

Then, the Society supported Ebenezer (Chris helped put him through school) and then  helped him start a barbershop, just before Covid hit Ghana and things shut down. The larger project at Maranatha – establishing a sewing training centre – was delayed. But on August 26, 2021, it was officially opened with a celebration honouring Chris and all of the contributors who supported it.

Most recently, during Covid, we’ve helped Chris’s good friend Arnold get re-established with a chicken business.

Your contributions have helped three different projects in Ada Foah, Ghana

How to contribute

If you’d like to contribute to this next stage: In Canada, send an etransfer to chrisyetilove@gmail.com – and it will be auto-deposited into the Society’s bank account.

If you’d like to use PayPal, use this link to Chris’s Maranatha project website. Just scroll down to the last page

Watch the video (about 4 1/2 minutes) – here’s a link to it on Vimeo, and there’s also a YouTube version link .

The Women’s Association

Kewunor, the village where the Maranatha camp and school are based, is a small, remote village nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Volta River. Fishing is essentially the only form of employment, but the women ‘don’t go to fishing’. Though they work incredibly hard, theirs is an unpaid labour and there are very few opportunities for women to become gainfully employed and financially independent.

So with help from friends and colleagues, Chris helped to start a training project to teach sewing.

The first project was hammocks, made with colourful Ghanian fabric – and then later, making yoga mat bags and clothing, for sale in Canada. Now there’s an opportunity to give that project new energy with a new building that will house the Women’s Association projects, and a nursery school.

Ebenezer’s Barbershop

Chris met Ebenezer on his first day as a volunteer, and over the next few years, Chris helped with school fees – and then helped him to start a barbershop.

Some of the money raised after Chris’s death went to help Ebe open a new shop in his home community.

Here’s what Chris had to say in 2016… “When I arrived ) he took one look at my hair, grimaced, and said “Let me give you a GOOD haircut!”. And you know? I’ve never gotten more compliments on any haircut I’ve ever had in my entire my life – both in Ghana and Canada. Apparently it’s the haircut all the football stars from Ghana’s Black Stars team wear.