Los Gatos: Students’ goal is to make Ghana a more ‘healthy, beautiful’ place

With a goal of making Yamoransa, Ghana, a “healthy and beautiful” place to live, a group of Los Gatos High School students plans to head there this summer for a work project. In fact, the high school’s Garden for Ghana Club was formed earlier this school year with just that in mind.

Club president Brooke Ahmed started the club after interning last summer with Alrie Middlebrook at the California Native Garden Foundation in San Jose. Middlebrook travels to Ghana annually to help people in the tiny African nation implement sustainable environmental practices.

In Yamoransa, the students will cultivate eroded land into beautiful landscapes and productive gardens. They’ll be working alongside scientists and students from Ghana’s Central University planting trees, flowers, produce and botanicals that will “correct” the eroded land.

“We are thinking now of landscaping ideas and plants to grow,” Brooke said. “That includes plants that are useful for solving deforestation problems. Other plants can help with Yamoransa’s erosion problems; they have a lot of rain there.

“The people of Yamoransa don’t have a healthy, balanced diet,” Brooke added, “so our purpose is to educate them and help them become self-sustaining.”

But to get to Ghana, the students need travel money. So a fundraiser is planned for May 18 at the Los Gatos Adult Recreation Center, 208 E. Main St. The event is from noon to 3 p.m. and will include brunch and guest speakers. In addition, members of the high school’s various bands are being lined up to entertain guests.

The 20 students who are members of the Garden for Ghana Club have just started fanning out around town, asking local merchants to support their fundraising effort by donating items that can be raffled off during the brunch. Early sponsors include retailers Nuance and Jennifer Croll, along with the Purple Onion.

The students hope to gather more donations for their auction–including items like wine, spa treatments and dinners from local restaurants.

Brunch tickets are $25 and can be purchased by emailing Alrie Middlebrook at alriem@me.com. People who wish to donate to the auction should also contact Middlebrook.