Message from the President

Welcome to the website of the Ghanaian Association of Ottawa. I am pleased to note that this is one of the many ways we, as a community, strive to stay connected and at the same time, link up with other Ghanaians and/or friends of Ghana, here in Canada, in Ghana, and in the broader Diaspora. As President, my vision is to help build a community where each and every member feels their interests and concerns are equally respected and championed. Indeed, the GAO is a collective venture and as such we swim or sink together. We should consider the successes, triumphs, achievements, and indeed, failures of one as that of the collective and therefore work to support and strengthen one another. Our community is a diverse one: we have our churches, shops and other businesses, student and youth groups, etc. To me, this diversity serves to enrich our programming and discourse and that we should welcome and celebrate it. We should have equal regard and respect for each and every sub-community and, indeed, the units within them – for it is the collective workings of the groupings that make the general community what it is. Today, our community is stronger and more cohesive than ever before. But there is still work to do and we intend to give it a good go. We should be committed to building a sustainable and durable association where the members and prospective members see the organization and its activities as relevant and necessary for their well-being and progress. Our community has always been dynamic and as things evolve, we will need to evolve along. Finally, we should set ourselves the ultimate goal of transforming from a community that is often playing catch-up to one that others will work to catch up to. Kwaku Twumasi Agyei