When the second lady of Ghana, Hajia Samira Bawumia, visited Penn on March 12, she spoke to an energized room in Penn Nursing’s Fagin Hall about what’s needed to forge ahead on the road to progress on the African continent as a whole and in her home country of Ghana. West Africans, she explained, want to live in a peaceful, well-governed place that values inclusion and sustainable development, respect for human rights, and justice.
“The change we desire for the future can only be achieved if there is efficient leadership,” she said. “An Africa of free citizens, prosperous and with expanded horizons, can only happen if Africans are ready to work for change, and if the 51 percent of its citizens who are women have equal opportunities to develop their capabilities, not only to be mothers, but entrepreneurs, professionals, and the teachers we have always been.”
She noted that Ghana is at the forefront of such change, with projects like a Parliament-backed public trust set up to facilitate improvements in education infrastructure and a national health insurance system created to make health-care options more accessible.
“Ghana is working hard to change its story…but it requires a sustained effort and a generation of leaders to carry on the work,” she said. “Everyone has a part to play.”
Penn Nursing, along with the Penn Office of Government & Community Affairs, U.S.-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, and Philadelphia City Council, facilitated Bawumia’s visit. Glenn Bryan, OCGA’s assistant vice president, offered opening remarks, as did Florence Torson-Hart of the Chamber of Commerce.
