Brian Digre, professor of history, was installed as the development chief for the Sokode Traditional Area during a 2004 Winter Term course in the West African nation of Ghana. Students in the course also made donations to the local schools in Sokode. Details...
Digre, who has traveled to Ghana 10 times, will work with the people of Sokode, in the Volta region in eastern Ghana, to assist and advise them on their community’s development. “While Ghana has a democratically elected government today, the traditional leaders are still highly respected by their communities,” Digre said. He felt greatly honored to be chosen for the new position of development chief and given the title: Togbe Kwaku Dake, Ngoryifia of Sokode.
Digre will be on sabbatical in fall 2004 and will serve as a senior research fellow at the Center for Democratic Development in Accra, Ghana’s capital. There he will assist the Center with their work leading up to Ghana’s presidential elections in December, but he also is looking forward to spending some time in Sokode.
Twenty-seven Elon students traveled to Ghana with Digre and Carol Magee, assistant professor of art, during Winter Term. Travel difficulties on the way to Ghana gave the Elon students an opportunity to make a difference for Sokode’s schoolchildren. The group’s British Airways flight was delayed by heightened security because of terrorist concerns. Due to the delay of their baggage, each member of the Elon party received approximately $50 in compensation from the airline.
The students decided to make a generous donation from their compensation money for Sokode’s schools. The students also brought school supplies, some purchased with funds from Rotaract, a campus club associated with the Burlington-Alamance Rotary Club. “I thought it was great that the students recognized both the need and their opportunity to help,” Digre said.