Jamaican-born, Toronto resident, Kwasi Kafele recently became the first non-Krobo to be named Chief of the Traditional Area. (ManyaKrobo is situated in Ghana,
By michelle-lee The Afro News Ontario
Jamaican-born, Toronto resident, Kwasi Kafele recently became the first non-Krobo to be named Chief of the Traditional Area. (ManyaKrobo is situated in Ghana, east of the capital Accra). He has been given the stool name Nene Kwesi Detse 1.
Mr. Kafele is well known as an advocate and community worker among Toronto’s youth. He lectures extensively in Canada, West Africa and elsewhere on issues of equity and access, youth leadership development and organizational change. He has researched and written on racism and mental health, youth identity and West African spirituality. He is the Director of Health Equity at CAMH (Centre of Addiction and Mental Health). For many years Mr. Kafele has worked with youth in Toronto to develop leadership, self-esteem, and identity. He has organised and facilitated African-centered rites of passage initiatives for young people, many of whom are now volunteering and working with numerous community based agencies addressing issues like youth violence and capacity building.
Manya-Krobo is a Traditional Area of close to 500,000 people, half of which are youth between the ages of 16 and 25 years, with a high percentage of HIV/AIDS, poverty, poor education, and school dropouts. There are only five high schools in the Traditional Area. Manya Krobo has the highest prevalence rate of HIV in Ghana. As Chief, Mr. Kafele can now negotiate with governments, non-government organizations (NGOs), corporations, agencies, churches and non-profit groups for assistance that will hopefully positively impact the lives of the young people in the Traditional Area.
The Afro News originally published the above article in January 2010. We have recently been advised by Mr. Kafele that some details of our original article were incorrect. We are therefore republishing the original article to include new information/corrections as supplied by Mr. Kafele.
