Lamisi Music Foundation is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to empowering and advocating for the rights of the girl child in Ghana. The foundation is raising an effort to ensure that the girl child has access to education and music opportunities for a brighter future.
The NGO was founded by Lamisi Akuka, a singer songwriter and performer from Zebilla, a town in the Bawku West District of Upper East region of Ghana. She is very notable for being the first female from her ethnic tribe to pursue music on national and international stages.
As far as the organisation is concerned, the songstress’ motivation has surrounded “fighting for the girl child” and their rights in the West African country. The foundation wants to rekindle the use of performing arts (music & dance) to support the development and empowerment of the girl child in northern Ghana.
Lamisi’s first hand experiences growing up as a girl child, and that of her peers, shaped her interest in empowering female youngsters.
“I was raised with other girls who were dropping out of school at the age of 12 in order to get married and have children. Despite all of these, I was fortunate to have uneducated parents who still believed in the power and value of the importance of formal education,” said Lamisi to TheAfricanDream.net.
In many parts of northern Ghana, child marriages and abuses are widespread, unfortunately. Most girls marry against their will and become pregnant before they are physically, emotionally, and psychologically ready for motherhood.
Lamisi considers herself part of the “lucky ones” as she climbed up her educational and career ladder. In the process, she developed a passion to see the girl-child rise to the top, equally as the boy-child. She’s concerned with helping them reach higher to their goals like the boy-children, in her native region.
Now, she serves as a role model and a benefactor to many of these girls by providing material resources and sharing her experience to inspire and motivate them.
Lamisi started her singing career as the lead singer for the Patch Bay Band, performing throughout Ghana. She was inspired to make music after listening to Miriam Makeba, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Angelique Kidjo, among others. Lamisi has collaborated with artists such as Rocky Dawuni, Stonebwoy, Sarkodie, Samini, Amandzeba, Atongo Zimba, Becca, Afro Moses, Patoranking, and Lady May.
Lamisi released “Tanka Fanka”, her debut single as a solo act. She describes her music as “Afro-fusion pop”. She has also released the singles “Mr Strawberry” and “Kuul Runnings”. She is currently performing ahead of the album release of her neo-traditional quartet comprising of: Wanlov the Kubolor, Tombotch Nii Lantey, and Anthony Awine.
She was given the moniker “Northern (Ghana) music goddess,” and imagines a future where every girl-child with interest in music can shape her own narrative without being forced into a premature marriage.
Lamisi “felt a fire of change” burning in her after coming across an inspirational saying of James Kwegyir Aggrey, a Ghanaian transatlantic intellectual, educator, and Christian minister. “His quote inspire a change in me,” she said to TheAfricanDream.net.
“He said ‘the surest way to keep people down is to educate the men and neglect the women. If you educate a man you simply educate an individual but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation.’ Coupled with the experiences I had growing up, I knew I had to do something.”
Her Foundation continues to engage with local communities in Northern region, Ghana to raise awareness about gender equality, child marriage, and female empowerment. She’s also open to partnering with other organisations to amplify their impact and reach more girls in need.
Source: TheAfricanDream.net
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
