Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our markets have been cancelled and our annual Raise 'n Graze Brunch has been postponed to Fall of 2021. Plans for a Market Day in October/November this year are in the works, God willing. Please check this space in the coming months for specifics.
Please Support Us!
Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals this year and improve conditions for our girls. Your generous donation will fund our mission.
Our Ministry
About us
Education Costs
About us
Although our first projects reach back to October 2012, Women InSpirit, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit
organization, has been incorporated since February 2015. This ministry started when founder, Maribeth Anderson,
on a trip to Ghana in 2012, met a single unmarried young woman with a young child and her desire to help educate countless single
Although our first projects reach back to October 2012, Women InSpirit, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit
organization, has been incorporated since February 2015. This ministry started when founder, Maribeth Anderson,
on a trip to Ghana in 2012, met a single unmarried young woman with a young child and her desire to help educate countless single teen mothers in the Upper East Region of Ghana. A desperate need was seen and a desire to fulfill it was born. Through that original seed, Women InSpirit’s mission has evolved. We are a board of 7 women, mostly educators, who believe and desire to make a bold productive impact on the lives of young women in abject poverty through education and small business prospects.
We are presently serving over 143 students ages 4 to 32.
Projects
Education Costs
About us
Since 2012 WIS:
- has educated 10 girls through junior high school
- has given countless microloans to set up a business
- has provided educational material and speakers for Dorcas’ NGO, Dakella Youth Mothers Organization, an organization that supports unwed teen mothers
- has established Legacy Academy, a 2-classroom elementary school for the 110
Since 2012 WIS:
- has educated 10 girls through junior high school
- has given countless microloans to set up a business
- has provided educational material and speakers for Dorcas’ NGO, Dakella Youth Mothers Organization, an organization that supports unwed teen mothers
- has established Legacy Academy, a 2-classroom elementary school for the 110 children of basket weavers in Sherigu, Ghana.
- has educated 5 young women at KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) in Kumasi, Ghana.
- has educated 7 girls, ages 3 through 32 in nursery/preschool (daughter of college student), elementary, junior high, high school and college in Bolgatanga, Ghana.
- has established 3 tailoring schools in which 40 young girls are learning to sew: In Accra slums of Agbogbloshie- A Time to Sew Tailoring School, Women InSpirit Tailoring School in Bolgatanga, and JayNii Tailoring School in Jamestown on the southern coast of Ghana. (* NOTE: JayNii was tragically demolished in May 2020 by contractors bought out by local government. JayNii will recover their property in 2023, so our plans for a new sewing school is on hold for now.)
- has fundraised yearly through an annual fund, annual fundraising event, grants, markets, private donations, memorials, and Speak 'n Sells (home shows, women’s organizations, farmer’s market)
Education Costs
Education Costs
Education Costs
- College-
$1900/yr or $158/mo
- High School-
$600/yr or $50/mo
- Tailoring School
$240/yr or $20/mo
*[fees include tuition, books, feeding, uniform, transportation]
Will you consider a donation to put a young girl through school?
JayNii Streetwise Foundation
Tragedy Hits JayNii Streetwise Foundation
Women InSpirit, Inc. spent 2019 preparing to open our 3rd sewing school. We were due to open soon in Jamestown, a fishing village off the coast of Ghana near Accra, but on May 19 I received a message from Jay, one of our partners there and owner of the property that houses our new school::: "Good morning. Today JayNii Streetwise is being demolished." My heart sank. "We had a call last night and were asked to meet with the metro chief director", Jay said. "...Chinese contractors want our place for residence so we have to move today. We are packing." I met Jay and Nii Quartey years ago when I first began this mission. While googling information about Accra I happened upon their web page and was intrigued with their story. I visited them at their complex the next time I traveled to Ghana, and today I am honored to call them friends.
JayNii Streetwise Foundation (jaynii.com) is a community charity safe house in Jamestown off the coast of Ghana near Accra. Founders Nii, a drummer, and his wife, Jay, a dancer (and an orphan herself), were born and raised in the densely populated poor, marginalized and deprived fishing town of Jamestown. The two met and fell in love while traveling with the Jaynii Cultural Troupe an African music and dance performing group the two founded in 1997. (read more) Given a chance to purchase a piece of beachfront property through sweat equity, they quickly cleared the massive heaps of trash on the land. Their plan was to build a bar and bring in customers to be entertained. Right away they realized that most children nearby wander aimlessly at the beachfronts and in the communities when they should be discovering their talents in school. Their focus changed, and Jay and Nii reached out to help by founding a charity. Today JayNii Streetwise Foundation educates and provides skills to needy children, incapacitated parents, drop-out youth and people who need skills in social enterprises to eventually support not only themselves but their family. They also organize programs to strengthen the minds and abilities of youngsters. On a daily basis, Jay and Nii help 50 children with their homework, feed and offer them sports, and drumming and dance lessons as their recreation. The Jaynii Cultural Troupe performs at countless functions, locally and nationally, to help to fund the care of these children.
Because our mission is limited to educating girls, Women InSpirit, Inc. has received and forwarded a few private donations to help JayNii feed these children, and meet the needs they have to continue schooling them during the pandemic. We are asking you to join us in helping Jay and Nii.
We are saddened we will not be opening our 3rd sewing school as we had hoped, but we are working with Jay to help support them in the next school year in a way that coincides with our mission. And, we will continue to look for another opportunity to educate the girls and women of this community and re-employ our sewing teacher. We ask your help for JayNii Streetwise as they mottle through this catastrophe with no place to go, as they fight for compensation from the local chief, and as they strive to keep the spirits and bellies of the children full by sending a donation.
- See button below to donate on gofundme page
- jaynii.com and donate thru their PayPal account
- OR (mail your check) Maribeth Anderson, 1800 Pecan Lake Drive, Richmond, TX 77406- Place "JayNii" on memo line.
- OR Venmo me at Mary Anderson @mary-anderson-81 and leave note "JayNii" in "What is it for?" space
Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity.