German philanthropist excels as development queen in V/R
In 2000, the people of the Alavanyo Traditional Area crowned a German citizen, Ms Cornelia von Wulfing, an honorary queen of the traditional area.
Later in 2006, she was made the Paramount Queen of SASADU, an acronym derived from Sovie, Alavanyo, Saviefe and Akrofu traditional areas in the Volta Region.
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She was enthroned under the honorary stool name Mamaga Ngoyinyonufia Akosua I, interpreted as the development queen mother of SASADU.
Activities in Ghana
The traditional roles bestowed on her made her relocate to Ghana permanently in 2008.
In the past 19 years, Ms Wulfing has been involved in the execution of a number of development projects in Ghana, concentrating in the areas of education, agriculture, music, water supply, health, photography, and Kente production in the Volta Region, especially in SASADU, and other parts of the country.
She sponsored these projects in parts of the country under the Mamaga Akosua Foundation supported with slogans such as “Charity Medal Ghana” and “From Ghanaians for Ghanaians”.
Education sector
Some of the projects are school buildings for the Alavanyo Kpeme Secondary Technical School, kindergarten blocks for Hohoe, Sovie, Alavanyo-Abehenase and Saviefe, a girls hostel at Alavanyo and the provision of a school bus for the Alavanyo Kpeme Secondary Technical School.
She has also sponsored a sewing project for women in Hohoe and Alavanyo and implemented a project for the people of Alavanyo and Nkonya through a school feeding programme for a school each, as well as school feeding programme at Saviefe, and provided support for 80 pre-school children at Alavanyo.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Ms Wulfing said she had also provided 1,000 school uniforms at Akrofu, 10 computers and printers for the Philip Akpo Junior High School in Ho, 100 mattresses for pupils at Alavanyo and sponsorship for 100 needy children at Alavanyo.
Agriculture and Health
In the agriculture sector, she had supported rice, cassava and pineapple production at Alavanyo and a grass-cutter farming at Alavanyo-Dzogbedze, in addition to the installation of seven mobile pumps for irrigation for better yields in the dry season in seven large communities at Alavanyo.
On health, she has presented medical equipment for a new clinic at Nkonya under the Alavanyo-Nkonya peace project and arranged for 25,000 euros for a clinic at Dodi-Papase and facilitated the visit of German doctors from the Tropen-Institut to the facility to treat 50 patients.
Others received charity for the treatment of heart diseases, tumour operations, hernia operations, donations of 1,000 spectacles for Alavanyo communities, orthopaedic therapy for polio patients and the provision of annual health insurance cards for 100 people.
Ms Wulfing sponsored a project to conduct analysis of water in Alavanyo, from all sources such as rivers, springs and pump systems which were tested by German specialists to check contamination.
She has also provided musical equipment for a musical project at Alavanyo.
She paid for equipment such as cameras, filters and lenses to help young people train as photographers and supported street children, created employment avenues for the handicapped and a handicraft project in Accra.
Ms Wulfing announced that a project dubbed Building bridges Ghana designed to connect the youth of different ethnic groups through arts, literacy and music would take off nationwide in July this year.
Ms Wulfing’s delivery and facilitation of more than 52 projects from 1998 to 2019 also include attracting some tourists to the country and the translation of Ewe history into German Language.
According to her, the role of a queen mother in the African context was critical in promoting and developing social and economic change which could build bridges across the different cultural settings in the world, hence her development of goodwill between Europe, Ghana and Germany, her native land.