OAKLAND, USA -- Links Inc., the Oakland African-American civic group helping the poor in Ghana, is making room in its 40-foot Port of Oakland container to be sealed Saturday so it can be shipped to West Africa.
On Wednesday, Paramount Chief Nana Kobina Nketsia V of Sekondi-Takoradi and Philip Nkrumah, mayor of Sekondi-Takoradi, met with Ruth B. Love, an organizer of the Links drive.
"They are going to get two ambulances," said Love, a former Oakland school superintendent. "One for Sekondi-Takoradi, and one for the village in Ghana we have adopted."
Love said the two donated ambulances are coming from Hayward.
On Tuesday, the visitors were greeted at Oakland City Hall by City Councilmember Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary), who praised Links for its efforts
"What you take for granted, we need," said Nketsia. "But more important than the material goods being provided to the poor is the spirit of giving. This is creating a special bond between our two peoples. The fact that much of (this) comes from African Americans creates a special bond."
Church members at Downs Memorial United Methodist in Oakland, one of the city's largest African-American churches, have joined the Links' campaign, donating household goods, books, medical supplies and other items during the past several months.
Nketsia said there are strong historical links between black Americans and his people. Many black slaves came from Ghana's gold coast, he said. And during Ghana's fight for independence, Nketsia's uncle was one of the first persons arrested. "He was like Mandela to us," he said, referring to former South African President Nelson Mandela.
"I also remember seeing Du- Bois who lived in Ghana," he added, referring to the late black scholar W.E.B. DuBois, a founder of what would became the NAACP and the first black American to earn a doctorate degree at Harvard University.
DuBois had urged educated blacks, the so-called talented 10th, to help the masses.
As a young man, Nketsia remembers having a poster of African-American radical Angela Davis in his room.
When he learned about Oakland's Black Panther Party and its co-founder Huey Newton, he wore a black glove and leather jacket and often gave the black power, clenched-fist salute.
Today, African-American entertainers Stevie Wonder and Issac Hayes have homes in Ghana.
The widow of reggae icon Bob Marley has built a recording studio in the country.
This week, the visitors visited the Port of Oakland and Soul Beat TV in East Oakland, and enjoyed "soul food" at T.J.'s Gingerbread House restaurant in West Oakland.
"Oakland is a very calm city and the people here are nice and very open," Nketsia said. "I also like the blend of hues, the diversity." Crime is practically nonexistent in Ghana, Nketsia said, because "the family is so strong, and I am not just talking about the nuclear family, but the people, the real family ... there is a bond that holds us together."
