For the Welfare of Our People, Part 2
by Sylvia McMillan Finlayson
Photographs by Scot Facer Proctor

Editors’ Note:  See all the articles on Ghana “under one roof” here. 

click photos to enlarge

LDS Employment Resource Center

Hike up a set of nondescript stairs in Accra and at the top, hanging on the wall, are class schedules and long lists of potential students signed up for the next available session or seminar. Hope is what lays at the top of these stairs, however mundane the setting. Turn to the right and enter the LDS Employment Resource Management Center, established ten years ago by the Church, especially to help both members and others find jobs, pinpoint resources, and set goals for themselves. Walk into a classroom here and a group of five Ghanaians are intently watching a video that teaches the skills needed for job hunting. This is needed information that has not been readily available to them anywhere else.

Imagine how difficult it is to seek work day after day in an area where there are few jobs.  It is hard physically as well as emotionally.  Even skilled people become discouraged and begin to question their worth and capabilities.

The Center offers career workshops, resume preparation, and job interview skills through mock conversations which in turn help participants with their confidence levels and self-esteem.  Introductory computer training courses are available, as well as other skill-related subjects.  Yet, perhaps most important, the Center offers confidence to continue on in pursuit of work and a more secure life.

One woman, a little unsure of herself since she had never had a job before, sat in a room where many waited to be interviewed for a job.  The employer came to the door and asked if anyone had a resume, because he would take her first.  She waved her white sheet in the air, the only one in the room so prepared, and she got the job.

James Yeri of the Ola University Ward, Cape Coast Ghana is also one who has benefited from services at the Center. He said, "We were taught how to search for jobs, set goals, discover the resources, and how to interact with the resources.  I developed the confidence to attend interviews and have been able to put together a competitive resume and letter of application.

“With the knowledge acquired, I have been able to secure a position with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Materials Management Department.  I attribute this success to the excellent training I received at the ERC and I believe strongly that I will be able to set even higher goals and I move to greater heights.”

The Technical Center

To the left at the top of those stairs is the Technical Center. In a cramped classroom of 20 students, each at his or her own computer, the first thing that catches the eye in bold letters written across the whiteboard is "I Know that My Redeemer Lives.”  Today the students are learning about how to create different fonts, colors and sizes on their computers.

On their screens they have carefully copied in several bright colors, Child of God. The students in this class are not necessarily members of the Church. In fact, the majority may not be, but the teaching goes beyond keyboarding skills.  This is a place to be empowered not only with new skills, but deeper knowledge about oneself. 

A few years ago a company called ACS, which specializes in data entry, established offices in Accra and the Church was invited to help train people with computer skills to work at this company.  Three years later, nearly 1800 people are employed by ACS.  It has been the primary focus of the Employment Resource Management Center to prepare members and non-members alike for these jobs.  As the company is reaching its capacity for employees, the center is turning its attention to other areas and trying to balance its activities to meet a growing population of church members.

Part of what the Center offers is confidence to continue on in pursuit of work and a more secure life. Grace Ann Amposem of the Tantra Hills Ward in the  Accra Lartebiokorshie Stake said, "In my search for a job, and also my desire to serve the Lord, I was called as a volunteer at the Employment Resource Center in Accra on 15 January 2003.

“Although I had been a participant in the Career Workshop, my being at the Center regularly added more meaning to the training I previously received.

“After eight months of service, I applied for a certain job opening advertised at the Center's notice board. The knowledge acquired at the ERC gave me the confidence to go through the interview and I succeeded in securing the job.  I have now started the new job, and the many skills acquired at the Center are helping me to be successful."

Typically, students come to the center through a priesthood referral, either through a ward welfare specialist or their bishop. Historically, the Resource Center has three main services it seeks to provide: 1) Job skills (such as the computer training courses), 2) Placement - finding people work and 3) Creating jobs.

Although the Center was established for members, they have not turned non-members away.  Word has spread fast that training is available for those wanting to improve their circumstances and enhance their opportunities.  There is a great thirst among the Ghanaians for education and the chance to improve their lot in life.  Some come from great distances seeking help.

Kouakou Marie Florence, an LDS Investigator from the Ivory Coast reports, "I am pleased to inform you that your collaboration helped me to find a job as a bilingual secretary.  I was looking for a job since October 2002, when one of my friends informed me about the Employment Resource Center, which assists people to get jobs.

“I began attending the Center regularly.  Bishop Sahy, the Center manager always came to me with job offers, and through the career workshop I learned how to apply for a job, look for a job, and how to behave during an interview.

“On 7 July 2003 I had a job offer from a company, Tianshi Health IND and ENT.

“I thank God; I thank the staff at the ERC; and I also thank the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which receives everybody.....  [I am not baptized yet....but I am taking the baptismal lessons."

Lengthening the Stride

The new plan these days is to move out to serve the wards and stakes outside Accra.  The Church is providing training and written materials to help build the skills of the ward welfare specialist, bishops, and Relief Society presidents.

Of their mission Ike says, "The key issue for our work here with the priesthood is to help local leaders understand the needs and the processes involved in strengthening the self-reliance of individuals and families--their ability and will to gain needed vocational skills and put them to work in ways that lead to secure, productive lives. 

“It is not an easy set of tasks, but our efforts to organize welfare committees, teach priesthood quorums and Relief Societies the "how to’s" of encouraging and showing people to be productive is critical.  Demonstrating activities that lead to productivity, will, over time, strengthen those capacities."

In addition, the center has added another task to its list: help students to pass the junior high and high school exit exams, a critical benchmark for a person to progress academically, financially and professionally in Ghana. No pass the test, no future. The Center has had phenomenal success in tutoring students for the final exams, and wards and branches from all over Ghana are asking them to expand this program into their areas.

The center has two full-time paid employees.  Atobora Peter Brown, a former bank manager, currently is the manager of the Center.  He also serves as bishop in the Lartiebiokorshie Ward in Accra.  His assistant is Felicia Ondo-Kessen, a university graduate and recently returned missionary to Nigeria.  Everyone else works on a voluntary basis.  Last year they had over 3,000 placements: a stunning success for any agency, let alone for one facing the myriad challenges in the Ghana economy.

The Challenge Ahead

The Church teaches that as we are blessed, it is our responsibility to bless others.  Giving back to the community is just a part of the philosophy here, taught and expected of every student.  Ike notes that one of the very real problems facing Ghana is 'brain drain.'  The best and the brightest get their educations and move out of the country to greener pastures or more lucrative careers.  It is a common problem for developing countries.  What young doctor would want to stay in a country as difficult to negotiate as Ghana, when he could move to London and establish a lucrative practice? 

Employment needs throughout the world have become more critical than ever before. The Resource Center is a place where job opportunities and employment needs are brought together. This center not only serves to help the family bread-winner but the youth as well. The church welfare program is helping members to feel more responsibility for each other and to gain an ongoing commitment to service in God's kingdom.

Today we are an international church and the problems of poverty are complex and varied.  Yet, guided by correct principles, solutions can be found to the challenges that lie ahead.  The goal is to give aid and assistance in helping individuals become self-reliant, not dependent.  In a conference talk in 1986, then Bishop Glenn Pace said, "Poverty is a relative term. It means something much different in one country than in another. There is no common solution or program for every situation. However, principles are universal. We cannot bring everyone to the same economic level. To do so would violate principles and foster dependence rather than independence. People living in each country have the primary responsibility for solving their own problems." 

The West African Saints have accepted that responsibility and are moving forward with faith and a brightness of hope.  Led by Priesthood leaders they are working together "to preserve … a posterity in the earth, and to save … lives by a great deliverance” (Gen. 45:7).

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Church Update Archive

Part One