Holy Name of Mary Academy was established in 2010 by Father Ralph to provide educational opportunities for children in the poverty-stricken rural villages of Ghana. The mission of Holy Name of Mary Academy is to provide an opportunity for quality education in Ghana’s rural villages incorporating Catholic values and principles along with integrity, hard work, and perseverance giving them a start to productive and fruitful lives.
Father Ralph’s biography
Hello everyone, my name is Fr. Ralph Mensah from Ghana, in the western part of Africa. I come from a
poor rural village called Beyin in the Jomoro District, also in the western region. My parents are Mr &
Mrs. Joseph Mensah. My dad is deceased and my mom is still alive. I am a Catholic priest and founder
of Holy Name of Mary Academy, Beyin, Ghana. I would like to share with you the reason why I
established the school.
Having been ordained into the Catholic priesthood and been awarded a scholarship to specialize in
Cannon Law in Roman, I had a deep reflection on the difference education has made in my life as an
individual. My dad was an educator and so he invested in that by making sure that all my siblings went
to school. Education has made me what and who I am today.
Given the poverty in the remote villages in Ghana, villagers did not place a value on education preferring
to have their children learn skills such as farming and fishing. Because of this, I made it my mission to
bring awareness to the parents of the importance of education in providing opportunities for their
children’s futures. The educational system in the remote villages is very inadequate and does not
provide the basic tools needed to successfully pass the entrance exams for high school. Without these
basics it is very hard to break the cycle of poverty. In establishing the Academy, it is my desire to allow
students to learn in a safe, clean environment which will enhance their future opportunities and create a
desire to look beyond the poverty that surrounds them.
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