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A Little History
One needn't go far to enjoy the richness of the African contribution to our society. Now a resident of Fort Bragg, Paajoe and his wife Rebecca own Ananse Village, a business, "dedicated to supporting small scale production by talented craftspeople." The store, located on North Highway One in Fort Bragg, south of the city center and the Noyo bridge, sells African arts and crafts, and a portion of their profits helps provide medical care and educational opportunities to the communities they work with. It is a vision, says Rebecca.
Ananse Village was inspired after Paajoe and I and our family traveled to Ghana in 2000. We met with numerous wonderful people; remarkably talented craftspeople that were living in fairly compromised conditions, some of which could have been helped with an infusion of money. School fees to be paid, medical expenses, a pair of shoes, a school notebook, tools, vitamins, a soccer ball, other situations which would seem trivial to us but made a huge difference to the people in Ghana. Because of my experiences in the retail sector and Paajoe's connections in West Africa, we figured that helping out by importing these products would make a difference in many people's lives (both in Fort Bragg and in West Africa).
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"There is something better somewhere"
~Akan, Ghana
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