Ghanaian actor John Dumelo has disclosed that he will be
financing the construction of a four-unit classroom block for a school
in Sierra Leone.
According to him, the US$30,000 self financed project will start 'as soon as possible' and he hopes to complete it 'in the next 18 months.'
The initiative, John said, is part of his John Dumelo Foundation's quest to give back to society. The construction, he said, would be preceded by a cash and school items - exercise books, pencils and erasers - donation to the school on Wednesday.
The fine actor said his charity work 'involves going to communities, donating medical equipments to schools in deprived villages. We go to the community and we identify some of the problems that the community has...we identify them and we provide them.'
The foundation, which was launched some six years ago, has embarked on several charity projects including the ongoing construction of a four-unit classroom block for the Bayire Basic Primary School in Bayire in the Upper West region.
That project started two years ago and according to him, it is near completion.
In 2012, the award winning actor presented an undisclosed amount of money to the Students Financial Aid Office of the University of Ghana, Legon. The amount was aimed at giving scholarship to two students who are brilliant but lack the financial backing to complete their course at the university.
John Dumelo disclosed after the donation in 2012 that, 'We are paying for two university students; one Medical student and one Theatre Arts student. We are sponsoring both of them to undergo the whole university education.'
In a related development, the actor disclosed to Myjoyonline.com that apart from the donation and construction of the school, five Sierra Leoneans will receive full scholarships to study in his film school - John Dumelo Film Academy.
'We are offering five spots for people to come and learn film making in my film school in Ghana. So we are giving five free scholarships because already we give scholarships in Ghana so we are giving scholarships to Sierra Leoneans,' he explained.
John Dumelo is using the visit to shoot episodes of his tourism reality show dubbed, The Jmelo Show.
The actor has so far visited Mountain Bintumani, Tacugama Chip Santuary and some beaches in Sierra Leone. He hopes to also feature tourism sites of Liberia, Senegal and other parts of Africa.
According to him, the reality show will see him, for example, 'moving around Ghana from village to village talking about tourism, doing my foundation work and moving from tourist site to tourist site and also learning the cultures of different people.'
'It's just not me; we have other actors and actresses joining me at a point in time so it just gives us a different side of actors and actresses that people might not know and currently I am in Sierra Leone to shoot the Sierra Leone version but I will come back to Ghana and continue with the Ghanaian version.
'We will also have people from London, Canada and Nigeria joining us in the reality show just to broaden the horizon. So we are just moving around Ghana, touring Ghana and showing the other side of Ghana people might not know,' he added.
John Dumelo is also currently starring in a movie, The Queen being shot in Sierra Leone, alongside Big Brother Africa StarGame star, Zainab and Ghanaian actor James Gardner.
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