An 18-year-old high school senior from the Bronx is balancing college applications and exams with something far less ordinary: running an international nonprofit that pays for children in Ghana to attend school.
Max Owobu founded the Yenko Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 organization, after spending summers in Ghana, the country where his Nigerian father was raised. He began those visits at age 15, and what he saw there shaped the course of his teenage years.
"I was seeing kids my age working, just selling things on the street or in shops, working along with the family to try and get by rather than going to school to get an education so they could better their lives for the future," Owobu told Good News Network.
Not long after those summers, Owobu launched the foundation and used money he had saved from his weekly allowance to cover school costs for a child in Ghana named Matthew.
The Yenko Foundation raises funds to support children through grades K-5, covering meals at school, tuition, and uniforms. In the United States, public schools generally provide most of these necessities at no cost, but in Ghana a quality education is most often obtained through private schools that charge tuition.
In a sprawling and chaotic city such as Accra, Ghana's capital, that system can also attract swindlers who collect hundreds of dollars from parents while delivering little more than strict daycare. Owobu and young Matthew nearly became victims of such a scheme.
A friend in the country told Owobu about a school called Calvary Methodist, and a single visit convinced him that it was where he wanted to focus his efforts.
"The kids were just so joyous, so enthusiastic, Just so joyful to be going to school."
To date, donations to the foundation have funded the K-5 education of 10 children. A contribution of $1,000 covers a full year for one child, including tuition, school uniforms, transportation to and from school, meals at school, and supplies.
Owobu said his near-term goal is to support 10 to 15 children through primary school, and then to broaden the foundation's reach to assist hospitals, orphanages, and, in his words, "anyone who needs help in Ghana," he told Good News Network.
It is an ambitious vision, but Owobu, at just 18, has both the drive and the time to pursue it.