The cocktail fundraiser in support of Ghana’s all-girls robotics team’s upcoming trip to Mexico City to participate in the FIRST Global international robotics competition was held on Monday, 9th July at the Carbon Luxury Lounge.
The event was held in an effort to help the team represented by girls from Wesley Girls High School reach their goal of US$25,000 to cover competition registration fees, a robot kit required for all teams, travel from Ghana to Mexico as well as visa application fees, food, lodging, and uniforms that will be needed during the competition in August.
Many Wesley Girls alumni and women professionals and media personalities including Maame Adjei, actress/producer of An African City, Eli Kharis of GhOne Media and Judith Biel, General Manager of Yolo Restaurants (Urban Grill, Coco Lounge, Santoku) were in attendance as well as Mexico’s Ambassador to Ghana, Maria De Los Angeles Arriola Aguirre who served as the guests of honour
“It is a great honor for Mexico to host students from around the globe passionate about STEM for the FIRST Global Robotics Challenge. I am excited that an all-girls robotics team from Ghana will be representing at the competition again this year. Having these young girls participate in this contest is a step forward for women’s empowerment and I urge everyone to support these girls and give them the opportunity to make Ghana proud”, says Her Excellency Arriola, who has served at the Embassies of Mexico in Uruguay, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, and Morocco, before being appointed in Ghana.
The girl’s robotics team is being mentored and supported by STEMbees, a Ghana-based organisation that engages primary and secondary school girls in STEM activities including 3D Design and Printing, Electronics, Robotics, Coding, Robotics, LEGO Education, and STEM Career Awareness which was founded in 2014 by three women, Linda Ansong, Angela Korateng and Lady-Omega Hammond.
“We started STEMbees with a mission to empower young African girls in STEM and to introduce a world of new career opportunities to these girls. It warms my heart that tonight I see a lot of people that also believe in this mission. We raise a passionate appeal to Ghanaians to help the dreams of what we believe are some of Ghana’s smartest minds become reality. These girls are excited and are hard at work to make their country proud at this competition. Help us raise US$25,000 so that the team can represent their country on this international field” appealed Linda Ansong, co-founder of STEMbees during the program.
Team Ghana was the only all-female team from Africa at the 2017 FIRST Global competition held last year in Washington, D.C., USA and ranked 66 out of 163 teams from 157 nations.
This year, in August, Ghana will join other participants from over 150 nations in the challenge entitled “Energy Impact”. Each team will collaborate with two other nations to fuel power plants, activate renewable energy sources and fully construct and program a robot from a standardized kit of parts.
Donations to support the team are welcome and can be made via mobile money with code: *711*111# Campaign Code 4307 or visit https://www.gofundme.com/wghsfirstglobal
