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testimonial statements
"The school is clearly a labor
of love for them, for you, and most impressively for the community."
Robert H. Arbuckle
Cultural Affairs Officer
U.S. Embassy
Accra, Ghana
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Hi Robert,
I just opened your update letter from KGSF, and I'm just,
I'm just stunned.
My hat is off to you, what you've done is just incredible!
Wow! - you really made a dream come true and realized a vision.
That the school can now be self-sufficient is just so inspiring.
I very much respect everything you've done and my husband
Andy and I
have been very happy to be a part of - a very teeny part
- contributing
to the school over all these years. Congratulations, it's
really outstanding!
It's hard to put into words what a great thing you've done,
and everyone
has done. So, thank you for all your fantastic work. What
an amazing piece of mail to get!
Take care,
Nan Satter
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Robert Levin!
I feel compelled to tell you, because I just got that KGSF
letter
yesterday, that I am just so moved and touched at the fact
that the school is thriving on its own.
Your letter was beautifully written; it was very touching
and very
emotional. Thanks for letting Jan and me be a part of that.
Congratulations! Congratulations! Mazel Tov darling!
I'm really so proud of you. It's so wild reading about that
and seeing
19 years, and remembering you were like a little punk 28
year old starting that. It's very, very cool Robert, I'm
sure you feel great about it. Congratulations!
Thanks for such a beautiful letter and for giving us an update
on the school.
Take it easy,
Debbie Corwin
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Dear Robert,
I am so impressed by you - and what you have accomplished.
You are a very special person!
I have told so many people about the school and your family's
involvement. The good you all have done is going to go on
for generations and increase exponentially.
My love to all of you,
Lucille Harris
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Dear Robert,
An "Ode to Joy" for
your great achievement! Tami and I are proud to have contributed
to KGSF in however miniscule a way. You have shown how one
person can make a difference by leading and inspiring others
through concrete and particular action. It is no small difference
because I expect that each of Kopeia's graduates and participants
carries a piece of your "education" with them potentially
to be planted elsewhere with a new perspective. It is a culture,
modeled in the Ghanaian music we love.
Lead Forth!
We will follow and hopefully become better leaders for it.
Love to you and your family.
- John and Tami
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Hi Robert -
What a beautiful letter to
receive and what a beautiful project from beginning to fruition.
Heartiest cheers to you and to the community, with strong
wishes that they will honor you and Godwin by continuing
to build on this success into the future.
This is the only note of hope I have had in the past years,
where all I cherished in the way of ideals has been broken
by savage geopolitical strategies, misgovernment, corruption
and general failure of the human heart in the face of the
onslaught of consumer values. Your efforts have been a bright
light. Carry on.
Love,
JILL McMANUS
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Robert, what a fantastic achievement! Chris
and I are both so proud of you, all the folks at KGSF, and
of course the good people of Kopeyia for all of this great
work.
Congratulations!!
Love,
Jeremy Beck, Composer
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Hi Robert,
Your note about KGSF made me cry with joy, profound
respect, awe and a bit of regret in that I did not do more.
You are a source of light in this crazy world.
All the best,
Jayne Young
========================
Dear Robert,
Thanks for your great letter which I received yesterday.
How wonderful that Kopeyia can support and maintain the school
by itself.
I also want to thank you for
your unselfish labor on their behalf. I was very impressed
by you and so happy to contribute ever since I heard you
speak at the Montclair Adult School meeting many years ago.
You surely are blessed for all the good work you have done.
My best wishes to you,
Marge Coeyman
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Hi Robert,
How remarkable to receive a
letter from a non-profit organization announcing a long-term
success-- not even a solicitation for the next long-term
success! You are to be not only congratulated, but in general
admired for the marvelous and important work you have accomplished,
and for seeing it through to such a happy conclusion.
Stay
in touch, and I hope to see you soon. And again, bravissimo!
-Joe Church
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Thanks so much for the announcement and
letter, so very pleased to hear of the wonderful progress
in Kopeyia. Reading about the achievements that have come
from KGSF is so inspiring. It's hard to imagine a more rewarding
accomplishment than bringing a self-supporting school into
existence in a place like Kopeyia, where its presence has
such high potential for positive change and opportunities.
So my group, Abusua is happy to have contributed in its small
part and you have our congratulations.
Cale Koester
Academic Computing Specialist
2+2 Program, College of Education
Tennessee Tech University
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Dear Robert,
I sent your final letter to many people. Your accomplishment
takes my breath away. To build a school in rural Ghana and
have it become successful is astonishing. To have this institution
become self sustaining is a miracle! How did you get so wise
in the way of non-profit? Many of the professional organizations
can not hold a candle to your accomplishment. I hope you
will write up the story of Kopeyia Ghana school so the world
will learn about it.
I believe there is a Jewish saying about "to save one
life it is as if you saved the entire world." You have
saved an entire village and changed enumerable lives. Hurray!
Sincerely,
Brenda Berger
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Dear Mr. Levin,
First of all, thank you for your generosity by visiting us,
the Seventh Grade Community. We learned so much more about
the value of African music in the Ewe tribe. We clap for you!
And we truly appreciate the teaching you brought to the classes
as well as to the Kopeyia village. Without your help, students
wouldn't even have a chance for the opportunity of an education.
Yesterday, everyone watched the video taped
during 1988-1994 and observed the improvement in the newly
built school over time. All because of your efforts and the
villagers' hard work, we are now more eager than ever as a
7th grade, to push ourselves in raising materials to benefit
Kopeyia. Thank you again for everything, and wish you good
luck on your future excursions to Ghana and with hopes for
success in this program,
Sincerely,
The Dwight-Englewood Seventh Grade, Class
of 2008
Erica Zendell, Class Senator
PS - Thanks, Robert, the students really
enjoyed your visit!
========================
Dear Robert:
Just a quick note on a hectic afternoon to let you know that
U.S. Consul Michael Schimmel and I spent the day on Friday
out at Kopeyia, seeing both the Kopeyia-Bloomfield school
and the Dagbe center, and meeting as well with the District
Chief Executive and the area's Paramount Chief. It was
an impressive visit.
Anthony Douglass (KGSF emissary volunteer)
stopped in this morning, unfortunately while I was out of
the office; it was really a pleasure to meet both him and
Avram (KGSF emissary volunteer) out at the school. The
school is clearly a labor of love for them, for you, and most
impressively for the community.
Robert H. Arbuckle
Cultural Affairs Officer
U.S. Embassy
Accra, Ghana
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I was the one who introduced Robert Levin to Godwin Agbeli;
the Kopeyia-Bloomfield School grew from the relationship between
Levin and
Agbeli...
In my view, the villagers of Kopeyia exemplify
grassroots, bootstrap development. With encouragement from
Americans, persons in this village have created a cultural
tourism infrastructure (Dagbe Center) and an admirable public
school.
David Locke, Chairman of the Department
of Music,
Tufts University
Faculty Advisor to the Tufts-in-Ghana Program
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During my service as United States Ambassador to Ghana from
1989 to 1992, my wife and I had occasion to visit Kopeyia
at the invitation of Robert Levin. During a 1991 visit, I
laid the cornerstone for one of the school buildings. We were
greatly impressed with the spirit of Kopeyia village and the
commitment of both the adults and children to what was then
a quite new school.
We were especially struck by the success
of Mr. Levin and others at a grassroots, non-governmental
level of linking the Kopeyia school to American school children,
adults, and organizations especially in the New Jersey, New
York, and Connecticut area. Since our departure from Ghana
almost eight years ago, the school has continued to prosper
with strong support from the Kopeyia Ghana School Fund in
the United States and from the village of Kopeyia.
Raymond C. Ewing
former United States Ambassador to Ghana
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My name is Steven Finkelstein and I am a teacher at the Wheatley
School, a high school consistently rated as one of the top
high schools in the
country.
Presently our students, staff, administration,
Board of Education,
and Parent Teacher Association are involved in a project with
the Kopeyia Ghana School Fund in which 200 old bicycles collected
from the community will be shipped to Kopeyia with the help
of K-Mart and the collaboration of Newsday, the region's most
widely distributed newspaper. In conjunction with the Institute
for Transportation Development Policy's"Afri-Bike"
program (funded in part by the World Bank), I will volunteer
for two weeks this July and go to Kopeyia with other volunteers
to deliver the bicycles and to assist in a highly organized
training session which will be attended by many, including
recent graduates of the Kopeyia School.
The goal of my trip will be to train these
individuals in running a bicycle repair business in Kopeyia.
Bicycles represent an environmentally and economically appropriate
form of transportation technology for our friends in Kopeyia,
most of whom will never have the luxury of owning an automobile.
Bicycles can be used to get to and from school, as a means
for mothers to get to the market or collect fuel wood, for
health workers to be more effective, and so on. In addition,
peripheral businesses, ranging from the weaving of bicycle
baskets to the construction of heavy duty human powered work
vehicles and machines, can ultimately be developed and will
be encouraged through the middle school's vocational education
program.
This project promises Kopeyia increased
mobility and growth. Only in a place like Kopeyia is there
a chance of success for such a program in Ghana. This is because
of the momentum and motivation created by the Kopeyia School.
Clearly this is no ordinary school.
Yours in education,
Steven Finkelstein
The Wheatley School
Old Westbury, NY
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As someone who has contributed financial support for the Kopeyia
Ghana School Fund, I am honored to see these students do so
well and be offered the opportunity for further improvement
at a U.S. university.
Edgar Romney Secretary Treasurer of the
Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!)
and Manager-Secretary of Local 23-25, the largest affiliate
of UNITE
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Kofie Agbeli has gained a rare opportunity against enormous
odds by his
own incredible diligence and hard work as a student. The program
that provided his education to this point has been supported
by grassroots efforts in his community and in the U.S. for
over a decade. As a development professional who has worked
in the field for almost two decades, I know the ability for
a student to return and provide that rare commodity of leadership
in a rural area is one of the most important success stories
we have.
Dr. Seth Berkley, President
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
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I have supported the Kopeyia Ghana School Fund precisely because
of its unerring commitment to Kopeyia itself. They are not
in the business of helping people escape the poverty of Ghana,
they are in the business of helping Ghanaians help other Ghanaians.
Doug Berman
Producer of National Public Radio's "Car Talk"
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Hi Bob,
Thank you so much for your message and the care you have demonstrated
towards the school and its people. You are really a wonderful
man, a man who understands what love really means. The people
of Ghana will ever be grateful to you.
Charles Baah, of the Ghana Foreign Ministry
Former Consul General of the Ghana Mission to the United Nations
New York, NY
========================
While I have never visited the Kopeyia school, I do know about
it's excellent reputation by fame. I lived in that area of
Ghana and taught at a nearby school, St. Paul's, just before
the Kopeyia school was inaugurated. From the contacts with
people which I have maintained over the years I hear nothing
but good things about Kopeyia.
The success it has had with its graduation
rates is truly remarkable. I know that it could not have achieved
this success without very strong local support. The truth
is that the opportunity to create successful businesses that
will employ the local population and compensate these employees
very well is there, and I believe the Kopeyia school is on
the right track towards making this a reality.
Jonathan Nash
African Crafts Online
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I have been actively following the extraordinary development
of the KOPEYIA SCHOOL project. This project truly represents
the best way in which people in third world settings can be
helped to help themselves, through education and the inculcation
of high standards of thought and behavior. As a program director
at a major American medical center, I have also been impressed
with the way in which public health issues can effectively
be addressed in the setting that has been created in Kopeyia
(which is now a model for the local region, country, and other
third world environments).
This success could not have been achieved
without the tireless and selfless work and expertise of Robert
Levin, President of the Kopeyia Ghana School Fund.
David A. Silbersweig, M.D.
Director, Neuropsychiatry Program, and Functional Neuroimaging
Research Laboratory
Cornell University Medical College
New York Hospital, New York, NY
========================
Robert:
Congratulations! Your tenacity and perseverance have been
rewarded with success. We look forward to hosting your students
at UNI and applaud you for your devotion to them. Thank you
for your attention.
Tim O'Connor
International Program, Assistant Vice President
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA
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