The ASEC Service Learning Program was reestablished in 2023 after a pause due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions. Fifteen students from Chestnut Hill College and Marywood University traveled to the West-African nation of Ghana in May and returned after a three-week stay. Accompanying the students were sisters from two of ASEC’s corporate member congregations—Sr. Sheila Kennedy, SSJ, PhD, Sr. Kathleen Lunsmann, IHM, and Sr. Lisa Olivieri, SSJ, PhD.
During the Service Learning trip, participants served at four sites:
- St. Elizabeth, Padre Pio Rehabilitation Center, Ahotokrom, a center for children and adults with physical and mental disabilities
- Mary Queen of Peace School, a nursery and primary school
- Cornelia Connelly School of the Holy Child Jesus, a nursery and primary school
- Infant Jesus Catholic Preparatory School, Twifo Praso, a nursery and primary school
In preparation for their trip, participants took a three-credit course, fundraised for their travel expenses, and collected supplies to be donated to the host ministry sites. On-site in Ghana, they served with sisters in their ministries. The group also engaged in cultural immersion activities, including a visit to the Assin Manso Ancestral Slave River Site and Elmina Castle, a heritage site associated with the slave trade, where they laid a wreath in memory of the enslaved people who passed through the site.
Mentors for the trip were Yerodin Lucas, PhD, Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Inclusion and Title IX Coordinator, Marywood University, and Lauren M. Barrow, PhD, Chair of the Center for Education, Advocacy, and Social Justice and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Chestnut Hill College. Sr. Francisca Damoah, SIJ, ASEC Regional Director-West Africa and Country Director-Ghana, was invaluable in assisting with trip planning, offered local guidance for the implementation of the program, and concluded the trip successfully.
The students attending the trip were studying for degrees in biology, criminal justice, communication, education, human services, international affairs, music therapy, psychology, and human development; all useful fields for the volunteer opportunities available on this trip.
