Menaye is a model/actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist from Accra, Ghana. She runs the Menaye Charity Organisation and is the wife of Ghana and Inter Milan football player, Sulley Muntari.
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After winning the title ‘Miss Universe Ghana in 2004’, Menaye Donkor set up the Menaye Charity Organisation which raises funds for deprived children in her home country of Ghana, particularly children infected with and affected by HIV or AIDS.
Charity has always been important to Menaye. Her family, and father in particular, showed her the importance of giving back to the community, and Menaye wanted to do this in her home country of Ghana, particularly to support children in the deprived central region.
Menaye has also raised awareness and funds to help support children affected or infected by HIV or AIDS at orphanages across Ghana. Menaye has worked extensively with an orphanage in Odumasi in the Eastern region of Ghana, which homes around 600 children affected by AIDS. The organisation also publicly acknowledges the good and courageous work of the health practitioners who have supported AIDS education and cared for those affected by the disease.
Through her charity she is solely responsible for providing the funds and management of the Menaye International School, which has to date provided an education to over 500 Ghanaian children who would otherwise not have had access to an education.
The Menaye International School was founded on 7 September 2000 on three acres of land in the central region of Ghana. The school is located in Agona Asafo which is considered to be in one of the most deprived regions in the country with very high poverty and illiteracy rates.
Menaye, whose family is from Agona Asafo, compared the educational facilities in the village with those in Accra where she studied and lived, and was deeply concerned about the future of the children who resided in the village and in the surrounding areas.
The Menaye International School opened with 78 pupils learning in one school block, and now has 140 pupils in three blocks. It has so far provided education for over 500 children and gained excellent results in its first BECE examination. The Menaye Charity Organisation provides everything for the school from the physical buildings and equipment through to the teachers’ salaries, uniforms for the students and books and stationery.
Through the Menaye Charity Organisation, the school has recently been provided with a new IT suite and a library, and Menaye has plans to further improve the facilities at the school. Next on the agenda is to provide a bus so that the pupils don’t have to walk the (sometimes several mile-long) journey between home and school.
Menaye’s intention is to grow and develop the Menaye International School in Agona Asafo to meet the needs of more children. She will also continue to support Ghana’s orphans, and the education of society about prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS.
Menaye was brought up by her parents in Accra, Ghana, and is the youngest of seven siblings with four brothers and two sisters. At the age of seven Menaye inherited the job title of “Royal Stool Bearer” for her paternal grandmother, who is the Queen mother of Agona Asafo. She graduated with honours in marketing from York University in Toronto, Canada.
In her early twenties she started modelling after winning the “Miss Universe Ghana 2004” pageant and graced the covers of many magazines in Ghana. She also did editorial work for magazines in South Africa, Milan and Canada.
In 2004, soon after the pageant, she established the Menaye Charity Foundation, and took over the running of the Menaye International School which her parents set up in 2001. Menaye is now solely responsible for raising funds to support the school, which provides quality education to rural under privileged children. So far, over 500 children have been through the school and the facilities are continually expanding.
Through her Charity Foundation, Menaye also supported an orphanage in the eastern region of Ghana, providing medical care for over 600 orphans infected with HIV or AIDS.
In 2006 Menaye met Inter Milan footballer, Sulley Muntari, at the World Cup finals in Germany. They became a couple the following year and she began managing his brand under her management company MENMUN Ltd. In 2010 the pair got married in Accra on Christmas Day.
Her business interests are primarily in property and she runs her own property development company, Zafra ltd, which focuses on renting out and developing properties in Ghana’s capital, Accra. Menaye intends to branch out into the food and entertainment industry.
1. As Miss Universe Ghana 2004, Menaye set up the Menaye Charity Organisation and took over the running of the Menaye International School.
2. In March 2005, Menaye was joined by six other delegates from the Miss Universe 2004 pageant at the Queen’s Ball to raise money for the orphanage in the Krobo region in the Eastern region of Ghana.
3. The Menaye Charity Organization has contributed to the Korle Bu Fever Unit in Accra in the Central region of Ghana, as well as the Somanya Orphanage in the Krobo region.
4. Over the last five years, the Menaye Charity Organisation has continued to expand the Menaye International School, to offer more children an education that they otherwise would not have had access to.
5. In August 2011, Menaye opened a new library and IT suite at the Menaye International School to continue to drive standards and improve learning facilities for the children.
www.menaye.com
http://www.menaye.com/category/blog/
http://twitter.com/#!/menayedonkor
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