We have just returned from a very successful visit to Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary where we met the scholarship students and visited their schools.  We also saw the opening of a new primary school and took part with Calgary Zoo and others in the Durbar to celebrate 10 years of the Hippo Sanctuary.  More information about our visit will be updated on this website soon.  

The Friends of Wechiau have completed its fourth year (2008/2009) of providing funding for scholarships and educational material.  The students in Wechiau are now applying for the scholarships for 2009/10 after they have received their examination results and school placement offers .   We are committed to supporting three new students each year, so that by 2010 we will be providing scholarships to 12 students for 4 years at senior secondary school. 

You can read more about our funding for previous years by clicking here.

You can find out more about our decisions and reports and accounts here.

We thank the Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) in Ghana and the Calgary Zoological Society for providing the necessary resources to enable the funds to be disbursed and to assist with the scholarship selection process.  

Who we are:

The Friends of Wechiau started by previous Earthwatch volunteers donating money to fund educational scholarships. Have you visited or volunteered at Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary and would like to continue your support the project?
We are therefore looking for others who could assist by:

We made our first donations to Wechiau in the summer of 2005 by awarding one scholarship for a Adams Yussif to attend senior secondary school and £100 towards educational material for the school at Talawona.  Yussif has completed his secondary school education and gone on to become a tour guide.

Adams Yussif with his grandmother and his mother (who is holding a photo of her late husband).

(photo thanks to Donna J Sheppard, Sanctuary Advisor, NCRC & Calgary Zoo)

You can find out more about the scholarships by visiting the scholarship page. 
If you would like to support this project send us your donation.

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Wechiau Community Hippos Sanctuary Receive UN Equator Prize

On October 6, 2008, Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary received one of the top 25 initiatives awarded the United Nations Equator Prize for 2008 (with a $5,000 prize) and was among the top five to receive an additional special recognition award from the United Nations (a further $15,000 U.S. prize). The award was received by the Ghanaian traditional leader, Naa Chielinah Bandanaa, Gurunguu Naa and the Calgary Zoo President Dr. Clément Lanthier at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The Equator Prize is awarded biennially to recognize and celebrate outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.  The prize is designed to shine a spotlight on exemplary grassroots efforts in biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction.  By celebrating local groups in international forums, the Equator Initiative works to share local best practices, celebrate success, and inform policy.