During March of 2024, students embarked on Akwaaba Ghana Learning In the World program
Omar Tabbicca, a central organizer and tour guide for the March 2024 Akwaaba Ghana Learning In the World (LITW) program, visited Andover’s campus on April 9. During his visit, students who participated in the program had the opportunity to reunite with him for dinner and share their reflections from the trip.
Leticia Nhaúle ’25 was one student who went on the trip in 2024. She explained the impact that Tabbicca had on the program and praised his tour guiding skills, knowledge of Ghana, and positive energy.
“[Omar] is a super tour guide. He’s the best tour guide I’ve ever had. He took us [to] places, he showed us a lot of the local spots, and he was just a really fun presence. Also, he was always ready to questions because we had a lot of questions. I remember as a group we were all super engaged,” said Nhaule. “He was the perfect addition to the group, also because he really fit in with the group dynamic and everything.”
Tabbicca recently came to the United States to visit family. Upon learning this, Lionel Amanfu, Instructor in Mathematics and a leader of the Akwaaba Ghana program, invited him to campus in order to better familiarize him with the Andover community and to reconnect with the trip’s participants.
“Since he’ll be working with the LITW trip in the future, we thought it would be wise that he came to get a good sense and perspective of our students. Get a sense of where they’re coming from, what it is that they have been exposed to, and also to introduce him to our school too. So bringing him here was to expose him to our facilities that we have, [and] to the dormitory system that we have… Coming here now gives him more ideas as to how he’ll tailor the things that we’re trying to do in Ghana to [Andover],” said Amanfu.
Tabbicca has been a part of the program since its inception back in 2023 while Amanfu was still applying for its addition to the LITW program. While looking for a contact in Ghana to help with logistical details he happened across the profile of Tabbicca, who was an old friend.
“[Omar and I] went to elementary and high school together in Ghana, so I’ve known him since we were kids. I reached out to him. I explained to him the program, [and] that I needed a contact in Ghana [to] help me with the logistical part of the trip,” said Amanfu. “That was his part of the job while he was in Ghana, [and] I was also doing the logistical piece here to make sure students are prepared and ready to go. So that’s how our friendship continued beyond our school days.”
Throughout the week-long program, students learned about the history, culture, and ecology of Ghana by spending time in three major regions: the city of Kumasi, Cape Coast, and Ghana’s capital, Accra. For Papa Paintsil ’26, who was born in Ghana but moved to the United States at a very young age, the program was a way for him to personally experience and learn about Ghana.
“[This program] was just so close to my home country, and it was the first time where, at least in my time at Andover, a LITW trip to a place like West Africa was being offered to students. I wanted the opportunity to experience Ghana for myself instead of experiencing Ghana through the stories of my family, because obviously I was there when I was young, but I don’t actually remember anything of the experiences. I wanted to be able to experience the country for myself, maybe learn a thing or two about how life there actually [is], and then more about the culture and history from living in Ghana,” said Paintsil.
Having the opportunity to reunite with Tabbicca, students were able to share many sentiments and reflections from the trip. Kwadjo Adjepong ’27, a member of the trip and an attendee of the dinner, noted how the informal event allowed students to relax and have fun.
“[It was] just a normal conversation. We talked about what we should keep in the trip, what we should take out, and what we should add. We talked about the differences between boarding school in Ghana and boarding school in America… We talked about nice food that we didn’t get to eat. We talked about generally how fast the program went and how they’re going to add two more days to it so that it feels a little more calm,” said Adjepong.
