Community Highlights: Meet Mandie Case of Africa Youth Rising

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandie Case.

Mandie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I graduated from Metropolitan University of Denver with a dual degree in BA Hospitality Industry Administration, and BA Philosophy. I lived and worked in Denver and the surrounding areas as a server on the 16th st mall, hotel manager at 1801 California formerly Marriott, even did a stint at Tom’s Dinner on the overnight while finishing my ungrad. I then started working as a Medical Assistant in several family practices around the Denver area before leaving to DC to finish my Masters of Public Health at George Washington University. Nearing the end of my grad work I went to Ghana, West Africa for a one month public health project and I never really left. I did travel back and forth from Denver to Ghana before moving here permanently after the pandemic. I am currently the Founder and Executive Director of Africa Youth Rising (AYR) whose mission is to interrupt the predatory orphanage system. After spending three years in Ghana working with and living at an orphanage I learned the truth of this system (and have some harrowing tales as well). Vulnerable children are falsely labeled as “orphans” and then used to elicit financial support from western donors, who are acting out of genuine altruism and are unaware that they are participating in a child trafficking operation. Thus AYR was born to create systems that stop the flow of vulnerable children into residential care. The most exciting program is the first-of-its-kind free day care for disabled children Adom Fie. Here we provide safe day care so that mothers can go and work to support the family, occupational therapy to help the child live their best life, nutritional therapy to ensure that the children grow healthy and strong, and medical care which is sorely lacking for disabled children in Ghana. With this we have seen disabled children and their families thrive.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
hahahaha this is funny. Well, I have been publicly accused of using witchcraft to kill someone and had to flee the town to see if anyone was going to take it seriously enough as it is not unheard of to kill witches in Ghana. Who can say they actually had to fear a witchcraft trial? I have had a hit put out on me. I have witnessed first hand what really happens behind the closed doors of an orphanage in rural Africa. I contracted Typhoid fever and spent a week in the rural hospital, which then led to an adverse drug reaction that was incorrectly diagnosed and I nearly died from improper care in West Africa’s “leading” medical center, complications of which have given me life long health conditions. In the beginning we were literally so broke I was working at Amazon to keep the nonprofit afloat. Those are just some of the highlights, not to mention all the stories of what it is like to live in a town in Ghana.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?

We work to make orphanages obsolete, to end the predatory practices of the orphanage industrial complex by creating systems that stop the flow into orphanages as well as advocating to the donors who prop up this system with their well meaning donations.

The coolest thing we do is Adom Fie a first-of-its-kind free day care for disabled children in Dodowa. www.africayouthrising.org/grace-house/

What I am personally most proud of is the ethics which we bring to our charity work. Charity can be so dirty and exploitative because thats what gets the bucks. We proudly don’t participate in poverty porn, child sponsorship, or voluntourism. We do this at a financial loss but at the benefit of showing that charity should not and does not have to be exploitative.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Do your best until you know better, then do better. -Maya Angelou

This matter so much to me because I was one of the people who ended up hurting children by helping an orphanage because I didn’t know better. After spending 3 years of my life and raising $70k I learned that my well meaning was causing harm. I could have tucked my tail and sunk off in shame, but once I knew better I worked to do better. And it is only because of that what we are doing is so amazing. It is also why we don’t participate in the shady part of charity because I know the harm it causes and so I do better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.africayouthrising.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandie_case
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mandie.case

Image Credits
Africa Youth Rising.
Please note that we have written permission from any individuals shown including written parental permission for any images of children.