Harriet Dansowaa Bruce-Annan (birth name: Grace Akosua Dansowaa Ani-Agyei; born 1965 in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, Ghana) is a Ghanaian programmer and humanitarian living in Düsseldorf, Germany. She has become known as the founder of African Angel, a charity organisation which supports and provides training for children from the slums of

's Bukom district.

Life and work

Bruce-Annan was born in Accra on December 19, 1965 by Madam Victoria Lankai Lamptey. She spent her childhood in

Adabraka Adabraka is a town in the Korley Klottey Municipal Assembly, a Municipality of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. It was the first and the most posh neighborhood in Ghana during the British era. Education Adabraka was known for the O'Reilly Sen ...

and regularly visited her grandmother, who lived in a slum called Bukom. Despite all the suffering prevailing in her community, she still got along in her childhood. With the help of her uncle, she later studied programming in Ghana. Her first job was with a German computer company. In 1990, Bruce-Annan emigrated with her husband to Germany, after he had promised her a better education in Europe. She went to Germany as an employee of the British Forces. Upon arrival, they lived in a hotel in Düsseldorf, before moving into an apartment in

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

, Germany. However, following several cases of abuse, she fled to a women's shelter in Düsseldorf. There, she first worked as a nursing assistant, then as a lavatory attendant at the Düsseldorf fair and at the Golden Unicorn pub on Ratinger Straße. While at Düsseldorf, she began collecting money to help orphans in the slums of Bukom in Accra. On September 15, 2002, together with six others, Bruce-Annan founded the African Angel Association. In 2004, she flew from Düsseldorf to Ghana with 5,000 euros to start her African Angel Association. The Association supports children from the Bukom slum, particularly orphans, by financing their education and training. In 2008, Bruce-Annan was invited to the Berlin Senate conference, where the role of knowledge in international migration was discussed. In 2009, she appeared in on NDR television and on

Markus Lanz Markus Lanz (born 16 March 1969) is a German-Italian television presenter based in Germany. Early life Lanz is a member of the German-speaking majority in the Italian province of South Tyrol. He grew up in Geiselsberg, a village located 1,3 ...

talk shows. Bruce-Annan has been touring Germany and Austria for several years to present her project.

Awards

On March 31, 2011, she was named the "heroine of everyday life" by the magazine ''Bild der Frau'' at a gala in Berlin and was awarded prize money of 30,000 euros. Am 31. Bruce-Annan was also awarded the Cross of Merit on the ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany on the occasion of World Women's Day in March 2013.

Literature

* Beate Rygiert: ''African Angel: changing the world with 50 cents / Harriet Bruce-Annan.'' Lübbe publishing house, Bergisch Gladbach 2009, .

References

External links

Offizielle Website von African Angel e.V
* * Vide
Harriet Bruce-Annan
''Every penny for home children - a loo woman donates everything" {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce-Annan, Harriet 1965 births People from Düsseldorf People from Accra Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Computer programmers Women humanitarians German philanthropists German women philanthropists Living people Ghanaian emigrants to Germany 20th-century Ghanaian women 21st-century Ghanaian women Bruce family of Ghana