Ja Rule visits Ghana to fulfill promise of constructing new school building

Ja Rule and his wife arrived in Ghana on Tuesday to break ground for the construction of a classroom block for the St. John’s Anglican Basic School in Nuaso in the Eastern Region of the country.

The building of the classroom block is in partnership with Pencils of Promise, a U.S. non-profit organization that seeks to create a better world through education, building schools, and WASH programs.

Ja Rule’s project will provide a six-unit classroom block and other facilities for the St. John’s Anglican Basic School. On Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony, the rapper said he was proud to be a part of the school building project in Ghana.

“I’m proud to be out here to have the audacity to come out here to build a school for my people,” Ja Rule said. “I know this will be an opportunity that will last for many years to come, this is just the beginning of something special.”

“As I look around, I see a lot of beautiful students here from Nuaso Anglican Primary. And for me, education is the pillar of any community. And so with that being said, Ghana, I appreciate you all. I thank you for accepting me as your brother,” he said.

Dignitaries at the ceremony included Ghana’s deputy Minister for Arts and Tourism who urged Ja Rule to promote Ghana’s “Beyond the Return” campaign as soon as he returns to the U.S.

Upon their arrival in Ghana, the rapper and his wife, Aisha Atkins, first visited the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Accra to pay homage to Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah before visiting some community leaders at Krobo Edumase in the Eastern Region.

Ja Rule announced his school project in January after similar works by Michael Blackson and Lil Jon. In 2018, Lil Jon partnered with Pencils for Promise to build a school in the Asuogyaman District of eastern Ghana.

Blackson, a U.S.-based Ghanaian-Liberian comedian-actor, also launched the Michael Blackson Academy in Agona Nsaba, Ghana. 

His tuition-free ultramodern school, which opened in January 2023, fulfills the actor’s long-held desire which he had while returning to Ghana after 15 years away.