International Board of Directors
Constance Walker-Fowler, PHR, Secretary
Mable Drake, Director of Special Events
Tish Lampert, Director of Media Relations,
Sabina Anokye Mensah, Ghana Coordinator
Ambassador Ebenezer Moses Debrah, Advisory Board Chair, is the son of a Methodist Minister; the Rev. Moses Kwasi Debrah, who for 50 years spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Ghana stressing particularly that service directed towards providing for the needy should be the principal objective of all mankind.
Ambassador Debrah was educated at the University of Ghana, then known as the University College of the Gold Coast, and briefly at the London School of Economics, England.
He was one of the first to be appointed into the Ghana Foreign Service in 1955, before the achievement of Ghana’s independence in 1957. His Motto as a Foreign Service Officer was “service based on personal example.” He carried his father’s zeal and enthusiasm into the Foreign Service and while representing and negotiating on behalf of his country, he made the welfare needs of Ghanaians abroad his principal concern.
He served in Liberia, Egypt, United States of America, Ethiopia, Australia, with concurrent accreditation to Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea; and in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He also served as Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Ghana Civil Service.
He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Wilberforce University, Ohio; Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Benedict College, Columbia, South Carolina. An extract from the Citation from Cedar Crest College sums up the character and some of the achievements of Ambassador E. M. Debrah - “Ebenezer Moses Debrah, Diplomat, humanist, and good neighbor: Cedar Crest College pays tribute to your record as a statesman and your achievement as a humanitarian, both of which exemplify your life-long commitment to the task of building bridges between nations and people. At a time when this College is adding new dimensions to its programs and its concern for the strengthening of racial understanding and mutual respect, it is singularly appropriate that we recognize your accomplishments.
“The Washington Post has described you as more responsible than any African diplomat for forging links between Africans and the Black community. In this endeavor you have traveled widely in the United States to increase understanding between our Black people and those of Africa.”
Although retired from the Foreign Service of Ghana in 1979, he continued in the field of diplomacy by helping to establish or directing the training of diplomats in Zimbabwe; the Pacific countries of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Cook Islands; the Southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique and Namibia; and Liberia in West Africa. He has continued to serve the Government of Ghana as Chairman of the Ghana Civil Service Council, Chairman of the Eastern Regional Lands Commission, and Member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Commercial Bank.
Ambassador Debrah followed his father’s footsteps of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ by serving as the First Lay Chairman of the Koforidua Diocese of the Methodist Church, Ghana, from 2001 to 2004.
The Government of the Republic of Ghana recognized the invaluable services Ambassador Debrah had rendered to Ghana and other Commonwealth and African countries by conferring on him the National Award of the Star of Ghana (Member in 2006). He had been awarded the Order of the Volta (Member) in 1975.
Ambassador Debrah visited NAVH in April 2008. He availed himself of the facilities and opportunities provided by NAVH and offered to propagate its message in his own country, Ghana.