Hakim is on the left and his brother, Kamara, on the right. They are both at the orphanage. They also have a sister, but she does not live at the orphanage.

Hakim is on the left and his brother, Kamara, on the right. They are both at the orphanage. They also have a sister, but she does not live at the orphanage.

WADESBORO – Leon Gatewood, CEO of HOLLA!, and Kimberly Harrington, Assistant Director of Public Relations at Livingstone College, have joined forces to create HOLLA! Africa, which will operate out of a facility owned by Gatewood located on East Wade Street in Uptown Wadesboro.

Harrington’s inspiration for HOLLA! Africa came from a trip to Liberia, West Africa, in April 2019 in which she attended a friend’s wedding.

“When I travel abroad, I have a bucket list of things I want to do,” said Harrington. “One of those things I wanted to do was to visit an orphanage. I had always said if I didn’t have a child by age 40, I wanted to adopt one from Africa.”

On the last day of her trip, Harrington visited a small orphanage called All Saints International. “It was a brief visit but very profound,” said Harrington. “I talked to the director and told him my intentions for adopting a child. He brought all the eligible children out and assembled them under a shade tree.”

Once the children were gathered, around 25 or 30 in total, Harrington introduced herself to them.

“Afterwards, I didn’t feel a connection to any of the children during that personal engagement,” said Harrington. “Then I stepped back and my friend asked me if God was speaking to me, that’s when I saw this little boy who reminded me of my father, T.C. Ratliff.”

That little boy was Sando Warner. Warner has been at All Saints International since he was five years old. He’s 14 now and lives at the orphanage with his brother, Kamara. He also has a sister, but she does not reside at the orphanage.

All Saints International’s director, Mr. Mulbah, sent all the information concerning Warner back to Harrington through her friend who just got married and was staying for another week.

Harrington is currently in the process of adopting Warner, who has agreed to change his name to Hakim, which incorporates “Ha” from “Harrington” and “Kim” from Kimberly. Harrington and Warner have remained in close contact, and Warner has even taken the initiative to reach out to members of his future family.

“I’ll get phone calls like, ‘I talked to your son today,’” said Harrington. “He’s really connecting and really looking forward to coming over here. He aspires to be apostle when he grows up.”

These experiences would have a profound impact on Harrington and, upon her return back to the states, she sought ways to make a difference. This is what led to the formation of the HOLLA! Africa Initiative.

HOLLA!, which stand for Helping Our Loved Ones Learn & Achieve, is a nonprofit organization based in Morven that provides after school educational and athletic programs to the youth communities within Anson County. Gatewood is the founder and CEO of HOLLA!

Harrington spoke to Gatewood about her desire to use HOLLA! as a way to generate support to help the orphanage in Liberia. To that end, the two decided to develop the HOLLA! Africa Initiative as an extension of the HOLLA! Organization

In addition to the Initiative, which has donated resources and funds to All Saints International, Gatewood is now in the process of developing the HOLLA! Africa Cultural and Performing Arts Center, the purpose of which is to spread awareness of African culture to the Anson County community.

“African culture and history are not really taught in school,” explained Gatewood. “It’s important, especially in communities like Anson County that have a high population of African Americans, to start informing their children of their cultural history.”

Gatewood is in the process of remodeling the facility. Plans on when and how to open the facility are still being determined at this time.

Reach Charles Wood at cwood@ansonrecord.com