Kara Draper in her home studio in Sperryville surrounded by “Plarn” (plastic yarn) that she uses to make totes and other items out of recycled plastic. (Photo/Ireland Hayes)
Nyanyano, a coastal town in Ghana, West Africa, is a time warp from Sperryville, Virginia, but that’s where Kara Draper, a Rappahannock teacher turned agent for change, began her environmental journey.
She first went to Ghana in 2024, seeking a cultural deep dive that might allow her to “step out of her Western bubble.” At her home in Sperryville, Draper said: “I wanted to travel, but not to stay at the surface — I wanted to dive into the culture and try to live with a local or become friends with a local.”
Draper began teaching in Ghana, giving her a direct view into the daily lives of community members. From the way the Ghanaians conducted work meetings in a school administration to the way they worship and eat, Draper was entirely immersed in this unfamiliar world, open to learning and understanding the culture.
But in the swirl of these myriad impressions of the Ghanaian way, she was struck by a singular blight — the dusty streets and drawcard beaches of Nyanyano, about 12 miles southwest of the capital Accra, were deep with discarded plastic sachets from which the locals drink water. And so was born a grassroots effort to transform this waste into something useful — and in the process, to create jobs and to change an enduring local habit.
It’s called Sankofa Second Cycle, named after the word “sankofa” in the Akan Twi and Fante languages, translating to “go back and get it” or “look to the past to inform the future.”
Kara Draper holds up one of the water sachets that are used every day by Ghanaians in her home studio in Sperryville. (Photo/Sophie McLeod)
Drawing on her background in quilting, Draper began collecting sachets and stitching them together — then crafting totes, among other things. “I started picking (them) up because they’re all the same size,” she explained. “I began experimenting, sewing them together. My Ghanaian friends looked at me and said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’”
Among those who were intrigued was Godsway Tek, a local tour guide Draper had met early on. He thought Draper’s totes of woven plastic were “really cool,” and their shared interest sparked the beginnings of Sankofa Second Cycle.
‘Eco clubs’ for students
They came up with a plan for “eco clubs” in local schools, teaching students about sustainability by having them use bottle caps and other items of trash to create something useful, like dog leashes and woven bags.
“We’re currently in two schools,” she said, “but ideally, we’d love to be in around a dozen. The eco clubs aim to engage young people in rethinking waste and sustainability from the ground up.”
Local youth in Nyanyano, Ghana take part in an educational program hosted by Godsway Tek of Sankofa Second Cycle where they learn about the impact of pollution in their environment and create art out of found trash. (Courtesy/Godsway Tek)
In a region where full-time teachers earn about $26 a month, Sankofa is a chance for locals to earn more by collecting and recrafting plastic waste. It employs two full-time staff and supports local seamstresses who transform plastic into marketable products.
Small beginnings to be sure. But in the longer term, Sankofa hopes to build something bigger, maybe acquiring a truck to collect waste and a processing facility of some kind.
“We decided (first) to focus on one community — where our school was based — and from there, we began shifting our focus toward education, employment and infrastructure,” Draper said.
In a country where people consume as many as six or 10 water sachets daily (each sachet is about 17 ounces), plastic pollution is a pressing issue.
“I would think the first thing would be to think about the phrase ‘throw away,’” said Draper, “and to understand that nothing ever goes away, right? So just for all of us, just to help raise that consciousness and that awareness, when I put something in the trash and the trash truck takes it away, or we take it to the dump, where is it going and where is it ending up, right?”
Sankofa Second Cycle’s approach reflects that awareness. Rather than simply cleaning up waste, it aims to change how the community thinks about and interacts with plastic — from the classroom to the marketplace.
Kara Draper shows off the handbags she wove out of secondhand clothing, plastic bags, and other recyclable materials in her home studio in Sperryville. (Photo/Sophie McLeod)
Godsway shared his hopes for the future: “We want to get to an appreciable state where the organization is doing well, and we can start doing quarterly reminder courses for corporations about being environmentally conscious.”
Sankofa Second Cycle not only aims to create environmentally-friendly spaces in Ghana, but also in Rappahannock as well. Draper leads workshops in Sperryville, where participants mirror the work that goes on in Ghana, turning “trash” into bags, jewelry and other accessories. She provides all the materials needed, and the proceeds directly support Sankofa’s work in Ghana. A recent workshop was held June 20 at Off the Grid restaurant in Sperryville.
For now, in Nyanyano, Sankofa Second Cycle continues to weave together environmental concern and community opportunity — one plastic sachet at a time.
