About us

The people behind the work

A pastor, a physician, and a board of Ghanaian scientists, academics and executives who give their time to it.

Founders

Rev. Dr. Godwin Kofi Ahlijah

Founder and team leader

An ordained minister with the Assemblies of God Church, Ghana, and lead pastor of Harvest Missions Chapel in Tema.

He graduated from the University of Cape Coast, took a Th.M. from the International Theological Seminary in Florida in 2003 and a Master's in Governance and Leadership from GIMPA in 2007, and holds a PhD in Organizational Leadership from the School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship at Regent University, Virginia Beach.

Before Meaningful Life International he served seven years as Director of Field and Member Care for Pioneers Africa, which recruits, trains and deploys missionaries across the continent, and coordinated the Desert Stream Initiative into Arab North Africa. In 2024 the Ghana Evangelical Missions Association welcomed him as its President-Elect.

Dr. Lenusia Afua Ahlijah

Co-founder and medical director

A graduate of the University of Ghana Medical School, and an active member of the Ghana Medical Students Association during her training, undertaking mission trips with the Ghana Fellowship of Evangelical Students and serving in the Christian Medical Fellowship.

She worked at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and then Tema General Hospital, and is currently Medical Director of the Tema Polyclinic and a specialist family physician.

Board and advisers

Dr. Jacob B. Smith

Board chairman, MLI-Ghana

A research scientist with the Forest Products Research Institute of the CSIR, and one of the first academics to establish the MSc in Wood Technology at KNUST, with nearly ten scientific and technical publications.

He spent over twenty-four years at Super Paper Products Company as mill manager, responsible for production, environmental management and general administration, and has worked with the EPA on environmental management plans since 1990. He is the ex-president of the Industrial Chapter of the FGBMFI, Tema.

Rev. Prof. Ivy Drafor Amenyah

Advisory board

An ordained minister and lecturer at Ghana Methodist University, with a BSc and MSc from the University of Guelph and a PhD from the University of Ghana in collaboration with Cornell.

She has taught for about eighteen years — economics for development, micro and macroeconomics, project management and research methods — and researches farm and household management within a community development framework, including access to water and sanitation for persons with disabilities.

Mr. Amos Amankwah

Board member, MLI-Ghana

A mechanical engineer, national sales director for Tractor and Equipment Ghana Limited for eighteen years, and currently a commercial director in servicing, mining, industrial and construction equipment.

Mrs. Rejoice Anane