Harriet Bruce-Annan

Harriet Dansowaa Bruce-Annan (birth name: Grace Akosua Dansowaa Ani-Agyei; born 1965 in Accra, Ghana) is a Ghanaian programmer and humanitarian living in Düsseldorf, Germany. She has become known as the founder of African Angel, a charity organisation which supports and provides training for children from the slums of Accra's Bukom district. Life and work Bruce-Annan was born in Accra on December 19, 1965 by Madam Victoria Lankai Lamptey. She spent her childhood in Adabraka and regularly visited her grandmother, who lived in a slum called Bukom. Despite all the suffering prevailing in her community, she still got along in her childhood. With the help of her uncle, she later studied programming in Ghana. Her first job was with a German computer company. In 1990, Bruce-Annan emigrated with her husband to Germany, after he had promised her a better education in Europe. She went to Germany as an employee of the British Forces. Upon arrival, they lived in a hotel in Düsseldorf, before moving into an apartment in Oberhausen, Germany. However, following several cases of abuse, she fled to a women's shelter in Düsseldorf. There, she first worked as a nursing assistant, then as a lavatory attendant at the Düsseldorf fair and at the Golden Unicorn pub on Ratinger Straße. While at Düsseldorf, she began collecting money to help orphans in the slums of Bukom in Accra. On September 15, 2002, together with six others, Bruce-Annan founded the African Angel Association. In 2004, she flew from Düsseldorf to Ghana with 5,000 euros to start her African Angel Association. The Association supports children from the Bukom slum, particularly orphans, by financing their education and training.