The Story
The seed that grew into the Africa Heartwood Project was planted in the hearts of Andy Jones and Kayla Thompson during their engagement in the fall of 1999. The desire for a "humanitarian honeymoon" landed them in a Liberian refugee camp between Accra and Cape Coast, Ghana. The circumstances at Buduburam were so deplorable that the efforts they made to identify, provide food for, and matriculate in school some orphan refugee children seemed very small; yet to help in even a very small way required great effort, notwithstanding the support of Andrew Wreh, LDS Charities, and others.

In between efforts over three months at the camp, Andy and Kayla spent time in Koforidua at a Unit School for the Deaf where a friend was working with the Peace Corps, in Accra in the company of missionary service couples, and in Peki, Dzake where they became acquantied with a community of drum builders and family of Ghanaian master drummers. While staying with the Lawrence Nkulenu and Isaak Tedeku families Andy and Kayla tasted the joy of the Ewe dance and drum culture: building drums by day, singing and dancing by night, and learning from the children and aged throughout. After the Jones' return to university in the U.S. they received many communications from their new Ghanaian friends, some of which suggested the possibility of having them help sell percussion instruments as a means of providing livlihoods for the drum builders. Andy and Kayla, willing to do what they could to help, started receiving small quantities of drums and selling them for the Ghanaian carvers to music stores, to friends and family, and through the internet, and sending money back to Ghana. Over the next four years this continued on a very small scale with logistics help from Erik Allebest, while Andy completed post-graduate work in England and Kayla gave attention to a growing family.

After completing their education, Andy and Kayla decided to dedicate their full-time attention to this endeavor and see if it could be taken to scale, made sustainable on Ghanaian terms and financially viable in the U.S.. The present-day collaboration between Africa Heartwood Project and Djembe Direct, along with many other wholesale and retail partners, is a current iteration of those efforts. Gratefully, some level of success has been attained, despite the enormous learning curve and obstacles that have and continue to present themselves in terms of import logistics, purchase contracts and distribution, and human resources. Andy is involved in the day-to-day operation of the project, working closely with African drum builders and exporters and their partners. Kayla, along with their children Simon, Ruby, Charlie, and Ivy, continue to be supportive cheerleaders and African dance and drum enthusiasts.