Johannes Thomas Arthur
Johannes Arthur currently serves as the Creative and Projects Coordinator with RECNOWA, a non-governmental organization that is interested in advocacy and training on waste management issues. He is an artist who uses raw material from a refuse dump to create eco-friendly furniture, clothing, handbags, and other products made from waste plastic water bottles. He manages an innovative social enterprise that trains and employs youth from disadvantaged communities to clear their streets of plastic and other material waste. Johannes Thomas Arthur has trained over 20 schools and artisan groups in the creative reuse and recycling of materials considered as waste. Johannes holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and is working on a master’s degree at the same institution. After completing the Washington Fellowship, he hopes to build the largest recycling plant in the world with proceeds being used to build schools and hospitals in rural Ghana. Johannes was one of 100 Fellows competitively selected to participate in an 8-week internship in the United States following the Mandela Washington Fellowship academic institute. He interned at Resource Exchange in August-September 2014.