life oF MAŊNYƐ
Royal life
Born: 1981
Birth Name: Dorothy Victoria Joanna Aba Mensima Clerk
Enstoolment: April 11, 2016
Stool Name: Klo Dodue Nana Korlekour Amanfu Totroku I
Coronation: April 5, 2018
Title: Dipo & Kusum Maŋnyɛ of GaDangme Land
Realm: Ghana, Togo and Benin
Maŋnyɛ Mensima is the first to hold an Ancestral Stool, instituted to serve GaDangme land in its entirety, and maintains her Stool duties alongside her personal and professional commitments.
family life
Maŋnyɛ Mensima Clerk is the 5th generation of the historically significant Clerk Family of Accra Ghana; founded nearly 2 centuries ago, in 1843, by Maŋnyɛ Mensima's great, great grandfather, Reverend Alexander Worthy Clerk. The Clerk Family produced many pioneering scholars in colonial Ghana including, Theodore S. Clerk, the first Ghanaian architect who designed and developed the port city of Tema and Matilda J. Clerk, the first woman in Ghana to earn a postgraduate diploma and the second Ghanaian woman to become a physician, trained in orthodox medicine. This legacy continues in present day, through current family members including Maŋnyɛ Mensima's father, Dr. Alexander A. Clerk, the former director of the world's first Sleep Medicine center at Stanford University. While Clerk family members have received distinctions in countless academic fields, Maŋnyɛ Mensima is the first Clerk to receive a Royal Stool, and serve at the highest level of the Chieftaincy Institution, as a Tribal Monarch. By accepting this position, Maŋnyɛ Mensima Clerk has also created a new branch in the Clerk family tree, where her progeny will carry the Clerk name and her Stool and titles will be inherited.
Academic life
Maŋnyɛ Mensima holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV - a dual degree from both University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - and has also completed postgraduate studies in Public Health from Kings College London. Maŋnyɛ Mensima has conducted independent research throughout the African Continent on topics such as: youth uptake of HIV testing services, young peoples attitudes, beliefs and behaviors towards sexual health and the utility of puberty rites in contemporary African society. Maŋnyɛ Mensima has also graduated from 3 African Initiation Schools including uMhlanga in eSwatini (Swaziland), uMkhosi woUmhlanga in Zululand and dipo in her own GaDangme Land. Her emic research approach, participant observation and field studies on coming of age rituals for African girls, was the focus of her masters thesis titled: Puberty Rites and Sexual Health; Repackaging Ancient Traditions To Meet The Contemporary Sexual Health Needs of Young People in Africa. Maŋnyɛ Mensima has also participated in research as a cultural authority and key informant for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Maŋnyɛ Mensima regularly shares her knowledge and experience, with the aim of fostering intellectual exchanges between GaDangme Land and other Traditional African Nations, as well as the African Diaspora at large.
executive life
Maŋnyɛ Mensima is the Founder and Chief Executive of The Kunim Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing sexual health services to young people in Africa, and has embarked on a new venture called KunimCare - a technology company specializing in mobile health solutions.