MrBeast-linked village in Eastern Region built at reported cost of nearly US$10m

Pinned summary · as of 04:42

Jimmy Donaldson, the American YouTuber who goes by MrBeast, and his team have put up a village in a cocoa-growing part of Ghana's Eastern Region at a reported cost of nearly US$10 million. Named Abna Dakwa Village, it is meant to offer children and families a way out of child labour, and it comes with a school, a clinic and water and power systems.

What we know

• Jimmy Donaldson, who uses the MrBeast name, is behind a village in Ghana's Eastern Region reported to have cost nearly US$10 million. Most reports write its name as Abna Dakwa Village, while Kumasi Mail spells it Abena Dakwa.
• The village is aimed at tackling child labour among cocoa-farming communities.
• It has a school built for more than 300 students, and the Press Radio, Kumasi Mail and Onua Online each say ten houses were provided for teachers.
• Residents also get a health clinic, safe drinking water, solar electricity, a marketplace and farming facilities, according to the Press Radio, Kumasi Mail, Nkonkonsa and Onua Online.
• The Press Radio and Nkonkonsa both say the village serves about 1,062 people.
• The Press Radio and Kumasi Mail report that roughly a year went into the project overall, with construction taking about eight months.
• A five-year programme of free school meals is part of the project.
• Beast Philanthropy says its Ghana programme spans 11 cocoa-farming communities and directly reaches more than 10,000 people.
• Under a five-year plan with The Rockefeller Foundation, the school meals effort in Ghana begins with 10 schools spread over nine Eastern Region communities.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Nkonkonsa alone says the project was revealed in a video released on 19 September 2026. No other report gives that date.
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  The Press Radio alone ties the project to a broader campaign under the banner of 1 Billion Acts of Kindness and names several associated organisations, and it also lists a chicken coop among the facilities. These details have not been reported elsewhere.
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  Kumasi Mail alone mentions a library and a community centre, two large water towers, and CARE, Fairtrade Africa and a West Akyem cocoa farmers' co-operative union as Beast Philanthropy's partners. It also carries Beast Philanthropy's estimate that about 1.56 million children work in cocoa-growing areas of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.
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  Onua Online published a column by Lois Dogbe saying that, from public information she could check, nothing clearly shows the Government of Ghana paid for the village. She argued that Ghana should ask what state and local bodies did about child labour before a private donor stepped in, and that the MP, the assembly and the education service must help keep the village going. The column also quotes a UNICEF estimate of roughly 21% for Ghanaian children between five and 17 doing child labour. This is one columnist's view.
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  The Insight News Online, citing Newsweek, reported that an X user asked why MrBeast spends heavily abroad while poverty is high in his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina. It said MrBeast replied that he supports his hometown through a non-profit, and it carried Beast Philanthropy figures, including 10,167 direct beneficiaries in Ghana, with five of the 11 communities fully live. These claims come from that report alone.

Why it matters for Ghana

For cocoa-farming families in the Eastern Region, a school, a clinic and clean water in the community can change how far children travel and what households spend on basic services. Free school meals over five years may ease pressure on families, though the reports do not say how the village will be run once the programme ends. Who should keep such a private project going is a question the Onua Online columnist put to Ghana's public institutions.