Our Story
Selene Selahyah is the visionary founder and CEO of The SURRE Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming lives through education and community empowerment in Ghana, Africa. Guided by a heart of service and a passion for uplifting underserved communities, Selene established SURRE to create lasting change by investing in children, schools, and families in need in the villages and various regions in Ghana.The name SURRE represents the organization’s core mission:
Supporting the Underserved • Recognize • Restore • Empower
Through strategic partnerships, fundraising initiatives, and community outreach, the Foundation seeks to provide educational resources, restore and repair dilapidated school buildings creating a viable safe learning environment and opportunities that inspire hope and build brighter futures for children in Africa.
Selene believes that every child deserves access to quality education and the opportunity to thrive. Her vision is to bridge communities through compassion, generosity, and purpose—empowering the next generation of leaders across Ghana and beyond.
Together, we can recognize potential, restore hope, and empower communities for generations to come.
“The best way to find yourself is to give yourself to the The Most High and lose yourself in the service to others”
CEO & Founder of The SURRE Foundation, Registered Nurse, Entrepreneur & Business Owner of Kalenbah African Boutique Salon & Kalenbah Travel
Lenae Johnson, Director for the SURRE Foundation, is a retired Chemist who worked in Corporate America for over 35 years in the Consumer Products Manufacturing Industry. She is named as one of the inventors on many Patents that have shaped the design of many processes and manufacturing procedures, as well as developed many new molecules that provide the attributes that make todays Laundry products the best in care for your fabrics and garments.
Since retirement, Lenae embarked on a travel adventure that had been her desire since childhood. Of the many destinations she has visited, Africa, specifically Ghana seems to be the one place she continues to return to. Her love for the country, the culture and the people of Ghana exude an excitement that captivates others, and every time she returns to the country she brings someone new.
Lenae was afforded the opportunity to visit some of the small villages during her tours to the country. It was in these villages where she saw disparities that broke her heart. She immediately wanted to do something to help simply because she felt it was unfair for these beautiful people to have such limited resources.
When the SURRE Foundation was introduced to her, she accepted the role as one of the directors because it was her way to get involved and make strides to help improved the quality of life in these communities. Supporting the underserved in areas of education and community building is in her DNA. Her love and compassion for the less fortunate is the driving force behind her desire to see change.
”If I can help somebody as I travel along life's journey, then my living is not in vain” .