A UK businessman who has been left stranded in Ghana during COVID-19 has set up a charity to help the vulnerable during the crisis. 

Tom Russell, alongside his friend Kwarko Alfred, or Fred as he's better known, decided to set up the charity called Give Back Ghana, when COVID-19 forced the borders to close, meaning he couldn't get home. 

The idea of the charity is to provide aid boxes to deliver to the vulnerable in the country's capital, Accra. 

Russell who had been working for an export company helping relationships between Ghana and Europe for the past year, said: "It soon became pretty clear we could help on a wider scale. So we sat down and put together an idea for these boxes to put together the essentials for an Accra household to live on for a week."

The aid boxes, which cost $8.70 to put together, contain 3 kilograms of rice, spaghetti, tinned mackerel, tuna, sardines, tomato paste, as well as toilet roll and hand sanitizer.

"So the staples of a Ghanaian diet are rice and fish and a lot of tomato paste goes into there with sunflower oil. And that essentially gives you the basis for most dishes to cook up. Obviously, it's quite a simple box. There are no delicacies, unfortunately. But it's the classic stuff that will keep people going for a week," Russell said.

Give Back Ghana has been able to form a relationship with a local supermarket in Accra, which supplies them with the goods, as well as joining forces with another charity to transport the boxes across the city. 

'Intimidating at first'

After having his original flight back to the UK canceled, Tom has been in constant contact with the UK government, but as of yet has not had a date set for his return home.

"At first, that was a bit intimidating, not being able to get out. We're so used to being able to travel at any given moment, to get back to loved ones or to move around so freely. But this project has definitely helped take the mind off the fact that I am stuck here," said Russell.

Ghana was the first African country to ease its lockdown measures, but with the borders still closed and millions living in poverty, Give Back Ghana's packages are received well across the capital.

Russell explains the difficulties Ghana faces: "It's just really accentuated the problems that already existed with, you know, elements of poverty within the city. And yet, the pandemic just accentuates those issues. So we're happy to be here to help in any small way we can, really."