Guess Who's Going to Ghana?

I've been meaning to post about my upcoming trip to Ghana, April 5th- 23rd. Maybe you have noticed my facebook badge on the blog and wondered what that is about. Well, now I'll tell you.

For part of my class, we have been broken into small groups to fundraise for various projects we will be visiting in Ghana. I am assigned, along with my classmates Ben and Natalia, to get donations for the Mole (Mo-lay) school and health clinic. Mole is the location of the largest and most visited national park in Ghana. The school serves about 500 students, many of whom have parents that work in the park.

My professor visited the school last year and saw its great potential. The health clinic specializes in maternal health, which is a critical development issue in many places with such high infant mortality rates. The school and clinic have the infrastructure and capacity, but what they lack are basic supplies. Last year, the 500 students (age 5-12) had no school books, and the only sports equipment was 5 old soccer balls donated over 8 years ago

We have been tasked with raising money for new soccer balls, a weigh scale and blood pressure cuffs for the health clinic, and of course children's books. If the resources are available, my group wanted to also bring supplies like chalk, colored pencils, inflatable globes, and jump ropes.

We decided to select books that have a "green" theme because the students have the great environmental resource of the national park next door. The more they learn about the importance of the park, the better apt they are to preserve the animals and care for it. In Ghana, as in many parts of Africa, a combination of Climate Change and poachers have destroyed much of the landscape and habitats of what we traditionally think of as the Safari.

I put together an Amazon.com Wish List for people to virtually donate to me while I'm in DC. It works like a wedding registry- the bill goes to you, the shipping comes to me.

So far, I have already received 2 soccer balls, about 12 books, 2 jump ropes, 2 colored pencil boxes, and chalk. Thank you to everyone that has already helped me out! One thing we really need more of is the Children's Atlas, and we tried to make all the items under $10.

I can't wait to visit Ghana and of course write all about it here. Here are some pictures taken by my professor on her visit to Mole last year.

A Mole Classroom!A delivery table in the health clinicOutside the health clinic.

Look for pictures and stories in April after I visit the school and donate the supplies myself! I'm hopefully going to talk more about what I will be seeing in Ghana and about it's history as the time approaches. I want to include a small glimpse of my class in these posts. I'll post again soon!