From JM to Sega, with love!

REPRESENT!!!
Though the video came out bad, I'm so happy I managed to salvage this picture 

All I can say is... wow! You guys at Jesus & Mary School were awesome. Really looking forward to seeing how you can put your talents to good use.

Literally no one else coulda done it, Najat!

Respect! 

So, my question to all of you is: Who wants to be the one who will make things happen? We will need a whole team of dogooders to organize everyone's efforts in fundraising. Any takers? Who's in? Please do write to me so we see how to set up a plan and get things rolling!

Oh and for anyone with friends and family in Ghana (you know who you are) be sure to share your stories and do work your contacts! Let's see how we can also put your connections to good use ;)

For a tank of gas...

You can sponsor a child's education, including all of their books, exam fees, school fees and lunch.

A previous volunteer put things in perspective:
"The kids are very hard workers.  They will go to school during the week, work on the family farms on the weekend (and sometimes before school), they will often prepare meals for themselves and their families, fetch water, collect firewood, sweep the family home and then do other miscellaneous work.  Some of them also have after-school jobs such as walking around the village selling ice blocks from a bucket or selling fish they had just caught or some other item that the family might have prepared during the day. In fact, on Tuesdays and Fridays (market days) many of the boys skip school to push a barrow around the market to earn some money." 

This is how they stay in school. But some are even less fortunate and can't pay their way. For $69/$119/$134, you can put a KG/Primary/JHS student through school. Not bad for the cost of "drinks on me", huh? Cheers to that!

For details on how you can help, go to: 

Share The World

Killer buzz

I'm not talking about the effect of alcohol here. I'm talking about that really annoying buzzing mosquito that decides to make its way to your ear just as you're dozing off at night. Well thankfully for you and me it's not deadly. But now that I'm going to malaria-infested territory, I'll need take all precautions!

So I'll be using a net above my bed at night. But what about during the day? 

I'm just thankful I have the means to protect myself. And I'm also depending on the fact that I've always repelled mosquitos in the past (good thing it's not my sister going because she'd be undoubtedly sucked bloodless). But Ghana in general has got it bad... I totally agree with the Financial Times:

"The World Health Organisation's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health recently estimated that Ghana and other countries in the malarial zone needed to spend about Dollars 35 or Dollars 40 per person a year just to meet the essential health need of their population - keeping workers healthy enough to work. Yet Ghana can afford only about Dollars 10. So it takes an extra Dollars 30 per person for 20m people, just to keep Ghanaians fit to work. But that's a half-billion dollars that Ghana does not have to spend on health care or other basic needs. Its people are living on less than a dollar a day. They cannot, willy-nilly, hand over about a month's earnings for health or anything else.

The consequence is simple. Ghana and other poor sub-Saharan countries do not, and cannot, make it on their own. They need financial infusions from the west for health care and other basic investments that would set the stage for growth. Given an initial boost, Ghana's pro-growth attributes could take over. But Ghana needs that boost. If the west, smugly clinging to nostrums of boot-strap capitalism, sits back and watches Ghana fail, its neighbours will fail as well. Ghana is one of sub-Saharan Africa's best shots at success. Ghana's shot at success will remain remote until rich countries come to its rescue."

So what can you and I do about this? Yes, good books can improve lives, shape lives, even change lives. But it isn't very often that a book has the power to save a life.

EVERY COPY SAVES LIVES. BUY THE BOOK AND TWEET ABOUT IT.

Introducing the Big Ghana Band

chocolate + Big Ghana Band + fairtrade + Paolo Nutini + dance + football = feel good to me!

The percussion and clapping here are typical Kpanlogo music forms.
The guitar style is popularly known as the Yaa Amponsah Rhythm.


This film is shot in the capital Accra where my plane will be landing (2hrs away from Sega).
It starts off with an infamous Ghanaian handshake.
The Head is inspired by traditional Ghanaian wood carvings.
Tinny's a local favorite. So's the High Spirit Dance Crew.


An Afro-kitschy Flo Rida upgrade. Check out the side-kick dancers/back-up singers, so funny!

Share The World

Having decided to spend some time in Africa to help out hands-on, I fell in love with Ghana. Despite it being routinely touted as one of Africa's "success stories" because of its political stability and natural resources (previously even known as the Gold Coast), in words of Forbes magazine Ghana "shouldn't be poor, but it is". Only Afghanistan and even more desperate sub-Saharan countries rank lower in the Human Development Report.

But there ARE people that are creating positive change in rural communities. I've come across one such person that I believe has done wonders in a Ghana village called Sega. So I decided to see how I can be a part of his school's future. I'll be spending the next coupla months there helping out. Honestly? I want to live the school's motto:

“Share the World” stands for the international links it maintains with schools worldwide, the long term volunteer teachers who share their knowledge with the children and the notion that every child is invited to assume a constructive role in our world.

www.segaschool.com

Since the humble establishment of the (New Era) Anmchara International School, in January 2002 (and since this video was made), the school has grown to include a nursery, primary, junior and senior secondary schools, as well as a kitchen and dining hall where over 1,000 students are taught and fed every day.

The Anmchara International School now consists of a permanent, 3 classroom nursery structure, a primary school for classes 1 to 6 and a Junior High School and SHS building for Form 2. By the time the current students graduate from the SHS, Mr. Agudey hopes to also have another Senior Secondary School building in place since Form 1 is currently housed in the dining hall.

For this reason, we'd like to raise the funds necessary for the additional classrooms' construction and the purchasing of furniture, textbooks, and supplies.

If you'd like to have a part in this and do some feelgooding:) of your own by helping me support this community, you can:

1) Donate money to the Bank Audi account I opened, for transferring collected funds to the school, IBAN: LB27 0056 0008 0583 1461 0020 1003


2) Donate money to the school founder directly:

3) Contact me for school sponsoring opportunities or any other idea you may like to propose.

4) Offer moral support by simply following the blog and leaving your comments which I will surely share with the kids :)

feelgooding in Africa

This has been at the top of my bucket list for so long. Why you ask? Since many of you might not know me, let me get personal...

1) I figured the best way to be feelgooding is to make others feel good. You see, I'm one of those people you DON'T want to take to the movies. I genuinely cry like a baby if I see a random stranger shed a tear! But I get a great sense of satisfaction to know that I could do something to help. So I know in many ways, it's quite selfish to be generous, but I'm sure it's for the greater good of all to help where there's a need. And it goes without saying that there's a great need in Africa. In the words of the most famous Ghanaian Kofi Annan, "suffering anywhere concerns people everywhere".

2) I love kids. I turn into one as soon as you put me in the same room! (hm, I wonder what that says about me) But honestly? I feel younger now at 25 than I did at 15. Ok, so maybe that's pushing it a little too far, but really, I would genuinely love to work with children.

3) Coming from a family of educators, I guess it makes sense, I am a firm believer in education. For me, it's not about the system or conversion of youth or anything like that. It's about touching lives and inspiring kids to know more, to be more, to do more.

Yes, this and everything else is your fault mom and dad, ha!

But of course, I also know that going to Africa would have its perks! The dance beats and rhythms are surely contagious (though some diseases are as well, yikes) and er, even if I happen to be less than stellar at photography, I'm sure it'll be fun documenting the places I see, the people I meet, and the things I experience. Stay tuned for whatever I have the guts to share with the entire world wide web :\

I like it up here!

You know that nagging bucket list you have growing at the back of your head? Well, for me, it has grown to epic proportions. And so, I decided to relieve this weight that's bringing me down, and simply fly. Yes, to different places that will help me feel good and do good. A sabbatical is what I'll be embarking on, and the first place I will be landing is Africa.

True, my advertising career got off to a nice start and I might have my head in the clouds, but I'm that much closer to the floating island. And I quite like it up here!
On the soundtrack to my life this year: