But First a Trip Through the South

As my flight to Accra leaves out of Atlanta, my mother and sister and I decided to take a road trip through the south before I leave. We flew into Atlanta Wednesday, rented a car and immediately hit the road. Our first stop was Asheville, North Carolina. It was a great town, very cool vibe....similar to Bellingham but with some serious heat and humidity!

We are now in Charleston, SC. It is a gorgeous city and full of history. This afternoon we went to the old slave market, which was a much more powerful experience than I had anticipated. Perhaps knowing that in just a couple of days I'll be in West Africa, which was one of the biggest slave ports to leave Africa. Of the 12 million men, women, and children that were enslaved in Africa between 1700 and 1775, 7% of them were sent to the US. Of that 7%, 40% arrived in Charleston. So essentially I'm beginning my journey where they ended theirs and traveling back in time.

What was fascinating to me was the spirit that the enslaved Africans held onto and brought with them to America; their spiritual customs, cooking, music and dancing. So much of our country's culture comes from that, and they held onto it despite the unfathomable conditions they faced. On the ships the men were made to dance and beat drums, in order to stay healthy to get the highest price once they reached America, but what it really did was allow the slaves to stay connected to their African roots.

The market itself was held in a brick building, and standing there in the trading room, there was definitely a strong energy. Reading about families being separated and imagining the anxiety and terror they must have felt was overwhelming. It makes me wonder what life in the village I'm going to be working in would be like had slavery never existed. Impossible to say, but it definitely makes me all the more driven to try and have a positive impact. I'm more inspired than ever to do what small part I can to help alleviate poverty in the developing world, and I am definitely ready to get to Ghana and start working.

I'm glad to have the unique opportunity to start this journey by being somewhat humbled. I do love this country and am grateful for all the opportunities I have, especially the opportunity to allow me to go out and try to make some sort of difference in the world, no matter how small.

New Beginnings

I can't believe it's almost time for me to leave. All of my life I've dreamed of having a big adventure, something life changing and exhilarating, but I never knew how to make that happen. My life has taken many unexpected twists and turns, some good, some not so good. But everything that I've done and gone through has led me to this moment, and in exactly 2 weeks I will be in Africa. From my earliest memories, I've been fascinated and enchanted with Africa, soaking up all of the culture and the music and the food and the history I possibly could from afar. That only goes so far, and a few years ago, I decided it was time for me to figure out how to experience it for myself.

I'm still not quite sure how I got on this path that will take me to rural villages in Ghana and Kenya, but I'm grateful for the opportunity. I will be doing research for a Seattle based micro-credit organization, The Village Net (TVN). Along with 3 other amazing and incredibly talented women, I will be working with the women borrowers of the villages to evaluate TVN's current model, develop a business training curriculum, and conduct a needs assessment study to determine what social services would improve the community in order to implement a more holistic micro-lending model. The women are entrepreneurs, and their businesses are anything from selling yams in the markets to artisans making and selling jewelry and crafts, to owning hair salons. We have worked very hard to design our research so that we can be as efficient and effective as possible in the 2 months we will be there. We hope to have a positive impact and implement programs and services that can be sustainable when we leave. These are very big goals, but I am confident we'll be able to achieve them! We will be going out to the women's homes and businesses to interview them, as well as getting together for focus groups. In order to be the most effective and get the best feedback, we'll be establishing relationships with the women and this is what I think I'm the most excited about. Hopefully my entrepreneurial background and training (mostly failed ventures but lots of lessons learned!) will have prepared me to teach entrepreneurial theory across cultures.

I'm also involved in a project with the NGO The Valued Girls Project, which is a soccer camp in the village I'll be working in (Ofankor, Ghana) that brings in girls from the village to get not only soccer training, but encourages them to continue on to secondary school by giving them extensive educational training in math, science, IT, and health issues. I'll be working to get the computer labs built that they need to prepare the girls for their ICT exams in order to get into secondary school.

Of course......all work and no play is no good! Aside from work in the villages, there will be amazing beaches, canopy walks on suspension bridges 300 feet above the jungle, camping in tree platforms, some of the world's largest open markets, visits to slave castles in one of the largest slave ports, nightlife in Accra, and of course.....a safari!

I am pushing myself way beyond my comfort zone, I've let everything go...my house, my job...and when I return I don't have a plan. Anyone that knows me knows that this is not my preferred mechanism. With so many things in my life coming to a close, this is the best time to take a deep breath, relax and follow my dreams and see where life takes me next, and have a lot of fun doing it. Let the adventure begin.