Helping Liberians

A few days ago I asked Kpetermeni Siakor, a computer scientist from Liberia, how Americans who wanted to help stop the spread of Ebola could best help.  True to form, he told me that he'd research it and get back to me.

After speaking to his many friends in Liberia Kpetermeni concluded that Doctor's Without Borders is the best place to send your money right now, as they are turning people away from their containment centers due to a lack of resources.  Here is a link to their website: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/our-work/medical-issues/ebola .  The donate button is easy to find, and please consider a contribution.

Thank you,

David

Meeting Our School Prefect

Today Brando (Akoto, Board Member and Friend Extraordinaire) and I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Jasmine, the student at Accra Girls Senior Secondary School that Yo Ghana has had the honor of assisting with her education.

It was a treat to sit down and spend some time with such a mature and focused young woman and to hear of her plans for college and beyond.  Not to give anything away, but Miss Jasmine aspires to join a very elite group of medical professional in Ghana--and the rest of the world.

Miss Jasmine is part of a growing and powerful group of gifted and determined young Ghanaians who refuse to be deterred by any barriers and who are already thinking of how to give back to their nation and the world.

Meet Some (Incredibly Inspiring) Ashesi Students

Part of what I'm up to in Ghana is spending a week working on a book chapter that entails interviewing Ashesi University students.  My piece is on how the remarkable little university reflects African as well as Western motifs, and one of those motifs is a passion to care for others.

Kpetermeni Siakor--pictured here in a photo taken yesterday -has worked for and is now a board member for ilabLiberia, an organization working to speed communication regarding disasters, such as the ebola crisis in Liberia.  He's also set up a platform for enabling students with little access to books to connect with the best educational sites on the internet.  And more stuff I don't have room to cover.

Sam Norman Sali and Charles W. Jackson are Dalai Lama Fellows who head up Sesa Mu, an organization devoted to helping local pineapple growers figure out how to make a sustainable living.  They hope to play a role in Ghana some day being able to feed itself rather than importing so much food, a fact that drives much of the poverty that affects rural Ghana.

Benedicta Amo Bempah founded the AmoBempah Initiative last summer after taking a bus to Tamale to find out for herself what conditions were like in the North and finding a village that seemed to need some help.  They started with a literacy program and have plans for improving people's access to health, drinking water, and improved education, as well.

Chris Haruna co-founded Upper Progress to help schools in Ghana's remote Upper Eastern Region, a place where educational resources are particularly scarce.  For three years he has has persuaded a dozen or more Ashesi students to spent sixteen hours (one way) on a crowded bus and a week volunteering.

What these brief descriptions can't capture is the great joy all of these people express in having the opportunity to serve, to make the world better through working with and for others.

2.5 Days in Ghana

Well, the first thing I learned on our trip is that my good friend, Brando,  has a lot of friends in Portland and Ghana!  The photo to the right is from the Portland Airport.  Upon landing in Accra late Sunday, we were met by three friends of friends before we even got through customs (one soldier and two airport employees), then another six or so in the lobby.  And Brando had arranged for me to have a modem, phone, and several shirts, plus a drink, ready to go.  Ghanaians inside and outside of Ghana are incredibly hospitable.

The hospitality has continued at Ashesi University, where I am working in an office about three times the size of the one I have at Portland State.  I've talked with a lot of inspirational people and sat in on several classes.  President Patrick Awuah spoke Monday, the first day of school, about the Ebola outbreak, a talk that sort of encapsulated how Ashesi approaches the world, as he kept coming back to the themes of knowledge and leadership, that the disease's spread had been due largely to failures in those areas.

I'll introduce you soon to an inspiring Ashesi student from Liberia who is on the front line of containing Ebola in Liberia.

The challenges that the students and staff face at Ashesi are daunting, though, and frequent reference is made to "the road" (the photo to the left shows a portion of it, taken from my hotel room) which most staff and faculty traverse daily to get to the university, a commute that consumed well over 2 hours a day for most, largely because the road is unpaved and badly rutted much of the way.
 Our personal introduction to Ghana's infrastructure came right after our plane landed, when it took 2.5 hours to unload the baggage.  I suspect that these hardships are part of what prompt Ghanaians to rely on each other so much.  But I also suspect that Ashesi graduates and others are solving these problems while remaining, as President Awuah would emphasize, their traditional emphasis on community and hospitality.

The Number One Thing I Learned in Ghana

Before I set out for Ghana the first time nearly five years ago, my wife Wendy gave me two pieces of advice: 1) Stay open, without preconceptions; 2) Realize that you will learn and receive more than you will teach or give.  As usual, she was right.

What I learned in Ghana started to change my life in small and then large ways.  If I had to boil all the insights and realizations down to a single point, it would be this: life is very difficult, but that's OK.

In the U.S., most of us are raised to expect a pretty easy life, even to feel entitled to it.  We are therefore often surprised and bitter when life's inevitable problems and heartaches arise.  The great majority of Ghanaians, by way of contrast, assume that life is a struggle.  This assumption leads to a sense of gratitude for even life's small gifts, and life's challenges drive people to God and each other for comfort.

As I began to realize that the proper attitude toward life is gratitude rather than resentment and that accomplishments and hardships are to be shared rather than celebrated or endured on one's own, a whole new world of possibilities unfurled.  What if our lives are not some sort of entitlement to be defended, but rather a gift to be spent for and enjoyed with others?

So Yo Ghana! heads off for Ghana on Saturday knowing that at least some of our many and detailed plans are bound to be amended or discarded in the face of unforeseen problems but also that our month there will bring unpredictable joys and innumerable friendships.

I'll Be Missing My Wendy

With just three days to go until Brando and I leave for Ghana, this blog will soon be filled with photos of dedicated teachers and enthusiastic students from across that joyful nation.  Indeed, a few nights ago when I told Brando of how challenging it had been to find a quiet place to record video interviews in Ghana schools two years ago, he replied, "it's hard to find a quiet place in the entire country!"

But before that chapter starts, I want to tell you about my amazing life partner who encouraged and pushed me to help start this young organization and who has fully supported my donating so much time and money to it.

Wendy has blown my socks off ever since she warmly welcomed me into the house she shared with her room mates in SE Portland nearly twenty-four years ago, when I was working on my dissertation.  She is the kindest and most generous person I know, relentlessly optimistic, supportive, and caring.  I can't imagine a better life partner, and for all the Yo Ghana! teachers and supporters who may run across this blog, please know that much of whatever success we have had and will have is because of her.

And if you see me driving in Ghana, please don't tell her!

David on The Learning Channel Wednesday Night

I'll be one of the historians interviewing Kelsey Grammer on the Learning Channel's "Who Do You Think You Are" show this coming Wednesday night at 9:00.  And then there are bound to be many re-runs.

I hadn't met a celebrity before, let alone sat down and talked with one about her or his ancestors and how to make sense of their lives, so it was very interesting.

And I had the pleasure of honoring Rick Harmon, a dear friend who passed away much too young, by telling Mr. Grammer how much Rick loved his work.  Rick was the long-time editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly and a loyal and valuable ally to most anyone in the field.  Rick loved the characters that Kelsey Grammer played, men much like himself--smart and often melancholy, but determined to make a contribution in a world that often didn't seem to make sense.