Ghana! - Morgantown, WV

Ghana checklist:
1. Vaccinations-check!
2. Organizations to work with-check!
3. A place to stay-check!
4. Plane tickets-as of yesterday at 10:45 am, check!

I'm headed to Ghana this summer to work at the Buduburam refugee camp with EatToFeedLiberians and Africa Heartwood Project. The camp remains refuge to around 10,000 Liberians who fled Liberia during the first and second Liberian Civil Wars. Even though the wars have long since ended, many Liberians still remain. Some are there because they believe there is greater opportunity in Ghana for them. Some remain because for one reason or another, they do not have their ticket back to Liberia, and they cannot afford the trip without it. Whatever the reason, many remain there, and the camp has become a more permanent part of Ghanaian society. So the camp waits to welcome this young eager Yankee by the name of Julian into its arms and present him with new challenges, and this young eager Yankee counts down the minutes until his flight leaves on May 18th.

This will be my longest stint outside of the grand ol' U.S. of A. and my first trip to Africa. It was inspired by Ann, a friend of mine who walked this path a few years ago during her freshman summer of college. I am not usually one to follow in the footsteps of others; Ann's steps are carefully thought out and precisely placed, a far cry from my own quickly laid steps that seem so large that I barely remain on my feet at times. But Ann is different from others; she has an independent thinking, dance like no one is looking, unafraid to be wrong type of attitude that makes her one that few people can follow but that many people would like to. Usually I would not follow her to the ends of the earth, but I would certainly meet her there. She is my travel companion and I have learned so much from her, and for once this is my time to learn by following the leader. =)

-For more information about Ann's travels to Ghana and the rest of the world, check out her blog at http://annfinley.blogspot.com/. For more information on Eat to Feed Liberians and Africa Heartwood Project, check out their websites linked above