Hello, my name is Dustie and my daughter, Vanessa, and I are going on a mission trip to Ghana, West Africa in April 2008. We live in the Pacific Northwest (USA).
Originally we were just working on raising the money for the two of us to go, which would have been about $5500, but then we were encouraged to think bigger then ourselves and see what we could do to make an impact on the village.
We decided to take that “challenge” and we are currently raising money to send a 40 foot steel shipping container to Bamboi, Ghana. The shipping list is changing as I am talking to the Paramount Chief of the Mo Tribe to find out what the true needs are in his village. For instance, I just added adult bikes onto my list, because he said that they really were a huge need for the leaders to get from village to village to help the people.
I created this blog to let people know about the progress that we are making on the container. If you know of anyone that has a heart for this type of project, please pass along this blog to them.
Together we can make the world a better place!
As Edmund Burke once said:
Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little.
3 responses so far ↓
bibomedia // February 28, 2008 at 10:38 pm |
Brandt // March 4, 2008 at 8:32 pm |
Dear Dustie and Vanessa,
I spent 1 month in rural Ghana a year ago working on sustainable business development. I greatly applaud your efforts. In my experience the most challenging thing you will discover is that the most basic business, organization, team work, and planning skills that we take for granted are lacking. The work that you do will be hardest to sustain for these reasons.
The major needs that I saw while I was in Ghana were bicycles because they are the primary means of transportation, books (they speak and read english at a limited level. Their writing is generally poor), musical instruments for a brass band (trumpets, drums, baritone, tuba are very popular for weddings and funerals), soccer balls w/ needles and pumps (soccer fields in the rural areas are in pretty poor condition and very few players have cleats), medical supplies (asprin, vitamins, disinfectants, etc.), crank powered flash lights (the power goes off all the time).
I am currently looking for a way to get musical instruments to the community that I worked with in South West Ghana (the Volta Region). I am not sure where you guys are headed.
Be safe… I think Malaria and bad water are your biggest risks. If you have any questions let me know. I’d be very happy to be of help.
Regards,
Brandt
Jerry Kingery // June 15, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
Are you still shipping containers? Can you use Bibles for them? Can I get contact information on someone to call to discuss this? Thank you.