[Ghanatrip] -s- Lots and lots of Ghana info

[Laura Wendell]

Hello all!

 

The Ghana listserv has been silent for the past few months as we here at 
One World Market focused on surviving the holiday season.  I am very 
pleased to let everyone know that we now have 13 participants for the 
trip.  One more just contacted me, so we may have 14.  If you'd like, 
you can send a message to everyone on the list introducing yourselves.  
I'll send out a list with everyone's names shortly.  If you want to send 
a message to everyone on the list, please use the list address 
ghanatrip at oneworldmarket.info <mailto:ghanatrip at oneworldmarket.info>.  
Ellie Schimelman of Aba Tours is also on the list and will get your 
messages as well.  If you wish to respond to the poster of a message, 
including me or Jenny, please send your message to the poster's email 
address.

 

I am attaching a very good general information file from Ellie.  It 
covers most of the basic questions you'll have.  Please note that you 
cannot apply for a visa from the Ghana embassy until you have your plane 
ticket.  Ellie's file covers the visa application in detail, but I will 
also call the embassy to check that the requirements have not changed.  
I'll send out more information about that later.

 

For the moment, you have only ONE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT.  Please email me, 
laura at oneworldmarket.info <mailto:laura at oneworldmarket.info> your 
contact information.  The most important thing is that you send me your 
full legal name EXACTLY AS IT APPEARS ON YOUR PASSPORT.  This is really 
important.  Ellie will be purchasing our plane tickets through her 
consolidator and the name on your plane ticket must match your passport 
or the immigration officials on both sides of the Atlantic get bent out 
of shape.  Honestly, even having Laura A Wendell on your plane ticket 
and Laura Wendell on your passport can cause problems. I also need your 
physical address for the tax receipt (see tax info below) I will mail to 
you and your phone number(s).  I will send around an emergency contact 
form later.  If you will be extending your trip, please send me the 
dates you wish to travel ASAP.  Otherwise, I will assume you are 
traveling to Ghana on July 5^th and returning to the US on July 18^th 
(arriving in the US on the 19^th ).

 

The next step for all of us is to purchase our plane tickets.  According 
to Ellie, the airfare has been jumping around quite a bit.  She says it 
is always the case that the airfare goes up as you get closer to the 
travel dates and that we should buy our tickets as soon as possible.  We 
do have to pay for the tickets in their entirety at the time of 
purchase.  I can collect the money at the store and forward it to 
Ellie.  The price of the tickets will be about $2000 each.  Ellie will 
give us an exact figure shortly.  I'd like to have all the tickets 
purchased by Feb 15^th .  The last payment for the trip (approximately 
$800) will be due 30 June 5^th .

 

Tax info: One World Market is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization and you 
will be working on various volunteer projects while in Ghana.  Due to 
this fact, part or all of your trip expenses may be tax deductible. You 
would deduct them as "expenses of volunteering" on form 1040 schedule 
A.  If you extend your trip, only the portion during which you are 
volunteering is deductible and you will want tax advice from a 
professional.  Please note that I am NOT an accountant or tax 
professional and am not qualified to give anyone any advice about tax 
matters.  My advice is strictly limited to alerting you that you should 
save receipts for all of your trip-related expenses, including medical 
visits and purchases directly related to volunteering (not clothes and 
your personal stuff, but books you'll read to kids or other supplies you 
intend to use while carrying out your volunteer activities).  In other 
words, save all your receipts because you might need them later.  I will 
provide you with a receipt for all the funds collected through One World 
Market.

 

Now on to fun stuff!  I plan to invite everyone over for a fufu dinner, 
slide show and general good time sometime in March.  I am currently 
trying to buy a new house, though it has been a very long and involved 
process.  Hopefully, I'll move soon so it can also be a bit of a house 
warming party.  Agbessi, my Togolese little brother, should be there.  
Our family in Togo is Ewe (pronounced evay with a soft v) and they live 
in both Togo and Ghana.  Ellie says there are several Ewe speakers at 
Aba House.  I know they would be tickled if you knew how to greet them 
in Ewe.  We can all have tons of fun practicing Ewe.  It is a hard 
language, but very beautiful. 

 

The folks from the Full Belly Project would also like to invite some or 
all of us down to Wilmington for a weekend in the spring.  They will 
show us all the cool things they are doing and help us plan the peanut 
sheller workshop.  I'll send out a choice of dates some time next 
month.  We'll probably do this on a weekend in April.  My understanding 
is that Full Belly has a house where we can stay so there wouldn't be 
any cost for this trip besides fuel and meal, but I'll confirm that and 
find out how many they accommodate.

 

I would like everyone to give some thought to projects that interest 
them in addition to the peanut shellers.  I know that Anne Fletcher is 
interested in working on weeding and organizing the small library at Aba 
House (Anne - Ellie is thrilled).  Perhaps some of you can help her.  
There are always kids around Aba House and everywhere else in Ghana.  
They just appear.  Really.  They would all love to be read to.  I'll be 
bringing 4-5 of may favorite children's books to read to kids during the 
trip and leave at Aba House for the library.  I have lots of good ideas 
about what books would be most interesting and appealing to African 
kids.  There are also many good bookstores in Accra where you can find 
all sorts of great stuff you cannot get here.   The kids would also love 
to make books (I can teach everyone some simple book making projects 
that can be done in 10 minutes with nothing more than paper and 
scissors).  They would also love to draw, sing or make paper.  The 
purpose of these activities is to encourage reading and self-expression. 

 

With adult artisans, I think we will want to learn from them and share 
ideas.  You are all experts on the target market for their products 
because you ARE the target market for their products.  We could show 
them pictures of the store, craft catalogs, fashion magazines and that 
sort of things to stimulate discussions about design.  Our job is to 
absorb and learn as much as possible so we can give feedback during and 
AFTER the trip (after may be via Ellie).  We want to help the artisans 
sell more stuff by sharing ideas.

 

If the above paragraphs seem really vague, just try to remember that we 
are not really going to conduct formal lectures or workshops besides the 
peanut sheller workshop.  We do not have a specific agenda or specific 
goals for the volunteer activities.  The idea and spirit of the trip is 
to get to know folks, understand a bit about who they are and what they 
do and share ideas.  Something wonderful always happens when you sit 
down with folks for a few hours and just observe and talk.  A wonderful 
monk my husband met in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco once told him that 
you need to "let the way show you the way."  I know that projects will 
present themselves over the next few months and that other ideas will 
occur to us only when we actually get to Ghana.

 

As for other ways to prepare yourselves, Ellie has a suggested reading 
list on the Aba House web site.  I recommend buying or borrowing a basic 
guidebook.  Despite having lived in Togo, I always learn something new 
when I look at the latest edition of a Lonely Planet or other 
guidebook.  The Travel Channel recently had a show called "No 
Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain that Jenny really enjoyed.  I don't 
know when it will air again, but keep an eye out.  Jenny also loved 
Emmanuel's Gift (see below), which is available from Netflix.

 

 

*Emmanuel's Gift* /(2005)/ (Doc)
This film chronicles the life of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, a young Ghanaian 
man born with a severely deformed right leg, who today, against 
incalculable odds, is opening minds, hearts and doors-and effecting 
social and political change throughout his country. Emmanuel begins his 
quest with a bicycle ride, over 600 kilometers, across Ghana with one 
leg-and continues to spread his vision with grit and resolve. Lisa Lax 
and Nancy Stern have been documenting Emmanuel's plight for over a year, 
having shot over 100 hours of powerful imagery. The film includes 
original footage shot in Ghana, California, Oregon and New York, as well 
as photographs and other acquired film/video of Emmanuel's early years. 
Through it all, they have created an intimate insight into the mind and 
heart of a visionary whose unforgettable journey transcends continents 
and cultures and becomes each of ours to share. /(paraphrased from/

/ /

/Happy reading, viewing, planning!!!  I am so excited to go back to West 
Africa.  It is going to be a fabulous trip./

 

Laura
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