The Pennsylvania license plate reading “GBX-1837” is from my current car when I switched it from Pennsylvania to Virginia and the old Pennsylvania plate was removed in favor of one from Virginia.  I never gave away the license plate, I always keep them because I think they’re cool.  How did my license plate get taken from me and then shipped to me from California?  No idea!

The piece of paper that I took out came folded in half.  The only thing it says, on either side is, “Thinking/Missing You!!!” in the same handwriting that accompanied the envelope it was shipped in.

I don’t know of anyone in La Mirada, CA, a suburb of Los Angles.  I would like to know who sent this to me, and how they got my old license plate.  I also never updated my forwarding address and have only been at my current place since August 9^th, this leads me to think it’s someone I keep in touch with.  I asked my roommate what he thought and he said, “we’ll you are the king of pranks.”  So, if this is a prank, congratulations, you got me, I’m stumped.

Below are some pictures of the “evidence.”

To say the way of life in Ghana is different than here in the U.S. hardly quantifies the extreme differences the I witnessed, lived, and worked in for three weeks.  When I first arrived in Ghana to met up with Joseph–a local Worldreader employee–we replenished my fuel tanks by finding palatable food by American standards.  I took the advice of doctors and others to not eat fresh produce or water.  However, after one meal I realized how difficult this would be and realized my trip wouldn’t be too enjoyable if I became paranoid about my diet.  I threw that advice out the window, street food it was for me!  So that’s my advice when traveling overseas, eat street food.  The price is rockbottom and the quality is top notch!  By doing things like this, I was able to truly embrace the Ghanaian culture and make my relationships with those I interacted with more relevant and more personal.

While looking for a local vendor one day to eat a local favorite, fufu, in the village of Adeiso, I noticed I had a shadow following me.  I turned around to a hoard of preschool aged kids awestruck by the presence of an obruni (Twi for “white person”) in their little village.  They didn’t speak English but I did a hand motion to indicate that I wanted to take a picture of them.  After taking the picture I showed it to them on the screen and they shrieked and smiled and laughed.  This drew the attention of even more kids.  This was a special moment for me in Ghana, to bring so much joy to this kids through the act of taking their picture and exchanging high-fives.  I had a similar experience later on my trip while in Elmina.  I walked along the beach for a minute and a kid, selling water, came up to me and asked me to take his picture.  So I did and I told him it’ll probably be on the internet–he was so happy!  I gave him 5 pesewas for some of the water he was selling and we parted ways.

I’ve already shared two stories of me walking around by myself.  Anywhere I went in Ghana, the villages, various parts of the bustling capital Accra, I felt comfortable walking around by myself at anytime of the day.  I often felt more comfortable than I do in many American cities.  This is a testament to the kindness and the respect for the community that Ghanaians have.  Everyone was so embracing of me.  When meeting people, I quickly learned about the lack of personal barriers that are common in African cultures.  For instance, when I met people for the first time I was usually asked if I was married and then regardless of my answer I was then asked if I had any kids.

I could share stories and write a while book on my experiences while in Ghana, but I’d like to transition to what I did while I was abroad.

My work with Worldreader was essentially divided into two projects: firstly, determining the effectiveness of the Saturday out-of-classroom exercises.  The Saturday OCEs are an extracurricular program where students can come to the school and read a story and then be asked critical thinking questions about what they read.  The students are then treated with “minerals” (known as soda or pop Stateside) at the end of the program while socializing with us and other students.  Secondly, to help with the organization of the organization, I will be developing a mobile phone application that can be used by Worldreader employees in the field to track and monitor the use of the eReader in the schools.

To complete the first-half of my project, I interviewed almost 60 people between students, teachers, authors, publishers, and students from local universities and international schools who volunteer with Worldreader.  I used this information to determine worked well with the Saturday OCEs and what didn’t.  When returning home, I wrote up an extensive report about my findings and submitted it to Worldreader.

Starting more recently, I’ve begun developing the outline and specifications for the mobile phone application.  Over the next several weeks, the background work for the project should finish up and the actual coding aspect can begin.  Completing this project will help Worldreader to track the distribution of eReaders easier as well as to compile information pertaining to the use of the eReaders.

All in all, I had an amazing trip, meet some amazing people, and formed great relationships with people from all over the world.  I had a meal in Ghana where there were three people sitting at the table.  Joseph from Africa, Colin from Europe, and me from North America, what a unique experience!  I’d go back in a heartbeat and I plan to continue working with such a great organization that’s changing the lives of hundreds of students in Africa.

Here is a link to view photos from my trip

The main language on Curaҫao is Papiamento, followed by Dutch and then a tie between Spanish and English.  Most menus and a lot of signs were in Dutch.  Papiamento is a hybrid of multiple languages mostly based on Spanish with heavy Dutch, English, and African influences.  “Bon bini” is the common phrase and means “welcome!”  Despite the language differences, I felt no trouble communicating with people, their accent was understandable and everyone spoke English…well, almost everyone.  We took a walk by the floating market in the Punda district of Willemstad where boats from Venezuela come every day to sell fresh fish and produce right from the boat.  This was really cool and is a popular place to get food for the locals.  The fruit looked too good to pass up, so, after conversing with a Venezuelan in Spanish for a few minutes, I was able to buy a good amount of watermelon, mangoes, and a pineapple from him for 15 Antillean Guilder, or about $8.  We turned this into a fruit salad to go with our Memorial Day cookout.  Just because we’re on vacation doesn’t mean our troops are too!

I found the people to be exceptionally nice considering they had to deal with our driving and language.  We had a waitress one day named Martha (pronounced Mar-ta) who we asked if she knew a company who would take us on a boat tour.  Martha said no, but came back a few minutes later and hooked us up with her friend John (the Dutch expatriate) who gave us a tour on his boat boasting twin 300s!  This was one of the highlights of the trip.  It’s kind of funny thinking that we got on a boat with a random stranger, but he gave us a great tour and shared great stories.  We got his contact information in case we ever go back, we’ll be sure to meet up with him again.

Curaҫao is known as a snorkeling/scuba diving hotspot, shadowed by its neighbor—Bonaire.  Snorkeling is one of my favorite activities on vacation.  I’ve been privileged to snorkel in Hawai’i, Duck Key, Key West, Jamaica, The Bahamas, St. Lucia, and now Curaҫao.  I love marine life and it’s always fun being on a boat and just getting to float around in the water and talk with other tourists.  On our last full-day, we went snorkeling on a catamaran we had seen around the island through a tour company.  They took us to two spots, both in front of the fort and mansion mentioned earlier.  The main spot to go snorkeling in Curaҫao is where a tugboat sunk some 30 years ago.  It’s covered in coral and marine life which has become quite accustomed to humans.  I was swimming in the middle of a school of tiny fish, literally surrounded 360 degrees by hundreds of these fish just inches from my camera lens—what an experience!  The tugboat was surrounded by hundreds of fish of all different types.  I even got a few pictures of some barracuda, sea urchins, flounder, and a fish that looked like a sergeant major.  We also had some fun diving off of the catamaran into the clear blue water.  They also served us an intense lunch for an excursion like this.  The island is teeming with wildlife, and we had no issue finding an array of lizard species, including several over three feet long—but they run at any hint of your presence.

I learned some tips that I think will be useful for future travelers to Curaҫao.  I learned that spelling is optional.  On anything, there are frequent typos.  For example, “pork” was spelled “porc.”  Even though they have phones, answering them is purely optional.  There is no GPS network there and there are rarely street signs and what street signs exist aren’t reflective, so they are impossible to see at night.  Arrive in Curaҫao in the day with a map to avoid navigation issues.  The street names are in a different language, so pronouncing them is difficult only adding to the navigation issues.  With all that said, no one had any issues getting anywhere, but it is easy enough to get lost.  When sitting down at a restaurant, you must ask for a menu—I guess it’s not implied that when your hostess seats you that you intend to also eat.  And Diet Coke is called and labeled as Coke Light in Curaҫao.

All-in-all, it was a great trip and I would highly recommend anyone to travel there.  The people are nice, the weather is great year round (they don’t get hurricanes, they’re too far south), the food is exceptional!  I think my 700+ pictures are proof that I enjoyed myself!

I’ve already completed my first task!  Joseph asked me to bring some duct tape.  I’m not sure why, my best guess (based on previous conversations) is to make name tags for the Kindles.  He originally said 10 rolls, but we settled on 5.  So, I’m going to bring 5 rolls, or 550 yards, or over half a kilometer

of duct tape with me across the world.  I find it kind of humorous!  I guess duct tape is a commodity in Ghana whereas people make wallets and win scholarships for prom dresses made out of it in the United States.  This means I won’t come back with it so I’ll have room for souvenirs.  Win, win.

I also wanted to thank my supporters thus far!  All 14 of your donations have made this trip possible, and I’m so thankful and blessed for your generosity!  I’ve compiled very detailed reports using Excel that I will offer to any of my supporters for their reference of how their funds were spent, just email me and I’ll send it to you.  The reaction I’ve gotten from people about my trip has been encouraging.  I love when people tell me that they saw my video or read my blog, they always say it with a smile!

Lastly, I’ll update to the best of my ability while in Ghana.  I’ve been told I’ll have internet on my phone while there, but its quality is a question.  I’ll use my twitter account to post pictures and quibbles several times a day, so be sure to follow me there too!  Also, you can subscribe to my blog, via RSS or email, this way you’ll never miss a post!  Click the RSS button at the top for RSS or go to the “Subscribe” section at the right for email.

Zev Lowe, Worldreader’s Director of Research, is a fellow computer science major and surfer (possibly my twin) who has an impressive résumé to say the least. He and I had a Skype meeting earlier this week where I learned a lot about what I’ll be doing along with some tips for my travels. Essentially, I’ll have two, one-week projects. The first being a research-based project where I’ll interview people who are involved with Worldreader from the students, to the teachers to help try and assess the effectiveness and shortcomings of the program at the various schools. There is also a group of students from Ashesi University who partner with Worldreader. Ashesi University was founded by a Microsoft employee and one of their three degrees offered is computer science! The second project is to help plan and develop a program (iPhone or Android application) to help track and monitor the distribution and status of Kindles. I’m particularly intrigued by the second project because I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find service organizations where they look for computer scientists. It will be awesome to apply my degree to help an organization like Worldreader—I’ve honestly been losing sleep because of how excited I am.

I also got some great travel tips from Zev. He suggested that I buy a copy of Time Out, a travel magazine, when I arrive in Accra to learn about what’s going on in the area. He also introduced me to some cultural norms like the standard attire for someone who would be working, like me. It pretty much just means don’t wear jeans and do wear a nicer shirt—Zev particularly encouraged me to bring along button-down short-sleeve shirts. I didn’t own any so I purchased two button-down short-sleeve shirts from a local outdoors store that have built-in SPF50 for a great deal due to the buy-one-get-one-half-off sale. It will be the rainy season though.  Accra averages 7.8 inches of rain in June compared to 3.4 inches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or 3.4 inches here in Blacksburg, Virginia.  I was told this makes for some amazing waterfalls.  Zev also informed me of prepaid SIM cards that I can purchase where I’ll still have some degree of internet accessibility. This means I’ll be able to upload pictures to my Twitter and maybe send home a few reports about how things are going in Ghana.

While in Ghana, my friend and contact will be Joseph Botwey.  He “oversees the daily operation of the iREAD trial in Ghana.”  I haven’t talked to him a whole lot yet, but I’ve only heard great things.

Everything is falling into place, my vaccinations are complete (Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A, Polio booster, and anti-Malaria medicine), the flights are booked, my visa application submitted, my release forms mailed to Worldreader in Spain, and I know what I’ll be doing. I will be back-and-forth between Accra and the villages so my accommodation arrangements will be day-be-day it seems. Now begins the part of mentally preparing myself and figuring out the details!

Over the past two weeks I’ve begun the monumental task of trying to organize an international trip and graduate—both very time consuming duties.  I’ve been able to piece together some key pieces of information though.  I’d personally like to thank Susan at Worldreader for being such a help and the source of a lot of this information.  I learned that my daily diet will primarily consist of eggs for breakfast and chicken, rice, and water for lunch and dinner.  Clean water is easily accessible through the myriad of street vendors.  I was told that access to fruit and vegetables is limited and that my calorific intake of food can be supplemented by what street vendors sell (I remain cautious of eating street vendor food in a third world country) so I’ll probably try to sneak in some Tastykakes or something.

The other thing I learned is that immunizations are expensive.  After hoping and crossing my fingers that my health insurance would cover (or subsidize) the costs of vaccinations, I was told otherwise by the insurance representative on the phone.  I did book a consultation appointment with the Montgomery County (Virginia) Health Department where they will tell me which vaccinations they recommend.  This consultation is standard when people travel to rural villages in third world countries.  I know I need Yellow Fever to get my travel visa, but I’m sure I will also be told to get Hepatitis A and Typhoid Fever vaccinations.  The CDC provides great information on their travel recommendations and I should meet them all after including the aforementioned vaccinations, besides rabies.  A friend mentioned that I could get some of these vaccinations at Schiffert Health Center, Virginia Tech’s on-campus health clinic, which should make my vaccinations costs a lot less.

Also, during my phone conversation with Susan last Friday we discussed some dates.  She said they really wanted me to come during the last week of May to help with some technical tasks.  However, due to a friend’s wedding and other travel plans, that week is not feasible to make the trip.  My current thoughts are that I’ll go to Ghana during the beginning of June before the students begin their exams.  Hopefully by the end of this week I will have solid dates for this trip and I can go ahead and book plane tickets before their prices start getting jacked-up.  Flying to Africa isn’t cheap, but I know it’ll be worth it!

Thanks again to all of my donors, Worldreader is doing great things!  Just a side-note, e-book sales beat paperbacked sales for the first time!  Booyah!

I’m anxious to see how this campaign pans out. I am trying to go to Ghana in June, so I could have less than two months to meet my fundraising goals. It’s a lot of pressure, but a challenge I’ll enjoy! I hope you consider helping out my cause!  Any amount puts me that much closer to my goal!

The Flag of Ghana

Map of Ghana located in Western Africa

• Before 1957, Ghana was a British colony known as the Gold Coast
• Ghana literally translates to “warrior king,” a title bestowed upon kings in the medieval Ghana Empire
• Kwame Nkrumah was the first prime minister of Ghana and was educated at Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania (near where I grew up)
• Ghana is a small country in Western Africa around the size of Oregon with a population around 25 million people
• The capital of Ghana, Accra, is Ghana’s largest city being called home by some 2.3 million people
• Ghana has a constitutional democracy for a government; the current chief of state is President John Evans Atta Mills

Ghana's President John Evans Atta Mills

• The main exports from Ghana are gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds, and horticulture.  Conversely, Ghana’s main imports are capital equipment, petroleum, and foodstuffs
• The literacy rate in Ghana is 58% for those over 15 years old
• Ghana has about 1.3 million internet users
• Some 29% of Ghanaians live below the poverty line (poverty line meaning $1 USD per day)
• The currency in Ghana is the New Cedi.  As of today, $1 USD is equivalent to 1.51 Ghanaian Cedis.  The word Cedi is the Akan (a large ethnic group in West Africa) word for cowry shell (a former form of currency in many nations)

The currency of Ghana known as the New Cedi

Most facts from the CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html) and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana)

I’m specifically writing this blog post to generate interest among friends and family in my trip and with Worldreader. When I first found out that I was the runner-up and so close too, I was a little bummed. But I now see it as a blessing in disguise. Not only can I still go to Ghana, but I’ll have to fundraise my adventure too. By having to fundraise, my supporters will have a greater interest in my trip and in Worldreader. I also think it is a more sustainable model for developing a long-term relationship with Worldreader.

I will keep this up-to-date with events related to Worldreader and Ghana and hopefully I’ll have some videos and good news to post over the next several months! If you haven’t seen it yet, here is my video entry below!