To start this out, my name is Elizabeth and I am an undergrad student at the University of Michigan. This summer I am traveling to Ghana for a 9 week volunteer internship with Cross-Cultural Solutions. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to visit/travel/work in Africa. The idea of living in Africa was planted in my head at a young age, when one of my friends was moving to Kenya because her parents were missionaries. Being a 4-year-old, I really couldn't comprehend the magnitude of lifestyle change that they had chosen to undertake. Since having matured a little since then, I, myself, have felt called to the idea of living and working in a developing area where my skills could assist in development.
My program will include working at a school Monday through Friday and having some free time on the weekends. I will be living at a home base with anywhere from 2 to 50 volunteers, who will be coming in each week.
From this experience, I want to affirm my desire to work and live in Africa. I hope to find a niche that I feel really needs my efforts. I pray that I will be able to make a positive and loving impact on the people I will be working with and that any negative stereotypes of myself as an American, or of the people I will be surrounded by, as Africans, will be left out of our minds. I seek to find that aid given by an American is not a bad thing, and this aid is welcomed, needed, and beneficial to those that it is intended for.
So, without a specific assignment at this point in my adventure, these are the goals that I have. Once I know what I will be doing and with whom, I will share with you the goals and hopes I have in my placement.
12 days and counting!
Until then my friends!
Elizabeth
