The goal

Yet another hurdle has been jumped...last week's fundraiser was a huge success as the bake sale brought in around 900 dollars. Many people from the community deserve the thanks. Several generous people gave baked goods, while others gave donations of money. Thankfully the goal has been surpassed and I'm quite confident that the school will be improved and expanded very shortly. As I spoke to Godwin recently I learned that the roster of students has grown to nearly 200. The need is great for these kids and this amount of funds should make a large difference in their well being. I hope to utilize all the funds on the School, and if anything remains after providing the necessities the Orphanage can be given attention. {For the sake of accountability I will be making a list of expenditures as I had for the spring trip -to those of you who had helped pay for some of my plane ticket.}

I will be leaving for Ghana November 5th, and staying for another month. I have received word that a couple volunteers are already there, which makes the project outlook easier. I will be doing a lot of the assessment of needs while I'm there in the first few days and record it in a journal as well as updates via the web. Although many places in Africa are of the third world and lack in technology, they do have access to internet in the cities where technology has thrived. If you would like to receive a letter through email while I am there, please send me your email address. As stated in the previous post there are some basics that need to be taken care of for the school; books, desks, plaster, another building, bathrooms, teacher training/salaries might also be a need.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's belief in this project, the contributions, and advice. Thank you and please keep in touch

Updates

Godwin is doing better since about a month ago when he became ill with what was thought to be a stomach ulcer and typhoid. I was able to wire him some funds to cover the hospital bill and some extra for teacher salaries (the money did not come from the donated funds for the school project). I found out that they received it nearly two weeks ago...

I have purchased a plane ticket today and will be returning to Ghana November 5th (flexible). There are a few more things I must take care of before heading out. Anti-malarial will be the most expensive thing to do before I go. Luckily, I will not need to get vaccinations again but the malaria medicine is an unfortunate must.

The recalculated goal will hopefully be reached by way of donations before my intended date of departure. One of the fundraisers coming up is a bake sale at the Community Center in Adams, Wisconsin October 22nd. I appreciate all the support thus far and now I intend to carefully invest the money donated into the appropriate project as I stay in Ghana again during November.

As a contributing team, we are 3/5ths of the way to the goal. I will be doing whatever I can to attain the goal before I go and I am confident that it will be reached. Many people whom I know and whom I do not know have inspired me, thank you so much.