My sister Mallory recently returned from Africa, here is what she had to say.

-Matt Higginson, ONE Nevada Field Organizer

I just returned from a two-month humanitarian mission in Ghana, West Africa. I was there working mostly in the deaf schools, teaching students in sign language and facilitating teachers.

It’s hard to sum up the intense variety of emotions and thoughts you have while visiting a developing country - I saw many things that were difficult. Our students were often sick with malaria. They had cuts, sores and infections that couldn’t be cared for properly. Often they drank unclean, stale water which they collected from a nearby water source. While these are all things we consider terrible it was common life for them. Despite these conditions, it took only ONE of us to make ONE child feel smart, important, needed, and loved.

In addition to working in the deaf schools, I was also able to visit nearby villages and spend some time with the people in them. I learned of their culture, lifestyles, daily struggles, and will to survive. The experience was life changing, but perhaps the greatest insight I gained was that of the human spirit, its need to be loved and our obligation to fulfill that need and give children a chance to succeed. I’m grateful to know that the efforts of the ONE Campaign directly benefit the wonderful people I got to know. It is nice to have an outlet like ONE here in states to maintain my drive and energy to help improve the conditions in Africa!”

-Mallory Higginson

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Ghana. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.