First off, we would like to thank you for all of your support. Each and every one of you, in some way, has shaped us and encouraged us to give back in the same way that many of you have given to us. We appreciate your unwavering faith and could not have gotten this far without you. As Ghanaians say, medaase-that is, thank you.
We are undertaking big, ambitious plans because Butre, indeed, needs a lot of help. The issues we are tackling are mutually supportive of one another; each problem lends to the other. Therefore, by improving conditions in one of our areas of concern, we will improve conditions in the other areas as well.
As students ourselves, we understand that most of you have numerous overwhelming financial considerations: college payments, summer living expenses, traveling costs, and so on and so forth. What we would like most from all of you is your support, your criticisms, your questions, your suggestions, your interest, and most importantly, your curiosity. However, since we would like to undertake project upon project this summer, we do have to have to consider the all mighty dollar. If any of you have any contributions-none are too modest-that you would like to give to our efforts in Butre, you can forward check, money order, or cash (shhh) payable to our respective home addresses:
Brenda C. Ghostlaw
696 Mendon Ionia Rd.
Honeoye Falls, NY 14472
USA
David Rosen
382 E. California Blvd. #107
Pasadena, CA 91105
USA
We realize that normally, charities and donations would be forwarded directly to an organization through the internet or money transfers. However, because of where we are, there are a few problems:
A) Money transfers via Moneygram and Western Union incur significant costs. Let’s say you want to donate $5 (again, no donation is too nominal), these organizations would require you to pay a heftier fee to transfer the money than you would even like to donate.
B) Additionally, identity theft and online fraud is a major problem in Ghana. As a result, Pay Pal and other online money exchange programs are unavailable in the country.
A) Money transfers via Moneygram and Western Union incur significant costs. Let’s say you want to donate $5 (again, no donation is too nominal), these organizations would require you to pay a heftier fee to transfer the money than you would even like to donate.
B) Additionally, identity theft and online fraud is a major problem in Ghana. As a result, Pay Pal and other online money exchange programs are unavailable in the country.
The plan is that our families will collect the donations up until around April 15, 2010 (although if you cannot meet this deadline and would like to send after, we can make exceptions) and will, on our behalf, directly put it into our respective bank accounts, which is completely free. From there, we will transfer the money into our shared account under Barclay’s Bank in Ghana. Throughout this process, our families will be recording all of the donations and we plan on confirming the receipt of your contribution through the use of this Facebook.
In short, this is giving more “bang to your buck” and allowing us to undertake more projects. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask!
A Short Note:
For those of you who are more interested in sending materials and supplies, unfortunately, we cannot support this. One of the reasons why we can’t accept material donations like books and school supplies is because, as the receivers, we have to pay hefty, often arbitrary costs assigned by the Accra Post Office. Add this into what you will be paying to send the package and you are paying more than what you bargained for.
Additionally, we will be about four hours away from Accra Post Office where packages are received. Since we will be living in the village, we would like to minimize the amount of time we are traveling outside of Butre and maximize the time we are dedicating our “man power,” so to speak.
Lastly, the money that you contribute will be used to purchase items in Butre and nearby municipalities, thereby boosting the local economy and local producers. Again, your dollar is going further to help the community directly.
We are sorry for the inconvenience. We hope that you trust us, as well as our families enough to be confident that the donations are going to the right place. You are welcome to follow our fundraising progress located at the right-hand side of this blog.
Sincerely,
Brendan Rosen & Julie Ghostlaw
