Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I added a new way to donate on the blog. The ‘subscribe’ button on the top left corner is a way to donate monthly through Paypal. You can choose how much you would like to give each month from the drop down menu on the button. The amount you choose will automatically be deducted from the account associated with your Paypal account. It is set up to deduct for one year and then you can choose to continue or not. I am so grateful to all of you who have supported me this past year. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you. Here is an update letter I sent out when I returned:
"If you want to plan for a year, you plant rice. If you want to plan for 10 years, plant trees, and if you want to plan for 100 years, you educate." - Shadrack Leminso, Headmaster of Intimigom Nursery and Primary School in Kenya
Hi Everyone
It’s been quite an amazing 7 months for me! Last time that I wrote I was preparing to leave the states to teach in Ghana for 3 months. Well 3 months turned in to 6 months, and now 6 months is turning into a lifetime! I made it back to the states at the end of June and am working hard to return by the first of October.
There were many times that I thought about coming home early. Many days I felt overwhelmed and ill prepared for the work I was trying to do. Each day I saw things that made my heart break and most days I wanted to throw my hands up in frustration. I saw children drinking water that I knew would make them sick. I had students with headaches because they couldn’t see. I held a baby as she died because her family had no money for a doctor. I saw so many things that seemed so unnecessary, things that should be so easy to fix, and yet I couldn’t. And just when I wanted to give in, pack up, and go home I would see Susie, a small girl who two or three times a week would find me, crawl up into my lap, and take a nap. Or Eli would come and ask me how to pronounce a word in the dictionary, his only book and so the one he studied every night. Or Wonder would bring me sugar cane to say thank you and apologize for being late once again. And it was in those moments that I knew I couldn’t leave because these children held my heart and you can’t leave your heart behind. And I knew that what I could do was continue to love them. And I knew that while I couldn’t change everything I could teach them and in teaching them I could give them the opportunity to change their world. And so I stayed.
The Amekor Foundation has made so much progress in the few months since we began. We have been able to provide the school with resources it was severely lacking such as pencils and paper. Through a generous donation the school now has access to 100+ National Geographic magazines which the students can’t get enough of! We’ve partnered with two colleges, Birmingham Southern College and Centre College, to bring over students to work in our school. But most importantly our presence in Bakpa-Avedo has shown our students that there is a world out there full of people they may never know, but who believe in them and want them to succeed in fulfilling all of their dreams. Even with all of our progress and success there is still much left to be done and that is why I must go back.
In October I plan on returning to Ghana to start the new school year. At that time we will begin implementing small group tutoring programs in order to slowly bring each student up to grade level proficiency in reading. In January we are hosting 20 students and four professors from Birmingham Southern College that are coming to work at our school in Bakpa-Avedo. And we hope to begin ground-breaking on our library which will serve the 16 schools in our district. The Foundation is still small in numbers but we are growing fast and there is much work to be done in order to ensure our continued success. The progress we have made would not have been possible without your generous support so far. So I am asking for your help once again. When I return I will be staying for one year. In order to do this I must raise $10,000. With your support I will be able to return to Ghana and do my best to make sure that each student is given the opportunity to learn more so that they may do more. I will return so that Wonder achieves his dream of becoming a lawyer, so that Holy becomes an astronomer, and so Eli can grow up to be a teacher of children just like himself.
Please send any donation to:
Tori Morris
182 Candlewood Dr.
Danville, Ky
40422
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.”
- George Washington Carver
