Photo courtesy www.ghanacommunity.com
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Promises are easy to make. Often though, keeping them is a more complicated matter, and the most arduous promises are the ones we make to ourselves.
We can't all be who we think we are, but the measure of our credibility is largely intertwined with our ability to keep the promises that we make to others, and of greatest import is the promises we utter only within. You can lie to other people, but you can never lie to yourself.
Lately I've been asking myself a lot of questions about why I write this blog, so I looked at the text on my landing page to remind myself about what my goals really are. Honestly, it seems that lately its been more about what I think and about my travels than my original purpose.
Lately, I have been trying to get caught up in living up to my creed. I have recently sent some cash off to the Omenako School Project. Ironically, Omenako has now reached the point where they could actually begin to consider my original and impractical offer of the donation of a laptop. And it has spawned a new website.
The school has a roof, windows and doors. The physical infrasructure now exists. We can now fathom the possibility of a library and an internet connection. In addition, someone else has donated a computer. I am proud to have played a small role in creating this ongoing project in conjunction with some awesome people from inside and outside Ghana.
Omenako, however is a communal promise, something that an accidental and impromptu group made to each other. And it is a promise being kept.
As Toufic walked me through his village of Larabanga, I made a promise, not to Toufic, but to myself. I was enveloped in need and I began to see that supporting Toufic might create a domino effect. He was involved in helping to build the school in Larabanga and he volunteers as a teacher there.
In short, he pays it forward.
And, once again I'm asking you to do the same. Toufic needs to pay for another semester of schooling. The goal is $800. I'm putting up half, so that means a total goal of $400, and Cayelle pitched in $50, so we are already down to $350.
Make no mistake, there is nothing I hate more than asking people for money, I think its connected to my Leo pride. Ahhh, foolish pride. But sometimes a donation is an investment.
And this is an investment that I believe in.
Donations may be made in person or through my paypal account @
http://www.goyestoeverything.com
ps: If you want to see where Toufic lives, watch the first five minutes. And I'm happy to say that I ate the exact same meal in the exact same place. I was treated like an honoured guest and it is among the road moments that I most cherish.
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