The GCJ Ghana delegation met three times post-journey to distill, deepen and share learnings on a personal level, as well as provide insights for future GCJ journeys. Here are some of the highlights from ongoing activities.

• GCJ Ghana branch: Members will support the WCHH orphanage/community center building project, continue the Town Hall and gender dialog session learnings from the trip and more.
• Boeing $34,000 grant: Will fund completion and furnishing of Building One. 35 orphans will be moving in soon. 21 of them are already enrolled in school near the orphanage. Fundraising is in progress for Building Two. $50,000 is needed to complete the dormitory and community learning center complex.
• Microlending: We’ve raised funds for Daasgift Quality Foundation, a Ghanaian NGO headed by GCJ Ghanaian delegate Gifty Asmah. Daasgift provides loans and training in basic business skills to rural women.
• Healthcare: While in Axim, we met a child with a serious eye condition, which prevented her from going to school and if left untreated, would have led to a life of blindness and begging. We emailed photos to the University of Washington for a diagnosis. The girl has received treatment and is now attending school and learning to read. We will continue to support her with medical and school costs.
• In addition: Engineering and nursing delegates are investigating ways to improve the water/sanitation situation in Axim; the computer team is designing ways for Internet connection in the community learning center; and the teachers are creating plans for collaboration next year.

Several North American delegates are hoping to return to Axim in September to reconnect with our partners, add their hands to these projects and enjoy the annual Kundum festival.

Learn more about the many accomplishments of the Ghana journey here.

- Maryanne Ward, GCJ Ghana Co-director

Part of GCJ’s mission as a grassroots organization is to bring visibility to otherwise overlooked parts of the world, thereby attracting support from those with greater funding capabilities. So we are very excited that this is happening just as we’d hoped for the library in Oporoza, which was built as part of the 2005 GCJ delegation to the Niger Delta in Nigeria. Here’s the latest news:

• The Ijaw tribe is the largest ethnic group in the Niger Delta, and Oporoza is an Ijaw village. The newly-formed North American chapter of the Ijaw National Congress (INC-NA) brings together Ijaws in the diaspora who wish to support and stay connected with their homeland. INC-NA and Mr. Ogoba Dickson (who currently resides in Norway) have made a significant donation to pay the monthly salary of the library staff, and have pledged to continue doing so until they can arrange for the government or another entity in Nigeria to take over responsibility.
• The UK’s Dept. for Int’l. Development (DFID) is funding a number of upgrades to the library’s media room. Since the beginning of the year, they have installed new computers, printers and software to replace the used equipment donated as part of the 2005 delegation. The old computers will be donated to the nearby school. They’ve also funded a satellite dish and networking of the computers for Internet access. As part of their commitment to support strong inter-tribal ties, DFID is also establishing an Internet site with computers in Ugborodo, a nearby Itsekiri tribal village. Joint training and events are being planned to bring the groups together on a regular basis.
• The US Consulate to Nigeria, located in Lagos, approved a $10,000 grant to install solar panels at the library. Solar panel vendor identification is underway.
• Our Nigerian host NGO, Niger Delta Professionals for Development, was responsible for obtaining the DFID and Consulate grants and is coordinating both projects.

- Mary Ella Keblusek, GCJ Nigeria Project Director

It is thrilling to begin to see the fruits of our initial journeys. A year later, two of our Nigerian delegates (Mustapha and Chom) remark how life-changing the experience of going into the Delta was and how they now see themselves as global citizens. The Board of Trustees continues to meet and is developing skill and capacity for collaboratively managing the Niger Delta Friendship Library. And our trip to Ghana is having amazing ongoing and expanding impacts. We are learning, the journey never ends!

A dedicated and inspiring group is emerging as the GCJ Steering Committee. We continue to be all volunteer and passion driven. You are welcome to join us. Next meeting is Thursday, March 8, from 5:00 to 7:30 pm at Susan’s in Fremont. (for directions email susan@globalcitizenjourney.org). There are many ways to get involved.

We are working on refining the mission statement. Here is the current version; feel free to comment and submit suggestions!

Global Citizen Journey exists to inspire people to become engaged and enlightened global citizens acting from a sense of our interconnectedness and mutual responsibility.
Global Citizen Journey:

• Travels across continents and boundaries to places often unheard and unseen
• Partners with host groups to accomplish tangible projects in empowering ways
• Engages in peace-building dialogues and practices to foster new ways of thinking
• Harvests and integrates learning to continuously enhance our mission
• Forges grassroots cross-cultural connections and friendships to build the global neighborhood
• Joins heads, hands, and hearts through living, working and learning together to unleash individual and collective wisdom and capabilities

We are thrilled to report that we raised $6710 in December, matched by $6430 from Omidyar, for a fabulous total of $13,140. Great appreciation to omidyar.net. This was a positive learning about our capacity for fundraising and the power of a matching grant. We also want to express appreciation to the Common Language Project for including GCJ in their application for this matching grant. CLP is a budding NGO created by three young, wise and talented people devoted to innovative multimedia approaches to international and local journalism that focuses on positive, inclusive and humane reporting of stories ignored by the mainstream media.

GCJ has decided to obtain our own 501(c)(3), with the blessing of our fiscal sponsor, The Compassionate Listening Project. We already need to do all of the accounting and paperwork, and having our own will save the 5% we currently send to Compassionate Listening. We expect to have the application submitted to the IRS by mid-March.

- Susan Partnow, GCJ Executive Director

GCJ Burundian host Prosper Ndabishuriye has been rebuilding hope and homes for his people for ten years. In 1997, on the last night of a four-day weekend retreat with warring Hutu and Tutsi tribal youth, Prosper challenged them to make a decision: die for their tribe or die for a united Burundi. Some 50 of the youth chose to die for a united Burundi. While the others were blessed and sent back to what remained of their families, Prosper and these youth got on a bus and went from village to village sharing their vision of a united Burundi that would come about as each village began building homes for their enemies. Not knowing whether the village was Hutu or Tutsi, Prosper and the youth at each stop were challenged by the village militia who would board the bus and order whichever tribe they weren’t off the bus to be shot. Prosper and the youth would all get off the bus together, stating that if they were going to shoot, they would have to shoot all of them. This nonviolent challenge totally confused the militia. Not one person was killed and many homes were built. We are honored and inspired to join Prosper in his reconciliation work.

Our Burundian journey will take place from September 3-21, 2007. We will be hosted by the Camara Homebuilding community and will participate in building some portion of a seven-room schoolhouse complete with library, computer room and playing field. The Camara Homebuilding Project has to date completed 325 homes of an intended 800. More than 2000 people are living in these homes ‘with a new smile of hope.’

While there, we will visit other NGO and church projects, refugee camps, microlending programs, and environmental and agricultural actions. With half of our Burundian delegates Hutu and half Tutsi, we plan to hold a one-day conference with local and national leaders at Camara to share hopes and dreams for future peace and reconciliation work. U.S. delegates will have an option to add a few days to the journey in Nairobi for shopping and a safari. Some of us may choose to stay on for a regional pastors conference in the Congo to continue peace and reconciliation work for the region.

If you live in the Puget Sound area and are interested in being a delegate, please email Project Director Deborah L. Adams (newearthcapital@comcast.net).

To learn more about Prosper’s organization Youth in Construction of the World in Destruction and their ongoing youth work in Burundi, visit their web site.

- Deborah Adams, GCJ Burundi Project Director

The documentary film Sweet Crude is in full post-production, targeting a spring 2007 release. In addition to filmmaking, director Sandy Cioffi and the GCJ alumni volunteers have been active in advocacy and publicity for the region.

Visit the new Sweet Crude web site. for media interviews, film info, a wealth of resources to learn about the Niger Delta, photo galleries and more.

a. Rwanda, Tanzania & DRC