Gearing up to get down

Well, goodbye phone calls have been made and tears have been shed, but we are finally ready to get going on the journey of a lifetime. One more boat trip, one more night and then hours and hours on planes! But as it stands, I am sitting here on my couch in Nanaimo, waiting for my ride.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Trevor and I am a first year Forestry student from Vancouver Island University. I will be traveling to Ghana tomorrow as a part the Ghana-Canada Partnership for Environmental Education Project along with four other students (Matt, Jenn B, Jenn S, and Sabrina) and four faculty members from the college (Ken, Rick, Aggie, and Maggie). I will be involved in the Environmental Theme Team along with Aggie and many of our Ghanaian partners. My primary focus will be Bushfire reduction strategies. Other members and our Ghanaian partners will be involved on Health and Ecotourism Teams.

Our project will be based in and around Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana, which is in West Africa. We are in the middle of a much larger 5 year project, which started in 2007. To quote our site on VIU's website (http://www.viu.ca/ghana):

"The Ghana Canada Partnership for Environmental Education is a collaboration between VIU and two colleges located in Ghana: Sunyani Polytechnic (S. Poly), and the Sunyani Faculty of Forest Resource Technology (FFRT) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The project is in its third year of its five year life span. In the past two years, students from VIU have visited Sunyani to apply knowledge and skills in their respected fields over a three week field school in the spring. Faculty from FFRT and S. Poly also have also made an informational visit to VIU in the fall of each year.

The aim of the project is to help reduce poverty through environmental education in the region of Sunyani in Ghana. Sunyani is the capital of the Brong-Ahafo region which is located in Central Ghana.

In the past two years, five areas of need have been identified for community development.

1. Reducing household waste, especially plastic waste
2. Improving attitudes towards HIV/AIDS through education and awareness.
3. Improving agricultural practices to reduce bush fires.
4. Increasing private sector employment through the development of ecotourism.
5. Improving the cleanliness of drinking water in rural communities

The institutions will strive to build capacity throughout the five years by developing partnerships with community organizations in Ghana and Nanaimo and by engaging in knowledge transfer with Sunyani faculty to develop better teaching practices and extension services"

I can't think of much more to say, other than stay tuned! Wish us luck, and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. The next update will be coming from live from Sunyani! And make sure you join our group on Facebook, search "The Ghana Project" and look for the stacked Ghanaian/Canadian flags!