Welcome Letter
Oct. 24, 2011
Dear Yale Alumni, Students, Family and Friends,
Have you ever thought about traveling abroad with a goal to give back? Not just to sightsee, but to serve others, to make a difference in someone’s life? To have a lasting impact on a community in need?
Then come join the Yale Alumni Service Corps, an AYA initiative formed in 2008, for an amazing service program in the small town of Yamoransa in Cape Coast, Ghana. The Yale Alumni Service Corps is dedicated to service to others in marginal communities throughout the world. YASC has worked in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil and China and following the March program in Nicaragua, we will go to Ghana to change lives in this struggling community in the Cape Coast area. In Yamoransa, the community is suffering due to the lack of basic necessities that we take for granted such as clean water, medical care and education. We can make a difference to them!
In July 2012, join fellow alumni, family and friends for an extraordinary opportunity to work in the community of Yamoransa in Ghana where you will work to create social change and have the opportunity to see the beautiful sites of this coastal country.
The Yale Alumni Service Corps program, in cooperation with AFS-Ghana, ONE and the University of Cape Coast, will visit Yamoransa to provide basic services to grown-ups and children, broaden their horizons, share our culture, and open doors to a different way of life. We will sponsor a variety of education, medical, construction and business consulting projects.
After gathering in Accra on July 28, we will travel together to Cape Coast. Our first day will be an opportunity to learn the sad but fascinating history of the colonization of the area and the slave trade that had such an impact on the lives of so many. We will have one day of orientation and then begin the program in the community. On our last day at Yamoransa, we will have a celebration with the community. The people of Yamoransa are eager to learn; they appreciate whatever we are willing to share and in return we will learn from them and each other.
Throughout the week, we will have the special privilege of working with representatives of ONE. Co-founded by Bono, ONE is a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, by raising public awareness to support smart and effective policies and programs that are saving lives, helping to put kids in school and improving futures. ONE policy experts will provide in-depth information and commentary on issues affecting those in Africa, and ONE staff will organize a handful of optional day trips to local farms, schools, healthcare centers and businesses for those interested in learning more about these specific sectors. In addition, by engaging with ONE, volunteers will have the opportunity to extend their service experience once they return home by becoming advocates through The ONE Campaign.
This program will have some challenges as well. As always, it will be hot in Yamoransa. There is no air-conditioning where we will be working. There is not a lot of running water or electricity so we will have to share the life-style of the locals in the mornings and afternoons. (Yes, you will be provided with bottled water each day. And we will go back to our hotel – Coconut Grove Resort – for lunch each day.)
We look forward to seeing you in Ghana!
Kathy Edersheim ‘87
The Africa Project, YASC Producer