My name is Nasiru Keita Gill. I am a 16 years old and I live in Bowie, MD with my mom, dad, and five younger siblings. For the last 10 years I have enjoyed life as a homeschooler, and taking various courses with friends and people I have never met. I have been a stick drummer with the Farafina Kan Youth Ensemble for the last seven years. We have traveled to various cities around the US, sharing the sounds of Africa. In my free time, I enjoy reading fantasy and sci-fi novels, longboarding, playing bass guitar, and learning about different cultures and their history. As I continue to expand my education, I have the opportunity to be a student ambassador with the People-to-People Program and travel to China this summer. I am seeking assistance with my travel expenses.

Experiencing other cultures first hand is one of my main reasons I want to go to China. I want to see as much of the world as possible. Over the last nine years, I been fortunate to visit Ghana, Mexico, Hawaii, and even take a road trip with my family from the Washington, DC to Los Angeles.

Another reason I want to travel to China is to experience their deep and well preserved history. The land and the people are deeply rooted in their traditional culture. From my perspective, history is being eroded and distorted every day. It is important that we understand not only the culture of the society in which we live, but also the culture of others. My hope is to be able to use my historical and traveling experiences to teach others. History is important to me because we have so much to learn about ourselves and our ancestors.

To pay for this trip, I have been saving up money doing various jobs for my family and community, but I need your help to make this trip possible. I would really appreciate your assistance. Any donation would help me to achieve my goal. If you could also share this site with your friends and family who might be interested in supporting me, that would be a very big help to me.