My Ancestor's Dream Journey to Ghana 2024

Support the individual and collective growth, freedom, and joy of the youth going on this trip by becoming a sponsor to cover all or part of the youth's $4,000 per person trip cost.

This trip began and continues as a dream in my spirit that was sparked by traveling as a U.S. Department of State, Fulbright-Hays scholar under the supervision of my mentor, Dr. Gloria Boutte, to Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria, West Africa during the summers between 2018-2022.

My name is Julia Dawson. I am a middle school social studies teacher. During my Fulbright-Hays travel and research experiences, I began to dream about bringing middle school students to a place that has long been disrespected, misrepresented, or in some cases - erased from history books altogether- Africa, and specifically, Ghana. My mentor/co-organizer, Dr. Gloria Boutte of the University of South Carolina and the Center for the Excellence and Equity of African American Students, agreed to support this study and service trip. Dr. Boutte leads the logistics in Ghana, while I coordinate fundraising for the students.

I complete my volunteer work to make this possible outside of my professional affiliation at the Columbia, SC middle school, W.A. Perry, where I am extremely proud to teach.

Our first trip occurred last year, April 2022 during Spring Break (It was originally scheduled for April 2020, but the covid-19 pandemic delayed us by two years).

We are currently fundraising for seven days in Spring 2024 (this coming Spring Break).

Five middle school youth, and five high school youth are currently fundraising. Of those, nine are of direct African descent themselves (we are all of African descent in the sense that the mother of all humanity was African). It will be an honor to see how ALL of them respond to learning about this one African nation and its many contributions to the world, which I hope sparks their interest in learning about more of West Africa, the entire African continent, and the world.

This trip creates conditions that urge youth to learn about their connections to Ghana as Black people and/or as children of an African motherland (which all humans are). This trip supports love, respect, and pride for Blackness, whoever we are. It supports a deeper understanding of United States and Ghanaian cultures, and those of the African diaspora. It supports love of all humans and a desire to use our lives for purposes that are of the highest virtues and integrity.

Thus, youth are required to create a service project during the trip and on their return, that gives back in some way to the people we meet in Ghana, and all of our sponsors- which include YOU. We look forward to a public event following our trip, where youth will present what they have learned, and what their community service project will be.

None of this is possible without the wisdom, grit, trust, and sacrifice of the families sending their children on this trip. We are all URGENTLY raising money to make this trip possible.

Thank you for the energy you're giving to make this second trip possible through your donation and/or sharing this link. Please feel free to share questions! GoFundMe sends questions and comments to our personal email, which we can respond to.