Meerah's Journalism in Sri Lanka
Donation protected
Hello!
My name is Meerah Powell and I will be a senior at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication this upcoming school year.
I recently got granted the opportunity to travel with a group of other journalism students and faculty members to Sri Lanka this upcoming winter (from Dec. 9-22). This is an opportunity I am extremely excited for as we will be gaining skills in writing, photography, videography and other forms of storytelling in order to journalistically cover Sri Lanka's recovery from their recent civil war, which ended in 2009, and their recent natural disasters.
I originally thought that most of this trip (housing, food and plane ticket) would be paid for through financial aid, but now it's looking like that might not happen.
Originally, the group traveling to Sri Lanka started a DuckFunder campaign (much like a GoFundMe, but through the University of Oregon), but only made just over $3,000 - not enough to cover one student fully. This campaign ended back in March.
Any potential for me being granted financial aid will be available in the fall, most likely in September, but starting at the beginning of this month, I will be getting charged $350 a month to my UO student account for seven months (until December) of which I will need to pay off at the end of every month.
That means I will already have had to pay $1,400 out of pocket by the time financial aid for the trip may or may not become available in September.
On top of that I will also be paying for my own round trip plane ticket from Portland to Colombo, Sri Lanka if no financial aid becomes available.
The seven months that I will be charged for $350 will amount to $2,450.
[UPDATE: I was awarded $1,500 in financial aid which I reflected in an offline donation towards my total goal. I now owe $950 in my own money instead of the original $2,450.]
The cheapest round trip plane ticket from Portland to Colombo, Sri Lanka, a 34 hour flight with two layovers, costs $1,494.76.
Therefore, the total of my trip would be $3944.76, and that's if I buy my plane ticket sooner rather than later.
I am, thus, trying to reach a goal of around $4,500 to cover any extra fees/varying plane ticket prices/the fee to renew my passport/the percentage that is deducted from GoFundMe, although any amount of donation would help for me to able to be apart of this trip.
Here's the website about the Sri Lanka trip - http://globaljournalism.uoregon.edu/. If you want more information about the specific itinerary feel free to email me, but we will tentatively be visiting the cities/towns of: Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Unawatuna and Moratuwa.
Along with my involvment with the UO School of Journalism, I am also involved with writing and photographing for the Daily Emerald, the UO's unaffiliated student newspaper, and interning for Eugene Weekly, Eugene, Oregon's alternative weekly newspaper. I am also currently a photojournalist this term for OR Magazine, a UO produced digital publication.
I also will be interning with OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) up in Portland over this summer, working with their daily news desk to produce multimedia work through web and radio - another journalistic opportunity that I am extremely excited to partake in, but I am also stressed about attempting to sell my car soon in order to potentially be able to buy a cheap, more reliable car in order to be able to get around up in Portland - without taking a bus to and from OPB for over an hour one way.
This is another reason why it will be tough for me to rack up the funds I need for this winter.
[UPDATE: I bought a cheap and reliable Toyota Camry from my family's mechanic. I'm super happy about it, but it did set me back a few grand.]
To view all of my journalism work/my resume, visit my website here.
I am very passionate about journalism, but it has been hard to focus on as I have been so primarily focused on trying to offset my financial difficulties with working.
On top of being a full time student at the UO School of Journalism, I also work part-time (20-30 hours a week) at the UO Duck Store Book Department, the book store that serves the UO campus, and poster for WOW Hall, a local music venue. I will also be stepping into a digital managing editor position at the Daily Emerald, when I return from my internship, in the fall as well as a freelance writing position for the Eugene Weekly.
Though my schooling is paid for by scholarship, I use these jobs to pay for my rent, utilities, groceries, gas and etcetera, so any amount of donation you can spare would mean the world to me to be able to pay for this trip to Sri Lanka.
I don't have a specific deadline that I need these funds by, but if I were to get a majority of this money before the fall - to at least be able to afford part of my round trip plane ticket to Sri Lanka, that would be amazing.
Thanks so much for your time and for reading this long spiel (and inherently, if you're reading this far, for being a great friend to me!)
My name is Meerah Powell and I will be a senior at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication this upcoming school year.
I recently got granted the opportunity to travel with a group of other journalism students and faculty members to Sri Lanka this upcoming winter (from Dec. 9-22). This is an opportunity I am extremely excited for as we will be gaining skills in writing, photography, videography and other forms of storytelling in order to journalistically cover Sri Lanka's recovery from their recent civil war, which ended in 2009, and their recent natural disasters.
I originally thought that most of this trip (housing, food and plane ticket) would be paid for through financial aid, but now it's looking like that might not happen.
Originally, the group traveling to Sri Lanka started a DuckFunder campaign (much like a GoFundMe, but through the University of Oregon), but only made just over $3,000 - not enough to cover one student fully. This campaign ended back in March.
Any potential for me being granted financial aid will be available in the fall, most likely in September, but starting at the beginning of this month, I will be getting charged $350 a month to my UO student account for seven months (until December) of which I will need to pay off at the end of every month.
That means I will already have had to pay $1,400 out of pocket by the time financial aid for the trip may or may not become available in September.
On top of that I will also be paying for my own round trip plane ticket from Portland to Colombo, Sri Lanka if no financial aid becomes available.
The seven months that I will be charged for $350 will amount to $2,450.
[UPDATE: I was awarded $1,500 in financial aid which I reflected in an offline donation towards my total goal. I now owe $950 in my own money instead of the original $2,450.]
The cheapest round trip plane ticket from Portland to Colombo, Sri Lanka, a 34 hour flight with two layovers, costs $1,494.76.
Therefore, the total of my trip would be $3944.76, and that's if I buy my plane ticket sooner rather than later.
I am, thus, trying to reach a goal of around $4,500 to cover any extra fees/varying plane ticket prices/the fee to renew my passport/the percentage that is deducted from GoFundMe, although any amount of donation would help for me to able to be apart of this trip.
Here's the website about the Sri Lanka trip - http://globaljournalism.uoregon.edu/. If you want more information about the specific itinerary feel free to email me, but we will tentatively be visiting the cities/towns of: Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Unawatuna and Moratuwa.
Along with my involvment with the UO School of Journalism, I am also involved with writing and photographing for the Daily Emerald, the UO's unaffiliated student newspaper, and interning for Eugene Weekly, Eugene, Oregon's alternative weekly newspaper. I am also currently a photojournalist this term for OR Magazine, a UO produced digital publication.
I also will be interning with OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) up in Portland over this summer, working with their daily news desk to produce multimedia work through web and radio - another journalistic opportunity that I am extremely excited to partake in, but I am also stressed about attempting to sell my car soon in order to potentially be able to buy a cheap, more reliable car in order to be able to get around up in Portland - without taking a bus to and from OPB for over an hour one way.
This is another reason why it will be tough for me to rack up the funds I need for this winter.
[UPDATE: I bought a cheap and reliable Toyota Camry from my family's mechanic. I'm super happy about it, but it did set me back a few grand.]
To view all of my journalism work/my resume, visit my website here.
I am very passionate about journalism, but it has been hard to focus on as I have been so primarily focused on trying to offset my financial difficulties with working.
On top of being a full time student at the UO School of Journalism, I also work part-time (20-30 hours a week) at the UO Duck Store Book Department, the book store that serves the UO campus, and poster for WOW Hall, a local music venue. I will also be stepping into a digital managing editor position at the Daily Emerald, when I return from my internship, in the fall as well as a freelance writing position for the Eugene Weekly.
Though my schooling is paid for by scholarship, I use these jobs to pay for my rent, utilities, groceries, gas and etcetera, so any amount of donation you can spare would mean the world to me to be able to pay for this trip to Sri Lanka.
I don't have a specific deadline that I need these funds by, but if I were to get a majority of this money before the fall - to at least be able to afford part of my round trip plane ticket to Sri Lanka, that would be amazing.
Thanks so much for your time and for reading this long spiel (and inherently, if you're reading this far, for being a great friend to me!)
Organizer
Meerah Alijandra Powell
Organizer
Eugene, OR
