Courtesy of Shea O’meara
Operations Crossroads Africa volunteer Shayla Black teaches kindergartners in a Ghana classroom over the summer. The nonprofit sends young people, including Ithaca College students, all across Africa.
If asked, my friends would say I’m likely to carry around a blank white protest sign, just in case I happen to come upon something to scream about.
So, when I was given the opportunity to spend the summer in Northern Ghana as a member of Operation Crossroads Africa, a nonprofit precursor to the Peace Corps, I jumped at the chance. I arrived at the program’s orientation ready to make a difference. But before my group of 10 Americans was sent to one of Ghana’s poorest communities, Larabanga, our project organizer, gave us his favorite bit of advice: “Don’t go to save Africa, go to let Africa save you.”