Getting Our Ducks in a Row

Settled back into campus and all the work that comes with it, the team met tonight at 6pm sharp for our typical Wednesday meeting.

The main focus tonight was filling out the most exciting paperwork I have ever done - 
our visa applications!

Gathering our Passports and Visa Applications! 

 Since most of the population in Cameroon speaks French, our paperwork was in French too - Bonjour?  Thankfully this was not a problem, since the embassy included an English translation of the question as well.  

After we had filled everything out appropriately, Carolyn took some time to educate us on the culture in Cameroon, since she was on the previous trip. It was great learning about their history, politics, and pleathera of cultures.  

From English to French, Christian to Muslim, tribal to political, there are many different lifestyles and beliefs where we are going, and we can't wait to experience them all!

We'll be there soon!

Carolyn teaching us all about Cameroon!

Container on its Way

Our container is finally sealed, closed and delivered, and on its way to Cameroon (Scheduled to arrive February 12 in Douala). Thanks to SSA Cooper, John James and Hapag-Lloyd. Our 20 foot container is on the JPO Capricornus.

Shipping Out

I can not remember the last time I woke up at 6:15am (we only got back from break Saturday!) but yesterday morning, all the team members and myself were up bright and early to transport all of our packages to the Wando Terminal. 

Sleepy-eyed but ready to work, we arrived at the Beatty Center at 7:30am and began moving the last of the supplies into the truck.  Before long, we arrived at the terminal to see all of our hard work and sweat be taken away on a cargo ship. What a relief to all of us, the largest pieces of our project were already on their way to meet us on March 1st. The ultamite count included 1625 school care packages with over 150 soccer balls, extra school supplies, plus four donated serves for a total of 174 boxes and 9 bags.  

Unloading the trailer and the truck 

Everything set & ready to go in the container!

We didn't have too much time to celebrate our success however, there was a news appearance to make!  Driving directly from the terminal site to the Channel Four News Station, Sandy Funk (Director of External Relations for the School of Business) and myself made an appearance on Lowcountry Live! I had a blast being interviewed by Tessa, and loved chatting with everyone in the green room.  Thank you abc for the wonderful opportunity! 

Lowcountry Live! Interview

Business Meets Humanity in the Beatty Center

Flying, driving, and biking, the team plus supporters from Possibilities Without Borders met in the Beatty Center today at 1 pm and worked through the evening hours packaging all of our supplies for shipment tomorrow.

We are happy to report that we successfully completed our workout for the next week (moving those boxes took some muscles), and our shipments are ready to go out tomorrow morning at 8:15 am sharp.  

In addition, we were also fortunate enough to be picked up by the local news this week. Look out for Michelle Smith & Sandy Krezmien-Funk, Director of External Relations, on Lowcountry Live! (channel 4) between 9:30 and 10am tomorrow morning!

As if that was not enough, the College itself did a press release on us this week as well. 

See for yourself! 
Kick it Forward Prepares for Spring Break

Changing Lives with Technology

A huge part of education in this Information Age is technology.  

The team is ecstatic to report that we had 4 servers donated to us thanks to Brain Power Software & the Charleston Digitial Corridor. 

Your generosity will change the face of education for so many children in Cameroon, and we could not be more appreciative.

3000 Books Donated by ACCO

3000 books donated by ACCO arrived as well!

We spent a lot of time carring these boxes around to add them to our educational care packages for the children of Cameroon.

 It was surreal to physically see the amount of notebooks we are taking over with us all in one place. We all realized that our project is really coming together, and now, with 9 weeks left, we have a lot of work ahead of us. 

Oh the Possibilities

Among the items we recieved, many of the string backpacks were donated from our partner organiztion Possibilities Without Borders. 

The drawstrings bags will serve as backpacks for the kids in Cameroon and help us distribute these crayons, pencils, and copybooks to the kids. 

 Thank you Possibilities Without Borders!

Back & Busy!

The Winter Break is over, and it is has been anything but boring. 

Right before we took off the team packaged goods donated by our local community. 

We are greatly indebted to the local area schools & churches who helped us so much, we could not have done this without you!

Schools and Churches who helped included Red Cedar Elementary, Clemson United Methodist Church, Pepperhill Elementary, Gaffney High, West Ashley, Jane Edwards, South Aiken, Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary, Bethany UMC, & the College of Charleston Catholic Student Association. 

The present count is 1500 educational backpacks, and we cannot wait to get them packaged & ready to send over this Sunday!