New Seed International

So while in Ghana I had the opportunity to spend two day's with the founder of New Seed International and spend an afternoon with the children of New Seed. This opportunity, while short, had a great effect on myself and the other eleven SASers that came on the adventure. It brought about a new concept and direction for my business as well as provided a great partnership opportunity to be able to make a difference in the dream of one man in Ho, Ghana, Livinus Acquah-Jackson.

Livius started New Seed as a program to help with refugee children that had come from Togo during the war in the late 90's and began living in the rural community. He opened New Seed as a rural and youth development organization and over the years it has evolved to focus on the following concepts:

* We want to ensure that all people living with HIV/AIDS in the area have access to all the medical care they need to avoid opportunistic infections and prolong their lives.
* Once their medical needs are satisfied, we want their nutritional needs to be likewise fulfilled. The drugs (especially antiretroviral drugs) will not work if the patient continues to be malnourished.
* We want to target and reduce the discrimination and stigmatization which those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, and their families, face every day by remolding the attitudes of the community and teaching them to accept and respect all people no matter what their HIV status may be.
* We want young women and men living with HIV/AIDS to become self-reliant so that they can maintain themselves and their families in improved, sustainable living conditions.
* We want today's youth to be fully educated and aware of the problem of HIV/AIDS which exists in their community and in the world.


Livinus is truly a passionate and dedicated man. While talking with him he began to talk of a typical day during his week. He will get a call that there has been a death of a mother due to labor or HIV/AIDS and there is a young child that has been orphaned. Some times these mothers have been dead for two to three days before they are found and the baby has been there the entire time. Livinus and community members will dig a hole, wrap up the body and bury it. He will then take the child to the hospital to be tested to see if the disease has spread to the child. He will then find a local member of the community who would be willing to take the child in. This is at least one day of every week for Livinus. At first he would cry when he saw the children and the mother's lying dead, but now, after so many years he has become accustom to it's horrors. It has become part of his daily life. After over a decade of dealing with this disease, seeing death first hand, he is still as committed and dedicated as he was twelve years ago when he founded New Seed.

He took in twelve american students he had never meet, brought us into his home to say, introduced us to his family, cooked us dinner and breakfast. All so that instead of spending money on a hostel or a hotel we would be able to use that small amount of money, about 5-7 USD, to donate to the school so that they could buy a little more nutrition packets, a little more medicine. He keeps with his mission and his philosophy that although the children may be infected by HIV/AIDS they can still become productive members of society if they receive the proper medical attention and an education.

After only a day with Livinus he had me believing in his dream, not through what he said, but through a philosophy of my own that I saw in him, conviction in action. He is so determined and committed that I could not help but associate myself with him. While we have different dreams and ambitions, the approach was similar. Through that I came about a new philosophy for SageMedia. My company is now adopting a local, national and international philanthropy to donate our time and money to. We have adopted the Denver Santa Clause Shop as our local and New Seed as our international. While I don't yet have a national cause I will begin the search shortly after I return. If anyone has suggestions I am all ears.

So now I begin the process of redeveloping New Seed's website, generating brochures and handout's to be used both in Ghana and at fundraisers that will be occurring at the University of Wisconsin and Vanderbilt University this coming fall. All free of charge to New Seed so that they can reach their next goal of $5,800 USD so that they can finish some small rooms for some of the children to be able to live in.

It was truly a pronominal experience and one that will stay with me for decades to come. This voyage truly has not been about the sights seen, but rather the people met and interactions with them. It is the people that make a place and to meet them, get to know them, where they come from and what makes them who they are has been a blessed and phenomenal time. And the children of New Seed and Livinus are a great example of what the wonderful country of Ghana has to offer.

South Africa

So I know this is very out of order and it's been a while since i've last posted something to the blog but the trip has been a hell of a time and I haven't had much free time.

Cape Town has been an adventure. The diversity of people and the culture here is really something else. Apartheid has only been abolished here for the last 16 years and in that time it is amazing to see how far they have come in comparison to the rate at which change was enacted in the States following the end of slavery. While many black South African's have been working their way up the social ladder and re-establishing themselves, there is still a large gap between the two classes. At the Nelson Mandela gateway, where you can pick up the fairy to Robbin Island, there are many displays about the Truth and Reconciliation commission. It really brings to life a lot of the atrocities that happened during the apartheid years and what is being done since to try and resolve many of the issues. You can footage of the interviews and what happened on the South African government website. With all of that though, this city and country really has a lot to offer and hopefully it will get to showcase all of that during the World Cup in a few weeks.

The views from the top of Table Mountain were amazing, to be able to look out over all of Cape Town, turn around and look out into the endless ocean during sunset was gorgeous. The African's called Table mountain the mountain of the sea, and it really is that. It rises over 3,000 feet up out of the ocean, straight up, to a mesa looking top. There's a really innovative cable car that takes people to the top, and as it moves along the floor rotates 360 degrees so that everyone in the car has an opportunity to see all that there is on the ride up.

The Cape of Good Hope is one of the most beautiful places in Cape Town and possibly all of South Africa. Down there you are put out on a little peninsula, with only the ocean between you and Antarctica. There view's are endless out over the ocean and the buildings sitting on the ocean have some of the best view's ever.

Much to my surprise, South Africa has over 300 wineries and makes some fantastic wine and the best brandy in the world. We took half a day and toured a few of the wineries and got to taste a lot of the wines that they make, fantastic. Unfortunately the cost to ship a case to the States with duty taxes ends up costing more than the wine itself so i'll have to find a place back home that sells some of the wine.

Then there was the International Jazz Festival. Not only were there a lot of people in town for the Easter weekend but partnered with the Jazz festival there were people from all over South Africa and the world here for the weekend. There were free shows at night showcasing some great bands and then a two day festival over the weekend that included the likes of John Butler.

After the free show's in the night everyone desceneded upon Long Street. Think Barcelona's Las Ramblas meets Bourbon Street. It was insane. Live music, people everywhere and bars galore. They have some pretty loose laws in Cape Town that allow you to walk out of a bar with your drink and go to another bar. So we were able to order drinks and walk around where ever and then come back to order another drink. No to-go cups or anything, just in, out and around the place. What a great idea. Mill ave needs to look into adopting that policy. It would make for one hell of a good time.

Now its time to head off to Ghana. Hope you all are having a great spring back home and Happy Easter.

Kyle Koelbel
kdkoelbel@semesteratsea.net
(Sent from a cruise ship somewhere in the world)
http://bearsatsea.blogspot.com