RPCV Amy Webbeking accompanies students to Ghana



RPCV Amy Webbeking accompanies students to Ghana

Ghana Bound

Local students plan to go to Ghana$8,000 raised so far for $30,000 June trip

By Valerie Faciane
New Orleans Times-Picayune
April 10, 2005

They'll have to learn how to take bucket baths, live in houses without electricity and eat with their right hands even if they are left-handed, but that doesn't bother a group of students from the greater New Orleans area who are planning a trip to Ghana in June.

"If you eat with your left hand, that's disrespectful," student Lenora Varnado pointed out.

Each of the 11 students is preparing for the trip, called Project Baobab, by concentrating on a particular subject to better understand the history and culture of Ghana. They are using the Internet to research their projects.

[Excerpt]

"They are doing a world map on the wall of the library," said Amy Webbeking, a teacher at the Signature Center who will also accompany the students. "They will have bubbles coming out of New Orleans and Taviefe and will have cultural depictions of New Orleans and Taviefe."

They also will meet with village elders and chiefs.

Webbeking can share a lot with the group about African chiefs: She married one.

It was only "symbolic," she said. It happened eight years ago when she served in the Peace Corps in West Africa. The chief already had 150 wives, and she was the 151st.

Webbeking and Ellen Whitesides, a math teacher at East St. John High School who spent a year in Kenya while in college, came up with the idea of taking a student group to Africa. The idea gained momentum in summer when Webbeking and Whitesides visited Nairobi and Cameroon on a trip that incorporated both study and service. A student trip to Africa would be an eye-opening experience that would build lasting team and leadership skills as well as global awareness, they decided.

"They'll have to learn how to take bucket baths," Webbeking said with a smile. "I think these kids are really brave."

When this story was posted in April 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


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April 17, 2005: This Week's Top Stories The Coyne Column: A Peace Corps Writer Discovery 17 Apr Chris Van Hollen supports Peace Corps budget 17 Apr Joseph Goldstein founded Forest Refuge 17 Apr Judge Flemming Norcott wins community service award 16 Apr Wangari Maathai meets with Kenya Country Director 15 Apr Simon James says corps' days numbered in Uzbekistan 15 Apr Peace Corps not heard anything about Uzbekistan 15 Apr Novak says Chris Dodd attacking anti-Castro officials 14 Apr Taylor Hackford not pleased with content editing 14 Apr Activist W. Retta Gilliam dies in DC 13 Apr Alberto Ibargüen studying newspaper options 13 Apr Christopher Hill says Korea nuclear talks can work 12 Apr DNA undercuts verdict against Jerry Marks 11 Apr Tom Bissell discusses recent events in Kyrgyzstan 11 Apr Chris Gobrecht named Basketball Coach at Yale 11 Apr Glenn Ivers does "Splash for Cash" in icy waters 11 Apr Chris Shays says Delay should step down 10 Apr

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April 17, 2005: Special RPCV Events RPCV Kent Island Family Weekend on May 6 - 8 Joseph Opala speaks in Rhode Island on April 19 South Carolina RPCVs to see off PCVs on April 18 Terry Deshler speaks in Wyoming on April 18 Cameroon RPCVs selling special Pagne Bush proclaims National Volunteer Week RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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RPCVs and Friends remember Pope John Paul II Tony Hall found the pope to be courageous and capable of forgiving the man who shot him in 1981, Mark Gearan said the pope was as dynamic in person as he appears on television, Maria Shriver said he was a beacon of virtue, strength and goodness, and an RPCV who met the pope while serving in the Solomon Islands said he possessed the holiness of a man filled with a deep love and concern for humanity. Leave your thoughts here.

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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