Do you remember the first time you traveled abroad?

You wanted to make sure your clothes were right for the weather. You wanted to make sure you didn’t forget a thing. You laid out everything the night before you left on your bed and packed it and unpacked 3 times just to make sure you didn’t forget your tooth brush, batteries, and favorite book.

You had knots in your stomach all the way to the airport. You wondered, “What color will the dirt be? What new plants will I see? What will it smell like?” Of course, when you arrived you found a world so different from anything you’d ever known, yet the people…

You bonded with the people as if they were old friends back home. Their language was unfamiliar, as was their food, their streets, their faces. But despite all those differences, it turned out you had much in common.

For me, travel is never just a vacation—every trip is a chance to see just how diverse the world is. When I first went to Ghana in 2006, I felt all the anxiety described above. But every day I saw something new, until some new things began to seem normal. Gradually, I learned to see the world through the eyes of the people around me.

Now, I am trying to pass this gift on to a small group of students. Shortly after returning from Ghana seven years ago, I moved to New York to teach biology to children from under-served parts of Brooklyn. It’s been a thrill getting to know my students these last few years, but I would like to take their education to the next level. With your help, I’m hoping to take a group of Brooklyn’s most inquisitive children back to Ghana—to expose them to the landmarks and delicacies of a new place, of course, but also to help them see that they are not just American citizens, but global citizens.

The only thing standing between these students and Ghana is a little bit of fundraising—which is where you come in. These children uniformly come from low-income households; their families are working to pay their share, but I hope you might consider helping us at SEE Africa to ease their burden by making a modest contribution. Any amount would be sincerely appreciated. I appreciate your help in whatever form it comes, whether it’s a financial contribution or moral support.

No matter how you contribute, you’ll be helping these children turn this “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity into the first of many.