Ghana with Pencils of Promise is always an incredible and humbling experience.

Remember your days of elementary school? If you were anything like me, you didn’t love going to school. The feeling of getting up early and walking 10 minutes to school was dreadful.

It was a “HAVE TO” not a “GET TO”

In Ghana (as well as many other developing world countries), education is something that kids walk up to a mile to receive…and that’s if they even have a school in their village. If they do, sometimes class is outside under a tree, which gets cancelled if there’s a torrential downpour.

Where would you be if you never had the opportunity to get a proper education?

I would never have been able to create the life I live without a proper education. It’s truly a touching experience to see first hand the impact that Pencils of Promise is making on the ground in Ghana. I hope these images can even come close to doing justice to what I experienced there. It was amazing to see so much joy and gratefulness from the kids and communities we are helping.

This girl gave a spoken word performance at a school inauguration that was emotional and powerful. It really reminded me of the impact that education provides.

Not only have I done all the photography work for Pencils of Promise pro-bono, but a year ago I decided to raise $25,000 to build a school as well and up the anti of what I’m giving and the synergy around it.

Giving is an attitude, and I believe the more you give, the more that comes back to you. Especially when you give without any expectation of getting anything back.

So I ask, not for me, but on behalf of the children and communities that don’t have the same privileges that we do in the first world to join me in helping finish the school that I’m building. We only need $9,500 more to completion and every little donation helps.