The Jackson Journey

Mary Kay writes...

Wow - it has been a long time since we have posted anything. I have to say that I have been traveling virtually non-stop since the last post, and Charlie has been trying hard to keep his head above water, between his teaching and trying to keep up with all the essential tasks I kept assigning him from abroad.

Since Halloween, we and our organizations have been featured in several social media venues. I thought I would share these glimpses into our lives in Africa with you.

The first mention came from a friend of mine, Jen Shank, on her site, Swanky Shank. Jen is a member of one of our supporting churches, Living Word UMC, and runs an on-line business from her home in the St. Louis area. Jen honored us with her creation of the month, bracelets featuring Ghanaian glass beads and is donating the proceeds from the bracelets to the Ghana Project, which funds water projects in northern Ghana. Jen is really creative and has cute stuff, so take a look. I don't benefit from her sales - except the bracelets, which really will benefit the children of northern Ghana, not me.

Last Friday, I was given the opportunity to guest blog on the Shine Girls Shine website. Shine Girls Shine is a daily Bible reading and prayer ministry. I follow it to help keep me accountable in my daily devotions. I have gained so much - it is amazing how often the blog posts are right on target with something going on in my life. It was a privilege to share a part of our story of our call to Ghana with the Shine Girls.

 Most of you probably know that one of the hats I wear is as Managing Director of Pure Home Water, a Ghanaian non-profit that manufactures and distributes ceramic pot filters to rural households so that they can have safe water to drink. A very talented friend of ours, Iaona Lupascu, of SparkIntuit created a wonderful 4 minute documentary on Pure Home Water.

 

 Finally, Patrick Awuah, the founder of Ashesi University, where Charlie teaches, is being honored today by the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley with their prestigious Innovation Award. You can learn more about Ashesi and Patrick's vision to change Ghana one student at a time in this news report.