Our Story
I joined the Peace Corps in 2016, serving as an Agriculture Business Volunteer in Ghana. For two years, I lived in the village of Avenorpedo, a small community of about 2,500 people in the Akatsi-Abor area of the Volta Region. Everyone in Avenorpedo made me feel welcome and treated me like a full member of their community from the second I arrived. I built lifelong friendships that have persisted over time and oceans and a pandemic, and Avenorpedo now feels like a second home. If you want to learn more about my experience and the work we did together, you can read my blog, Calculated Wandering.
The Peace Corps taught me about the rewards and challenges of international development. I learned that the complexities of working in a developing environment mean every action, however well intended, has many unexpected and unintended consequences. To have the best chance of success, projects must start small, be carefully planned with local leaders, and designed for sustainability. I also came to believe that education is one of the key drivers that gives individuals an opportunity to better themselves and collectively allow communities to prosper.
I left Avenorpedo in 2018 committed to being a lifelong community member. When I returned in 2025, I worked with my trusted counterparts in the community to create the Avenorpedo Scholarship Fund. Together, we will not only help deserving kids from the community attend college and remove the burden of tuition from their families, but give younger students the motivation that they will also have access to higher education if they continue to work hard in school.
