Paying it forward: Raising laying chickens in Ghana

In 2005, I visited Ghana as a volunteer. There I met a young man at an internet cafe who was gracious enough to show me around his hometown so I could see what life was like away from the tourist attractions. We later "adopted each other" after I left. I helped his son finish secondary school because his grandmother who raised him was behind in school fees.

He now is a successful micro businessman and started an after-school program that is using my nonprofit's name: HYBASIA After-school Program. He also adopted a boy whose father had just died and was looking for work. He wanted to help his mother feed his siblings.

In turn, he and I helped the boys mother start a micro business raising "laying chickens." It didn't take much to get her started. A personal, micro-grant from me was all she needed to raise enough money to send her children to school now and feed them too!

I am not Oprah but I can be like Mother Teresa and help one person at a time.

She only has to help one person when she is done raising her children.

My friends say that it is like "Pay It Forward."

www.hybasia.org