Back by semi-popular demand

I am currently writing to you from my poorly heated apartment in Toronto, a chilly city I am sometimes still surprised to call my home, while I anxiously await my upcoming trip. 

On January 12, I will be heading to warm, sunshiney Ghana. 

After more than 10 years of talking to friends, family and colleagues about my desire for travel (especially to African countries), it blows my mind that people still have questions like:

• What possesses you to go there? 
• You really want to do this?
• Why don't you travel somewhere new?
• What about Ebola? 
• But wait, really?!

Maybe I haven't done a good enough job explaining how much culture I soaked up in Uganda or how much I developed my skills as a communications professional in Malawi or how incredible my friends, colleagues and yes, even strangers (gasp!) were during both of these trips. 

• What possesses me to go to Ghana is that my friends Beth and Merlin asked for support in the communications department of their company so I said, "Ooo, pick me. Pick me!"
• Yes, I really want to do this. 
• This is somewhere new. I have never been to Ghana. I have never even been to West Africa. 
• There are no cases of Ebola in Ghana. Canada's travel advisory for Ghana has a lighter caution (which by the way, is unrelated to health) than that of Uganda and I was just fine there. 
• And yes, really! 

Now that everyone has calmed down, I can tell you the purpose of this trip. During my brief, three-week adventure, I will be helping my good friends Beth and Merlin to build a communications program for Amplify Governance (the website is in its early days). 

I will be doing a lot of the same work I do here in Toronto - figuring out how to present the company, building a profile for the firm and its spokespeople, initiating a media relations program, capturing photography, consulting in social media and more. 

While this trip is much shorter than my 10 weeks in Uganda and my six months in Malawi, we have already started the work and will pack as much as possible into the three weeks as we can. 

When I have spare moments, I will do my best to write as much as I can. Some days, you might just get photos, others you may get one of my infamous complain-o-blogs.