The day we did our fundraising photoshoot, we also asked our closest friends and family to be filmed answering three questions for an interview-style video we hoped would showcase our humanity and support system. We wanted our loved ones to be candidly honest in their explanations of what we’re doing, who we are, and their hopes and concerns for the project.
The whole process turned into a very powerful, very moving, and, at times, very emotional several hours, during which Brady and I had the immense privilege of listening to the people we care most about talk about how proud they are of us, how fitting they feel this project is for us, and how many of them feared most not Ebola or civil unrest, but simply that we would fall in love with Ghana and wouldn’t come back.
Through it all, every single one of these people exemplified patience, love, support, and hope for us, and for what we hope to achieve. Matt and Jennie were paradigms of hospitality and comfort, allowing us to film in the living room of Jennie’s apartment after we discovered we couldn’t get into the clubhouse we had originally picked.
While I was doing my interview, Jennie asked me what made me qualified as an individual to undertake this huge project, and it took me until well after all the interviews had ended to realize that individually, I can’t do this. On my own, there is no way I am qualified. Even Brady and I together are insufficient to make this dream a reality. It is only with the support of the people we love, the communities we have come to call family, and eventually those we hope to serve, that we can make any lasting change in this world.
What I see in this video is an abundance of love, and so I want to share it with all of you now.
