Episode description

I should have started this journal the moment that I found out that Africa wanted me.

In 2003 I was a senior at Oregon State, newly accepted to an internship at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, and about $7,000 short of being able to go. So I wrote a letter to 85 people, put a return envelope in every one, and asked them to come along.

They said yes. And once I got there, I sent an email home every week for eleven weeks.

My dad recently found the printouts. This is the first one, read aloud, exactly as I wrote it at 21. Typos included. Before it, the story of how I got there, and after it, what all of this eventually turned into.

The Founding Circle is open. Thirty people, $300 for the year. Once a month we meet, and I take you to Benin. Join here

About this publication

Hi! My name is Debra. My husband and I are building Hello West Africa, a transformative immersion experience in Benin, West Africa, for people who want to change how they see Africa and themselves. We have three incredible kids and a piece of land where we're making it real, one day at a time.

Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe