Thanks for visiting this page.

Those of you who know me are familiar with my experiences as a traveler, first as a youthful missionary, second as a student and more recently as an educator and writer. These early periods of travel have shaped me as a person and prepared me for the work I am hoping to do during my adulthood. They have also influenced my focus and my sense of belonging. The developing world is becoming more of a home to me than the United States and I feel myself especially drawn to the various problems that people face here. At the moment, I feel compelled to share this concern with as many Westerners as I can; this compulsion underlies my decision to join the AIDS Awareness Campaign.

My friends and I have planned an ambitious trip. We are trying to see a great deal over a fairly long period of time in a part of the world that is often unpredictable to say the least. I am hoping that this trip can help me move into progressive journalism since I believe in the possibility that I can communicate with a greater number of people through my writings than through my classroom teaching. There will be unparalleled opportunities on this trip for me to connect with the types of individuals, agencies and governments that deserve attention and I will be challenged as a writer to make the experiences surrounding the African AIDS problem as meaningful as possible to an audience that is increasingly jaded and desensitized.

The money that my friends and I are capable of bringing to this trip is likely to be exhausted during its initial phase in West Africa. Without help we will be unable to compare the situation here with the more dire circumstances of people in Southern and Eastern Africa, which would be a huge disappointment. That is why we are appealing to our friends and family. We need your support. I hope you will consider visiting the sponsorship section of this webpage and using the Paypal link to move us closer to our goal. We will update and explain our costs and accounting as regularly as the African infrastructure allows and we will recognize the people who help us along the way in a section of the website that is dedicated to you.

Thanks for your consideration. Whether or not you choose to donate, please keep us in mind or in prayer and let other people know about what we are doing if you think they would be interested.

Sincerely,

– Nathaniel Calhoun