I’ve just returned from a trip to West Africa where I visited the folks in Ghana we helped with Christmas events in December of 2008. They would like to expand their Christmas Outreach with the help of ER in 2009. They told me that many of the kids who they fed last Christmas were surprised to learn that the piece of chicken and portion of rice they received was just for them. This was the first time many of them had ever had a whole piece of chicken to eat. Although grateful, many of them only took a few bites and then took the rest home to share with their family. I hope we can help them expand their program in ‘09. Maybe you can help!

I then traveled on to the Ivory Coast where we have been partnering with the REAP Institute for several years. Although other ER staff members and board members had visited this school, it was my first time there. I was impressed by the school’s leadership, teachers, and the students. REAP is a school dedicated to providing a quality education to English speaking refugee kids who have fled with their families to the French speaking country of Ivory Coast. Seven countries are represented among the student body. Most of the school administrators and teachers are refugees themselves yet they serve the students sacrificially. The level of education the students are receiving was equally as impressive as the quality of the students.

Over the years ER has helped REAP outfit their computer lab. This lab has recently been connected to the internet which greatly expands the education opportunities for the students and teachers alike. We have also helped them with their monthly rent and other special needs. The building they have been renting for several years has just been put on the market. Friends of ER have come forward to help them purchase the building. The purpose of my trip was to work through the purchase details of the building and property. We discovered that there are additional taxes and other fees that they were not planning on paying. So they are currently about $13,000 short of the total needed to complete the transaction. Please contact me if you would like details regarding how you can help meet this need. Watch this blog for further updates. We hope to have the transaction completed in the next 90 – 120 days.

As you can imagine a school like REAP has many needs. Some they brought to my attention are; Teacher Training – they would like a team of trainers to spend a week with their teachers, Microsoft Office multi license for their computer lab computers, one of the teachers is desperately in need of surger,y and the upper students are asking for the opportunity to take standardized educational tests like the SAT or ACT to allow them to apply to universities in West Africa, Europe, the USA or Canada.

Jerry Carnill
President ER

The Leader Mundial (Global Leader) Summit was held in April of 2009 in Quito, Ecuador.  Leader Mundial is thrilled to partner with Extreme Response to provide leadership training and ongoing development to a number of Extreme Response partners through our leadership summit and through ongoing partnership with these leaders.

This year, 9 of the leaders that attended the Summit are Extreme Response Partners.  The goal is to provide these leaders with training, resources, coaching and a community of leaders to connect with .

This year, Jerry Carnill, President of Extreme Response, was able to challenge the entire community of leaders in their approach to humanitarian work around the world, and as a result, a number of the leaders that aren’t currently involved with Extreme Response are exploring opportunities for deeper partnership and connection.

It’s been excited to see the relationship between Extreme Response and Leader Mundial deepen over the past 3 years.  Our goal together is to help our leaders and partners to become better leaders, impacting their organizations and their countries!

submitted by Russ Cline