How to Adopt a Village in Africa

Book excerpt: How to Adopt a Village in Africa: A Story of Joy, Pain, and Purpose is the memoir of how author Sheena Ashdown started a small NGO, the Africa Village Project Association (AVPA). As a young adult, Sheena travelled around West Africa, doing almost a complete circumnavigation of the region. During this journey, she saw a world very different from her own. The poverty of the continent and the strength of the African people stayed with her, and when she eventually settled down and wanted to give back, she turned to the place that remained so close to her heart: Africa. For ten years, the AVPA partnered with a village in Tanzania. Working alongside her husband Dale, Sheena’s approach was based on Jeffrey Sachs’s Millennium Villages Project. Instead of focusing on one aspect to improve, the AVPA addressed the whole village. From infrastructure and education to business grants and health, the organization worked to improve the standard of living and self-sufficiency of the village. The outpouring of support was tremendous and gratifying. But what started as a way to give back became an extraordinarily challenging venture. After difficulties and disappointments, worsening need in the village and demoralizing fundraising, Sheena had to make a choice: endure or shut down. How to Adopt a Village in Africa chronicles the hardships and joys of charitable work and social activism. With honesty and vulnerability, Sheena shares how her determination to live a meaningful life led her on an unforgettable journey.