A couple months ago my good father, Pistol Pete, allowed me to share a story on the Luim about my friend Oscar. Perhaps you remember, but just to recap: while travelling Ghana back in May, I met the 18-year-old Oscar while walking through the small town of Kyebi in Ghana. I was alone in search of basic goods like shaving cream, but couldn’t find what I needed. I ran into Oscar on the street and asked him for some help. That turned into a long morning of walking around town together as I asked about his life. I was interested to know what it’s like for a young man in rural Ghana. In his raspy-sounding voice, he told me how he is studying how to fix computers at the local school, and that his dream is to study computer engineering. Of course, studying computer engineering is difficult when you have no access to your own computer. When I asked him why he wasn’t at school at that moment (it was a Monday morning), he said he was in town to exchange his airtime minutes on his phone for the local currency. Each day of school costs 1.70 US dollars, and he didn’t have the money. Even though he never asked for anything, I helped him out and we exchanged contacts. Months later — thanks in part to many of you — we were able to send enough money (in the form of crypto) to Oscar so that he could buy his first computer. He received the crypto via the Stellar network and could exchange it — for free — at a MoneyGram location in his town (this is the future of cross-border payments).
When he finally bought the computer, he sent me a photo with his beloved new computer with big tears of joy in his eyes. Anyway, since then Oscar sends daily messages of appreciation for our help. Besides the computer, I’ve given Oscar access to dozens of free courses and books so that he could self-teach himself how to code. Every night, after working on a yam farm, he spends his time learning to code and build apps. He sends screenshots of his progress and videos where he presents the first little applications he has built. I’m glad to see someone take the opportunity and run with it.
Together, we have made a new plan to help him reach the next stage in his life: university. He wants to study software engineering so badly, but many obstacles stand in the way. To start with, he doesn’t have an ID card, which will cost a lot of time and money. Once he has an ID, he has to gather the money to send an official application to schools. Of course, there will be costs once he finally gets accepted to school, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Oscar is now trying to start a little yoghurt business to supplement his other sources of income. He fixes computers to make some money too, but there are not many computers to fix in his little town. That’s why I want to send him a new round of financial aid so that he can get an ID and apply for school.
Today is my birthday, and while I don’t want anything myself, the greatest gift would be any contributions that can help Oscar in his journey. Your amazing help was instrumental last time, and every euro helps a lot, especially in a country where the average income per day in rural towns is 1-2 US dollars. Don’t feel any pressure to donate! I know times are tough financially, but if you can spare anything for Oscar, that would be amazing. And for those who are interested in learning more about his progress, I’ll be sure to send more updates soon.
You can transfer money to this account: NL66 ASNB 0785 9035 77 in the name of Ivar Laanen referring to ‘Oscar’s story’.