ktravula – a travelogue!

Here is my promised short project to raise money for the victims of the Earthquake in Haiti, and Chile, and the senseless ethnic pogrom in the Nigerian city of Jos. I know that many of you want to donate money but haven’t found the time or the way. Here is an opportunity to do so, and get something back for it. This is how it goes:

1. Choose one of my photographs that you want to receive on a 20×16 high quality photoprint paper (frame is optional, depending on where you live). It comes with a postcard and an autograph from ktravula.com.

(You can tell me which of the photos you want by going to the page where the photos are posted, and starting your bid in the comment section. See the bottom of this post for a list.)

2. Make an offer in cash that you’ll like to pay for the said artwork. Bidding starts at $50, and has no upper limit. All you have to do is write something like this in the comment box on said page: “I want pic number 4, and I’m bidding to pay $80 for it.” or “I want the pic with the filename IMG_0114 for $500″. As soon as you do, your comment will show up on the comment bar on the right side of this blog, and anyone who has a higher bid will see it. In 24hours, and in the absence of a higher bid, you will be confirmed winner of the said artwork which will be sent to you by post as soon as you make the donation promised to the either of the following sources.

3. Donate to the relief efforts in Haiti or Chile via Yele Haiti, the American Red Cross, UNICEF or PlanUSA. When you do, you will be sent a confirmation email. Keep the email safe.

or Donate to the relief efforts in Jos via the Red Cross via this page, and ask for a proof of said donation either through teller/cheque/email or through a written letter.

NOTE: You can donate ALL to either if you like.

UPDATE:

For those in the US, or in Nigeria hoping to donate to Jos, here is the bank account information, obtained from this page.

ACCESS BANK PLC

ACCOUNT NAME: NIG. RED CROSS SOCIETY – JOS CRISIS RELIEF FUND

ACCOUNT NAME: 0430010005230

SORT CODE: 044080439

BRANCH: ADETOKUNBO ADEMOLA BRANCH, ABUJA

I am also volunteering to collect from people around Edwardsville/US to send together via Western Union at once, just to cut down money transfer costs. If you’re in the US and you think it will cost you less to send the money directly to me than to Jos, Nigeria directly, please let me know.

You can also donate to Jos via my paypal account of kolatubosunATgmail.com. But if you choose this route, please come to this page immediately to let us know in a public comment, then specify which artwork you want. You can always send me your delivery address privately.

4. Send said proof of donation to me via JosHaiti@ktravula.com, with your name and postal address. You will have to pay for handling and postage of said artwork to you wherever you are all over the world. Residents of the United States will get their artwork within one week. For those overseas, it might take a few days later.

Now, here are the pages where you can find my photos all taken since August in locations in the United States. (Note: photo quality is better in print than on the computer screen):

Night

In actual fact, you can ask for any photo on this blog, as long as it is the one I took myself.

5. After you donate, or even if you can’t donate anything, please join Western Union on Facebook, and follow them on twitter so that you can send them wall posts and tweet requests to make money transfer to Jos free during this moment of their need. They did it for Haiti and for Chile. Jos needs equal help of such proportions NOW. The more people do this, the better the chance of getting a commitment from them, even if it is for a limited period.

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Alright, let the bidding begin. I hope it’s simple enough. If not, please let me know.

I heard that singer Lionel Richie is assembling a new cast to remake the 1984 hit We Are The World to raise money for Haiti. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was praised today by the President Bush/Clinton Haiti relief funds for his personal donations. Singers Beyonce, Twista, Rihanna and Wyclef Jean are doing all they could in their capacities as musicians. I can’t sing, unfortunately. This is all I have. I hope that you find the pictures good enough for you to spend your money on, especially with the aim of saving lives in some other part of the world. Cheers.

NOTE: You can send your donation to Jos anyway even if you don’t want the artworks. The idea is just encourage participation. This is totally not-for-profit!

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UPDATE

Apologies to all concerned readers of this blog who had wanted to make donations to the Red Cross in Nigeria for the Jos Relief efforts but couldn’t do so because of the problems of wire transfer. I take part of the blame for not making the best suggestions. Here now is my best idea since I found out today that wire transfer costs up to $50 in charges from the US to Nigeria. It hardly makes sense. If you want to donate to the Jos relief efforts by the Red Cross in Nigeria, please make said donations through Western Union to a reliable friend/acquaintance in Nigeria and have them pay the money into the Access bank account on your behalf. Then let them scan and send to you a proof of said payment, and we can take it from there. For those already in Nigeria, all you have to do is just to walk up to Access Bank Plc, and make your donations.

You can also send said donation to me via paypal (kolatubosunATgmail.com) and I’ll send them together via Western Union like I did with the last batch of donations.

So far, here is the breakdown of how much we have raised:

$145 from an anonymous donor in Illinois

$80 from Clarissa at Edwardsville

$50 from Tayo in Lagos.

And finally, LaurensOnline.com, a shoe and bag-selling outfit in Lagos Nigeria has volunteered to sell all items from now till the end of stock at 20% off if you show proof of donation of any amount to the relief effort in Jos Nigeria. All you need to do is show such proof, and you get 20% off of your purchases. Without such proof, you still get a 10% off. So what are you waiting for? If you live in Lagos, find them for your Valentine purchases of shoes, bags and beads.

Total net $230 raised so far and sent to Jos via the Red Cross. Thank you. But we can do more!