ktravula – a travelogue!

Save Pakistan

The flooding in Pakistan, according to UNICEF has affected an estimated 15 million people. It started in July2010 due to the monsoon rains and has claimed the life of about two thousand people and rendered millions homeless. Read more about it on Wikipedia and on the BBC.

In continuation of our history of intervention in places in need of help, I want to call on interested readers to take some time to donate something to the relief efforts through UNICEF. One little donation can go a long way. And what’s more, if you would send me the proof of your donation, I promise to send you picture prints and postcards from KTravula.com, depending on where you are around the world.

Save Pakistan was published on September 10th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Update on KTravulAID for Jos/Haiti

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. The account information again is as follows:

ACCESS BANK PLC

ACCOUNT NAME: NIG. REDCROSS SOCIETY – JOS CRISIS RELIEF FUND

ACCOUNT NAME: 0430010005230

SORT CODE: 044080439

BRANCH: ADETOKUNBO ADEMOLA BRANCH, ABUJA

However, if you are an American and you do not have any Nigerian to send the money to, please leave me a comment here publicly, and send me a mail to let me know, and I will send you an my account number to send it to. Then I can send it home via Western Union and have someone pay it on your behalf.

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

$145 from an anonymous in Illinois, who actually planned to donate $100, but due to bank wire charges, she ended up parting with $145 at the Bank of America. The money should be in Jos by now.

$80 from Clarissa my wonderful colleague at Edwardsville.

$50 from Tayo in Lagos for whom I may have to bring her artwork by hand when my time eventually runs out in this charming little town.

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. My now famous boots are courtesy of them, so I know they sell quality.

This brings us to a gross total of $275 and a net of $230 so far raised. To all contributors, we say a big THANK YOU.

However, this offer to give free KTravularts will end with the month of February. If you are interested in the offer still, please hurry and make your donations now. Read details here.

Update on KTravulAID for Jos/Haiti was published on February 4th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

10 Reasons to Buy KTravulart To Help Haiti

10. Haiti was the first black nation to get independence from Europeans, and they did it through bravery and collective action. Since then, however, they have been impoverished. For years since their independence, they had to pay reparation to France, a sort of price for their freedom.

9. Haiti does not have the required infrastructure to deal with the destruction of their homeland by the earthquake that hit them in January, and foreign volunteers can only do so much before they return to their own homes. They need help. They need money, badly.

8. You will get a precious artwork from and lovely postcards from ktravula.com. Yea, that’s worth repeating. 🙂

7. You will be saving lives.

6. This offer to buy beautiful soon-to-be-famous artworks for less doesn’t come all the time, and will definitely not be open forever.

5. Singer Wyclef Jean might send you a “Thank you” email or hand-written letter for helping his country. Don’t doubt it!

4. The city of Chicago, Illinois was founded by a man called Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a Haitian. He was also the first known non-indigenous settler and the first Haitian-American and person of color in the area which is now Chicago, Illinois. A support for Haiti is a support for Chicago, and by extension a support for the State of Illinois – if we want to take it that far. Don’t forget that President Obama is also from the state. Help Haiti and help us, somewhat.  🙂

3. Many of the survivors need so much medical attention which only money can buy.

2. It’s a drop in the ocean, but it can still make an impact.

1. The photos are beautiful, and worth every penny spent.

Alrighty, let’s do this and let’s move on. I’m sure I almost can hear someone say “enough already.” Well, the travelogue continues without fail, just after this commercial break… “Haiti I can see your Halo” by Beyonce. “911 Remake” by Twista, and “Redemption Song” by Rihanna.

To participate, go to this page for more information. The travelogue resumes its schedule in the month of February.

10 Reasons to Buy KTravulart To Help Haiti was published on January 30th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Art, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

10 Reasons To Buy KTravulart To Help Jos

10. It is one of Nigeria’s most serene cosmopolitan cities, now facing a humanitarian crises that could as well be called genocide going by motive, and the number of deaths recorded in the last couple of weeks.

9. It is a tourist destination for expatriates living in Nigeria maybe because of its altitude. If there is peace, stability and vitality in Jos, there is peace, stability and vitality for all who visit the place. And it’s a good place to visit if you are ever in Nigeria.

8. It is the site of a very advanced Nok culture and civilization who lived there from around 3000BC and disappeared in the late first millenium.

7. Its National Museum is one of the best in the country, and it boasts of some fine specimens of Nok terracotta heads and artifacts dating from between 500 BC to AD 200. It also incorporates the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture with life-size replicas of a variety of buildings, from the walls of Kano and the Mosque at Zaria to a Tiv village. (Source Wikipedia)

6. The state has over forty ethno-linguistic groups, some of the largest in the country as far as linguistic diversity is concerned.

5. It has the potential to be – as it has always been – one of the best places to live in Nigeria.

4. You will have a beautiful photographic artwork hanging in your living room, signed by KTravula, all the way from the Midwest of the United States.

3. You will have something to show for it beyond the beautiful photograph hanging in your living room: a peace of mind that comes from giving.

2. For Nigerians, you will have done your little part to contribute to the progress of the country Nigeria, without having to occupy a government office, and be sure that your money is making an impact, and not going to a corrupt pocket.

1. I said so. And you love me, don’t you?


PS: That photo above is of the famous Riyom Rocks. It is located in Riyom, the local government in which I spent twelve months in 2005/2006 on the National Youth Service programme. (Picture Source: Paramino.)

PSS: I got an $80 cheque from Clarissa today, as donation to Jos. She had mistakenly addressed it to Access Bank Nigeria instead of to me, but that’s fine. I can’t post the cheque to Nigeria because no Nigerian bank will cash an American cheque. On Monday therefore, I will make her re-write it, address it to me, I’ll cash it and transfer it to the Access Bank Account of the Nigerian Red Cross for Jos Relief or send by Western Union to them, or to someone who will pay it into the Access Bank Account and provide me with proof. It shouldn’t be so hard jare!

10 Reasons To Buy KTravulart To Help Jos was published on January 30th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , , , under the Art, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.