It developed over the fall of 2009.

A friend of mine called me up and said he going to go on an around the world trip. When I hung up, I thought it was something I should look into. I am single, with no children and relatively free from responsibilities that would bog me down (a lot of debt, mortgage etc). So I said why not travel the world. Then I decided to mesh this idea with a few other things what were budding in my life.

• One of my lifelong goals is to visit at least one country on every continent
• From organizing the WordSmith Poetry jam, I have been moved by the power poetry has to give voice to everyday people to express our hurts, ideas, passions, experiences etc. I thought it would be great to create mini poetry jams along my travels to give those who are often voiceless the same stage. Its a merger of my growing passion for art and my professional desire for community development.
• I have been inspired by the poets that perform monthly to begin writing poetry myself. Since I have only been writing a few months. I thought pushing myself to write on this trip was a great idea. Poetry is a great way for my followers to see the world through my eyes. The beauty and ugliness I see will be great subjects to write about and help me reflect on my travels and communicate what I am seeing and experiences to my friends, family and supporters.

I made a list of all the places I might wanted to visit in each region of the world. Then I tried to find inexpensive volunteer opportunities or contacts. So for the most part I am traveling to countries where the International Volunteer Headquarters has placements (recommended to me by a friend) and where I have contacts. Initially I had a list of 25 countries but had to eliminate a bunch due to cost. I still want to make it to Istanbul and Cairo and will add those if time and money permits.

Approximately 9.5-10 months. My estimated departure date is June 6th, 2010. I hope to have my first volunteer placement begin on June 7th in Costa Rica. I will return in mid to late March of 2011 unless I raise more/less money than expected and can visit more/less countries.

In all of the developing countries ( Costa Rica, Peru, Kenya, India & Thailand) the program coordinators from my volunteer placements will pick me up from the airport and orient me to the country. Otherwise, I will be taking proper precautions in regards to safety. My goal is to lodge with friends of my friends and have at least one contact in every country I visit to either stay with or help me get oriented to the country.

Contrary to popular belief in most international cities English is spoken in some form. The majority of my trip, I will be teaching English and have the support of IVHQ program staff. This I will be taking Spanish before I leave and will be taking Spanish lessons the entire time I am in South America. I plan to translate my workshops using the staff at the organizations and have translated worksheets before I leave. Otherwise that is what language books are for. I stayed 10 days in Brazil and did not know a word of portuguese and managed just fine.

Before departure, I will be working to put together at least 10 age appropriete poetry activities. I will be teaching English, so poetry is a natural segway. In the volunteering placements, volunteers are expected to create lessons and activities to do with the students. I also have been gathering and creating poetry workshop activities from teachers, friends, books and poets. For several years, I have implemented various workshops, programs and activities involving children and youth. I am not a poetry expert by any means, but I can communicate the basic elements and create fun and simple activities for adults and kids to create poetry. My signature piece will be a popular fill in the blank poem entitled “Where I am From,”  which prompts participants will tell their stories by incorporating their traditions, favorite foods, family sayings, neighborhood sites etc. This has the potential to create a dynamic mosaic of poetry that conveys the experiences, culture, community and traditions of various peoples.

If you have some ideas, please send them my way. I am not claiming to be an expert and would love as much help as possible.

In Costa Rica, Peru, Kenya and Thailand I will be working at schools, community centers and orphanages, teaching English. I may also be doing some construction related volunteering in Thailand. In India (New Delphi) I will be doing womens empowerment work at a community center.

In London, France and Spain I will be visiting arts organizations to network and do readings from the poetry I have written in South America.

I will be just touring in Tokyo and in South Africa and China I hope to visit with some local poets and poetry organizations I have made contact with.

In Australia I hope to send the majority of my time at L’Abri and then tour the outback. Since this is at the end of my trip, it will be a respite, where I will begin to reflect on my trip and begin to put together the presentation.

Through individual donations, a fundraiser, grants and my personal savings.  See my fundraising plan below for more details: 

150 Friend of Poetic Justice

I am asking 150 of my friends (that would be YOU) to donate $150 either as a one time donation or in monthly installments. You will have the option of giving  through recurring payments of 12.50 Monthly (from March of 2010 to March of 2011). You can mail checks or send me an email requesting an custimized donation link if you choose another recurring donation plan.

Give as you can

Individuals are also encouraged to give as they are able.

One Time Donations

That can be as little as $5 or as much as thousands.

Recurring Donations (click the subscribe button with the amount you desire – if you want another $ amount not listed just send me an email). You can also sign up to give in installments. A $10-$100 a month can accumulate to make a significant dent in my trip costs.

Payments will be processed through pay pal. They are secure payments. You will receive a payment confirmation email. These funds will go directly to my fundraising account.

Fund a Segment

Donors can fund a specific element of my trip. See examples below:

• $5 = Bottled water for a week
• $10 = Toiletry items for my backpack
• $25 = One week of my living cost in a developing country, An Australian visa,
• $50 = A vaccination
• $100 = An expensive vaccination, one way ticket within Europe, website costs , a week at L’abri Australia
• $150= Chinese or India Passport
• $200= A flip camera or digital camera, one way ticket to Costa Rica
• $250 = A week in Costa Rica, Peru or Kenya, my travel backpack, one way ticket to a country in Asia (i.e Bangkok to Beijing)
• $500= A month in Thailand, India or Kenya
• $600= African Safari or Hiking Machu Picchu (Inca trail in Peru), ticket from Costa Rica to Peru
• $700= 6 weeks in Kenya, 3 weeks in Costa Rica, all of my vaccinations, tickets from South Africa to Kenya, Kenya to India
• $850= 6 weeks in Peru

Savings

I am prepared to use my personal savings to fund the remaining trip costs.

Fundraiser

WordSmith Poetry will be hosting an event in the spring to raise money for this project. That will include a Talent Show, Poetry Slam and Silent Auction. I hope to raise at least $1,500 from this event.

Grants

I will be applying for grants from the following organizations from several arts foundations.

I have created a separate savings account for this trip which is where the paypal donations will be deposited into. These funds will be used pay for my trip costs before and during my travels.

For those of you who are making large donations or that want to make a tax deductible donation, my home church All Souls is my fiscal agent. Checks can be made out to All Souls and sent to Poetic Justice World Tour, P.O. Box 1748 Charlottesville, VA 22902

Online donations are NOT tax deductible as they will go directly into my trip account. Though this effort is theoretically a charitable cause, only donations to tax exempt 501c3 non-profits are tax deductible. Your donations to Poetic Justice are considered “gifts”. According to the IRS you can give gifts up to $13,000 to one individual without being taxed. If you give via the facebook cause or mail a check, those donations will be tax deductible as they are made payable to my fiscal agent (All Souls) which is a tax exempt organization.

• Click here for the verification letter from the International Volunteer Headquarters confirming my volunteer experience.
• Click here for the project endorsement letter from All Souls Charlottesville.

The total estimated trip costs are $26,500 for this entire effort. Below are approximations, for the full budget click here.  It’s subject to change.

• My volunteering program costs for 6 months are =$3,810 for the program costs
• There is an estimated $25 weekly cost to care for my basic needs during this time = $1000
• My estimated flight and ground transportation costs are =$8,500
• Daily Cost in Europe=$2,000
• Daily Cost in South Africa = $1,100
• Daily Cost in China & Japan =$1,100
• Daily Cost in Australia = 1,000
• Vaccinations =$700
• Equipment =$1000 (notebook, camera, video camera)
• Extra Activities= $1,500
• Insurance=$1,000
• Trip Gear, Clothes, Accessories, etc=$500
• Misc/Emergency Fund/Money for return=$2,000
• Passports=$355

I’m missing a few things, but you get the picture

What a good question.

• Hopefully return to my job
• I hope to put my poems, pictures and video into a presentation with an accompanying written publication. Hopefully, I get get my own poems in conjunction with the poetry I collect worldwide into a book of poetry (Around the World in 80 Poems). Let me know if you would like for me to give my presentation upon my return.
• I am also open to staying or returning somewhere for an extended period of time.
• This will be a catalyst for future work I plan to do to be an ambassador for the power of art in community development. I think merging my two passions (poetry as an artist) and community development (as a city planner)  would be optimal in the future.

• Check the website and blog. I will be writing entries, poems and hopefully posting pictures and video as much as I can.
• Join my mailing list. I hope to send a monthly email newsletter
• Send me emails – I will need some encouragement along my ways
• Skype me or more likely I will Skype you. I will hopefully have a Internet notebook with me, so that I can keep in contact through Skype.  I do not plan on having a cell phone. Of course I will have emergency contact information at my volunteer placements.

• Pray for my safe travels
• Support my trip financially – As one of the 150 Friends of Poetic Justice ($150 donation), fund some portion of my trip or give as you are able. No donation is too small, $5 will buy me water for a week.
• Encourage your friends and family to financially support my trip – forward a link to the website or forward the facebook cause.
• If you have friends in other countries that I will be visiting, I would love to see friendly faces, please pass along their contact information with their permission
• Trip Advice: Feel free to pass along advice on must see places, deals, websites or other ideas
• Join my trip: I am eager for other people to join me on the trip. If you are an artist, join me to help with poetry workshops or to conduct workshops around your art form. I am eager to have photographers, videographers, poets etc. Or you can just visit me. I will be away for months, so friendly faces will be appreciated. Just note, this is a budget travel trip for me.

• Poems, Pictures, Video (flip camera), journal writing and blog posts.
• I hope to post online while I am abroad as often as I can. I will bring an internet notebook computer and the IVHQ volunteer spaces have Internet access.
• I will create a presentation when I return and I hope to put together an accompanying printed publication.