Newtown Youth & Student at Immaculate High School Travels to Africa

This summer, Newtown youth A.J. Vitiello plans to travel to West Africa as a volunteer with Global Leadership Adventures. The twenty-one days he’ll spend there will consist of teaching children at a primary school and making bricks that’ll be used in the construction of new facilities. He’ll also be studying social issues that face African women and children today, traditional art and dance, and the influence of slavery on African nations.

Global Leadership Adventures (GLA) is an organization that offers service abroad trips for high school students. Programs are offered in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America in twenty-two different countries. The mission of GLA “is to inspire the next generation to realize their potential to transform the world and their role in it” through community service, hands-on-learning, cultural immersion, and adventure. 

Vitiello is a rising senior at Immaculate High School in Danbury, where he is involved in campus ministry and community service. After travelling with the Diocese of Bridgeport to World Youth Day 2016 in Poland, he was inspired to use his “talents to serve people of other cultures.” In June, he’ll be volunteering with GLA in Ghana, as part of the “Children of Africa” service program.

While in Ghana, Vitiello will design lesson plans and teach basic English and math to Ghanaian children. He’ll build bricks to be used in a new school and plan a field day with special games for the kids. In addition, he’ll speak with local leaders about how to combat modern day slavery and human trafficking. A highlight of the trip will be a visit to the Keta Slave Fort, one of many slave forts built by Europeans on the West African coast during the 1500s. Finally, he will spend time at an orphanage that houses children who have lost parents to HIV and AIDS.

If you would like to support this student on his journey, GLA provided the fundraising link below so you can safely and easily give towards the cause. Your donation will go towards providing him with the resources and tools that are needed to teach and serve the Ghanaian schoolchildren. He thanks his family, friends, and neighbors for sponsoring him on this trip.

https://www.experiencegla.com/contribute/Nzk1MQ/