Lesley Howell will take a long, but close-at-heart journey back to her African roots when she visits Ghana this summer.

One day I plan to live in Africa because that’s where we’re all from, and I’m just interested in learning about Africa said Howell, a junior in elementary education from Chicago.

Ghana is a West African nation with a population of more than 17 million. Because Howell and other students have expressed such a huge interest in Africa, a four-week summer program has been designed to introduce students to the similarities in Ghanaian cultural practices and other people of the African Diaspora.

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The program, African Cultural Continuities, was proposed last fall by Nancy Dawson, an assistant professor in Black American Studies. This is the first time the Study Abroad Program will allow students to travel to Africa.

Dawson said students have seemed excited about the program. Almost 50 students have shown interest in traveling to Ghana. Five students, including Howell, paid the $250 deposit, which is due Feb. 16, for the $3,640 trip.

That shows that students really have an interest, she said. And that’s important.

A fund-raising meeting for students participating in the program will be scheduled at the end of February to help defray the program’s expenses.

Most students are eligible for student loans, Dawson said. But we are going to do some fund raising. We’ve been thinking about a candy sale.

Howell said nothing could have kept her from collecting the deposit for the trip. The remaining $3,390 she plans to collect through financial aid and fund raising. For her, a trip to Ghana is much too important to pass up.

Everybody should go there one point in their lives,, she said. Everyone’s going to benefit from it.

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While in Ghana, students will visit various landmarks, including old slave castles and the home of W.E.B. DuBois, who in 1896 became first African-American to receive his doctorate at Harvard University.

Robert Jensen, acting dean for the College of Liberal Arts, said the college supports the trip. He encourages everyone to raise funds for the trip because it is important.

We are very much behind the program because it allows students a multicultural experience, he said. I will support their fund-raising efforts. I usually do. It’s going to take a group of faculty and students to make a strong strategy.

The experience anticipated for those involved in this effort is positive and enlightening.

Thomas Saville, coordinator of the Study Abroad Program, said it is important for every student to experience other cultures. Each Study Abroad Program has an educational purpose.

All students need to do that, he said. It’s important that all be able to function in a multicultural society. You will never understand your own society unless you have experienced, in depth, another one.

Howell is looking very forward to visiting Ghana. She plans to learn every cultural aspect of Ghana.

[The trip] will definitely make me see the world better, she said. Hopefully, I’ll learn more about [Ghana’s] daily life as well as [its] the politics.