DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. -- He didn't think he was really going until he saw the plane tickets. But once Kareem saw them, he knew it was true _ he and Devin were headed to Africa.
The two 17-year-olds, who live at a Westchester County residential treatment center, are scheduled for a Thursday afternoon flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport that will take them over 5,000 miles across the world to Ghana.
Once there, they will install around 80 computers in 17 schools all over the African nation. The teens have spent months rebuilding the computers at the Children's Village residential center.
"I had to pinch myself," Kareem said. "I didn't believe it."
The two teens are among a handful of boys in the Work Appreciation for Youth computer repair program at Children's Village, which focuses on the most emotionally troubled children in the state's foster-care system. Regulations meant to protect the youths' privacy bar the release of their last names.
Kareem, from Staten Island, has been living at the facility for 1{ years. Devin, from Yonkers, has been there for 2{ years. Both are expected to be transitioning out of the facility soon.
This is the fourth international trip the organization has funded; two previous trips have taken youths to Croatia, and another to Kenya.
Nan Dale, president of Children's Village, said the trips have transformed the teens who made them, and she expects the same to happen with Kareem and Devin.
"They really see the power of their own effort ... They see themselves as having something important to give," she said.
Dale will accompany the teens with instructor Jobe Chevrian and child care counselor Joseph Johnson.
Johnson was the catalyst for the trip. A frequent visitor to Ghana for the last 10 years, he had always been struck by the warmth and kindness of the people, despite their poverty, and had wanted to do something to help them.
After he and Dale had a conversation about making a Children's Village trip to Ghana, Johnson reached out to officials there and selected the 17 schools. The schools are in both urban and rural areas, and while some may lease a few computers, none of the institutions actually own any.
After the computers are installed, an email program linking them with the Children's Village will be activated. The visitors will also be bringing donated medical equipment, toys and books. The trip cost about $11,000, raised through private donations and the children's efforts.
Johnson hopes the facility will be able to offer these trips every year, and is in the process of setting up Friends of Ghana, a corporation that will try to raise donated goods every year for students to take over.
This trip will be unlike any other experience Devin and Kareem ever have, Johnson said.
"They'll learn that there are people much, much less fortunate than them and it has not affected their attitudes at all," he said.
