It has been an emotionally draining day. Friends are off skiing or swimming for February vacation while I’m putting in long hours on a programming project. I continue to read about the ups and downs of a friend who has recently been diagnosed with Leukemia. Then, yesterday, I learned that Irv Stolberg died last Friday. He had been fighting Leukemia for a year. Today, I learned of another activist that died unexpectedly.

I’ve tried to find words to write about Irv. Many people have written many words already, and somehow, I don’t imagine Irv would be looking for more flowery words. He would be looking for action. He would be telling not to mourn, but to organize. In my mind, I hear the strains of “Joe Hill” rising up in the background.

As I sat at my computer, I received an instant message from ‘Kaabarah’. Kaabarah’s name is Abdul-mumin and I’m not sure how he ever found me. He started sending me messages back in 2005. I didn’t know who he was and we didn’t end up talking much back then. Today, me IMed me again. He mentioned that he was working on a project on advocacy for youth development in Tamale as part of Global Youth Service Day. I did a quick search on Tamale and found that it is the capital of the northern region of Ghana.

Abdul-mumin spoke about the project he did last year and suggested that I search on his name. I found his Flickr Stream which included pictures from last year’s Global Youth Service Day project at the Dakpemah primary school. We chatted for a little bit, and he came to the ask. Did I know of any environmental organizations that could be partners to his organization?

Ghana is just two countries over from Nigeria, and a request for help from an unknown person in a country near Nigeria normally raises red flags for most Americans. Yet I had done some searching. I saw Abdul-mumin on many NGO related sites, TakingITGlobal, the AIDS 2006 Youth Site and the Civicus 8th World Assembly.

He talked about the Youth and Poverty Reduction Strategy e-Course which he was currently taking and his hopes for a special youth fellowship from UNFPA/UNAIDS.

Irv had been president of the Connecticut Division of the United Nations Association. He had often traveled to other countries to help promote democracy. If there is a fitting eulogy for Irv, perhaps it is a call to action to reach out to people like Abdul-mumin to help them achieve their dreams.

What is the best way to help out a young man from Ghana who is working hard to make his country and his world a better place? I don’t know, yet. But perhaps the way I can best honor Irv is to try and find out how to help Abdul-mumin.