Our family leaves for Ghana tonight (Atlanta to Accra nonstop!) and we'll be rolling up our sleeves for another round of our "work" in the villages.

What is that work, exactly? Digging wells, painting schools, right? Uh, no. Far from it. Over the next few days, we'll be offering up words of support for villagers building their own businesses, schools, wells, banks, food storage facilities.

We'll be marveling at the creativity and innovation of people eager to build their way out of poverty, particularly the women who are almost giddy about the opportunity to create a better future for their kids. We'll be dancing right alongside our new teammates. In other words, our message is this: We came 5,000 miles to support you.

And we'll be doing a lot of listening -- to village women urging their fellow villagers to get busy and pitch in; to Hunger Project staffers prodding people in neighboring villages to band together; to other investors traveling with us from Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia who can teach us their perspectives.

In other words, we'll be learning from the poor and learning from the wealthy. Learning from anyone we have the good sense to listen to.

The most important things we're bringing with us: Ears to listen and open hearts to absorb what we hear.