Almost Around the World in 120 Days

Joelle was an amazing woman that I got to know on the voyage.  She inspires me to be a better person.   – Greg Wood

 

By Joelle Powe

In one Ghanaian Pentecostal church on Easter Friday in the city of Takoradi, dapper men and women of all ages dressed in white jumped in praise of God while surrounded by hundreds of fellow worshippers in a tent. This reminded me of many of the Portmore tents of worship at home. In the Ghanaian gathering various clans were called by the pastor to shake their tambourines and bodies for the Lord. Shake up, shake down, and shake it all around! Our band of four joined this joyous dance as prayer.

In Fes, Morocco, we had to peep from a distance. As women we could not join in the worshipping. We peeped through the archway in the Medina and got a glimpse of dozens of devoted Muslim men and boys diligently washing their bodies in a fountain and others performing the bowed ritual of prayer in the mosque. Women and non-Muslims were not permitted to enter.

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Semester At Sea with Jonathan Murray

Widely credited with inventing the modern reality television genre, Jonathan Murray continues to inspire, influence and entertain television audiences worldwide. Since the 1992 launch of “The Real World” (MTV), Murray has created and executive produced more than 2000 hours of the industry’s most innovative unscripted entertainment television, including Project Runway, and the Emmy Award winning series Born This Way (A&E) as well as the documentaries Autism: The Musical and Valentine Road.Murray got his start in local television, spending six years at WLUK-TV, WXIA-TV and WKYC-TV in news, documentaries, station management (WOKR-TV) and programming. He then worked with the television rep firm HRP, Inc. where he helped local stations buy and schedule their syndicated programming.

Education
Graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.

SAS Connection
Jonathan first sailed in 1999 when his MTV series Road Rules chronicled the voyage of six SAS students. He has also sailed with his family on an Enrichment Voyage (2012), and plans to sail again on the Spring 2018 voyage.