Google Earth - A boy finds his mother after 25 years, and basketball from West Africa | New Ideas, New Possibilities / LJWorld.com

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Posted by Lawrence Morgan April 15, 2012 at 9:36 p.m.

Google Earth - A boy finds his mother after 25 years, and basketball from West Africa

A Journey to The Gambia, and then India and Tasmania

Like many people, I have been following and using Google Earth for several years with some amazing results.

For example, I have been able to pinpoint the spot in The Gambia, Africa, where the person I am working with on projects in West Africa lives (Ebrahima Mbowe). Several years ago, I would never have even thought of any way to do that.

It's been fun to follow the entire coast of the Gambian River as it goes inland.

Soccer is the big game in Africa, but there are basketball teams as well in various parts of the continent.

We will soon be doing our first post on African basketball teams of The Gambia, and some of the players. I can't think of a better source than to have it on the Lawrence-Journal World. Lawrence is a basketball town, one of the finest in the country. It will be fun to have some of the good African players of basketball on this blog, hopefully with pictures and the events of their lives, which are quite different from the lives of American players.

And Google Earth will make it possible to see where they live and have grown up in Africa.

And a journey to India and Tasmania

But there is another fascinating article which came out this morning;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17693816

Google Earth has helped a boy find his mother from his new home in Tasmania after 25 years.

One you read this article I think you will be astonished. Just as I've been able to use Google Earth for The Gambia--getting to the intersection of the road from Serrekunda to Banjul--this young person made great use of Google Earth to find his home town Khandwa, close to Calcutta. It is a heartbreaking story but it has a very good ending.

From the Sydney, Australia, Morning Herald:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/little-boy-lost-a-25year-odyssey-20120323-1vp65.html

I wonder if other readers have made similar journeys on Google Earth, and what they have experienced. Please include your comments.