Last year I got in touch with you asking for help in fundraising £6250, so I could travel to Ghana with the charity Project Trust and teach for 8 months, and you granted me £250. I am now writing this report about my time away, as I have now returned home after an amazing experience.
My time in Ghana was one not without its challenges but was filled with memories and laughter that I will never forget.
We arrived in Ghana in January, and my project partner and I were taken to our new home, Seva – a tiny island on the Keta Lagoon, quite secluded from nearby towns and the nearest market 30 minutes away.
To begin with there were a lot of difficulties. My partner and I struggled with the culture shock throughout January and February and I personally struggled with homesickness as well as some mental health issues. However, the people around us continued to be friendly and welcoming, and as time went on, we found our feet and our place within the community.
Since day one we were welcomed to the island, greeted by the town people and the children from school that we would later go on to teach.
In school, we started teaching in Primary four, my partner, Miranda, and I, sharing the class. However, due to difficulties with the language barrier between us and the younger children, after a few weeks we moved to teach in the Junior High School. (In the east region of Ghana, the Volta region, the main language spoken is Ewe. A small language that is mainly spoken in Ghana, but also in southern parts of Togo and Benin.) I taught in form 1 (ages approximately 12-15) and form 2 (ages 14-17) and taught English and Creative Arts. I went into teaching with little to no teaching experience, just the training I had received by Project Trust, so to begin with it was a challenge, especially with the very limited resources that the school had – most subjects only had one textbook that the teacher would have to teach from, and even whiteboard markers were not provided by the school. However, as time went on, the children and I got into a rhythm of working together and making the most of the short time we had.
Teaching has taught me more than I realised it would; not only boosting my confidence and public speaking skills to a level I didn’t know I was capable of, but also patience and resilience. As well as learning to adapt as you go, as plans would often change while you were teaching, either due to resources or the kids. You had to think on your feet, because it didn’t matter if you planned your lesson down to the finest detail, something would always change and throw you off course, and for the sake of the kids, you’d have to make it work. I also learnt so much from the kids themselves. Getting to know them over the 8 months was something incredible. I got to know each of them as individuals and see how each of them worked. I got to see how hardworking some were – the ones really fighting to do well in school so they could better themselves and their family by getting a good job, especially the girls who would often tell me of their dreams to become Doctors and Nurses – and the ones who needed a bit of extra encouragement, who would often muck about and not listen in class, but by the end of our time together, they worked hard and had come out of their shells, becoming some of our close friends. The kids I taught were amazing. They showed resilience and dedication, and they were bright students, who also worked to support their families – often going out fishing every night and before school, as fishing was the main occupation on the island. We also became friends with some of the older students, as we would spend time together after school in the Clubs we had set up, like Girls’ Club – a safe space for the girls in our classes to come and relax from their chores, school and work, where we listened to music, danced, coloured in and made bracelets.
I never expected teaching to have such an impact on me, and it is something that, despite its challenges, I already miss, and I know I will never forget the amazing kids I got to spend the 8 months with.
We also made incredible friendships with others from out with the island and school. Our neighbour taught us how to weave the Ghanaian cloth, Kente. Our motorbike driver helped us with moving our furniture we had to buy from the market. Our seamstress was a lovely woman at our local market who was so accommodating and also made the most beautiful Ghanaian clothes for us. And we got to know the people at all the stalls in the market, that we would go to at least once a week. It taught me about community, and what it meant to be a part of that community, both on and off of the island.
Outside of that is also the bonds I formed with my project partner and group. There were five of us in my group, and I lived with my project partner, just the two of us, on Seva. The bonds I have made not only with the people of Ghana but also with my project group – as we worked through the difficulties of adjusting to a new life together, travelling together and getting to know one another – are ones that will last a lifetime. From being strangers meeting at the airport, we left Ghana with an incredible connection over this unique experience we have all shared together.
Being in Ghana has also given me independence unlike anything else. It allowed me to move out at 18, to a foreign country where I had to rely on myself and my project partner, to build relationships and navigate a new culture and community unlike one I’d ever been a part of before. We lived within our host family’s compound but had our own house, cooking and paying for ourselves. We planned our own lessons and clubs for school, and when it came to the holidays and we decided to travel, we organised that and got ourselves around the country, navigating the different transport systems and keeping ourselves safe as we travelled to see amazing places. While we worked as a group it was also a huge responsibility on ourselves, to be independent and grow as people.
And then, one of the main things I will always love about Ghana is our host family. Our host family were the people whose compound we lived within. The family consisted of Sister Mansa, our host mother, and her three young children, who were 3, 7, and 10. At the beginning we did not know just how close we would become with the family. Sister Mansa supported us throughout. She cooked for us when we didn’t have a fridge and taught us the Ghanian dishes we desperately wanted to learn. She took us to the market for the first time and taught us what it was like living on the island. She never treated us like guests and gave us no special treatment. She treated us like locals, and like family, which made our relationship incredibly unique, even compared to the other volunteers in other projects. Sister Mansa was like a mother to us, and the kids like brothers and sister to us, as we saw them every day, from morning till night, as we played with them, helped them with their homework and they helped us with our cooking. The bonds we made with that family I’d compare to that of my own family back here in Scotland, and it made saying goodbye incredibly difficult. But laughing and spending time with that family, has taught me so much. Its taught me to appreciate life as it comes, to make time for the simpler things, and to always work hard. It also taught us communication skills, because Sister Mansa spoke very little English, and we spoke very little Ewe. We had to learn how to convey our thoughts and words through other means. But it didn’t matter that we didn’t speak the same language, because it got to a point where we all understood each other and could co-exist with one another through our own ways of communicating.
This time in Ghana has been life changing. We travelled and saw amazing things, from elephants and waterfalls to monkey’s and castles, but most importantly we were a part of a community. They welcomed us in and we did the best we could to immerse ourselves in island life. We taught in the school which was very short staffed and had very limited resources, and even dealt with bats living in the roof of our accommodation. But the people made it worth it. The kids at school, the people of the town and our host family. I learnt so many things and skills: patience, resilience, adaptability, public speaking, confidence. We learnt to laugh in bad situations and how to keep yourself going. To keep working hard because the years of hard work can pay off and do so in incredible ways. To rely on others just as they rely on you. To take life as it comes. I did this opportunity because I said to myself at the start of that year, to take the next opportunity life gives you. And being in Ghana, has only proved to me that I was right to do so, and opened up more opportunities and paths for me to follow.
It has been an incredible year, and I thank yourselves for helping me to achieve all of this.
Gratefully and sincerely,