MY FEEDBACK

I am back from Ghana safe and sound! Once again, I would like to thank you so much for sponsoring me and for having made this unique experience come true. Of course, I want to let you know how it went! Here is a report of what happened during the trip (I had kept a little journal that I wrote in every night). I took lots of photos throughout the excursion; however, sometimes it wouldn’t be possible to photograph certain situations out of respect, or I didn’t have any batteries left.

HELLO GHANA!

It was a really wonderful experience, filled with love, hope and faith. Every single person we encountered was encouraged, welcoming and pleasant to be around. With a great team of 16 people (with a total of 9 different nationalities and a difference of 27 years between the oldest and the youngest), we arrived in Accra, the capital of Ghana, in the Greater Accra region, on the 20^th of June. During our whole stay, we resided in a Guest House in Osu, near the central part of the city. It wasn’t the most luxurious accommodation but it had a good bed, good bathroom facilities (although sometimes we had to cope with cold showers) and a wonderful conference room to host our breakfasts, lunches and dinners. It was more than we could hope for during a humanitarian trip! The weather, very hot and humid (the raining season), was around 35°C each day, which was a major change from the 15-20°C I was having in London before I left!

DAY 1-2: FOSTER HOME IN FRAFRAHA

We spent the first two days in Ghana at a Foster Home in Frafraha. Everyone welcomed us saying “Akwaaba” which means welcome. It was a school for around 220 children (a good mix between girls and boys) and 40 of them were foster children, so they also lived there. With another member of my team (Buki), we spent the two days with a specific class. The one we chose was the nursery (4-5 years old) and was composed of about 30-35 children. They were adorable; singing and jumping around. They were very excited about seeing us. We taught them some songs and poems and they also taught us some songs in twi (the Ghanaian dialect). Some of the children in the nursery were nearly 7 or 8 years old. The teacher explained to us that it was because they did not start going to school until a very old age; either because their parents didn’t care or they couldn’t afford all the school supplies and fees. 

All the children seemed eager to learn! The teaching method used by our teacher was to make the children repeat after her in order for them to remember. Also, the focus was centred on the child, when he or she answered a question; everyone had to clap for them (a very specific clap that you catch on rapidly!). The children called me Aunty Sarah and were very endearing, always wanting to hold hands and go on my laps. During the class, I would sit with them on the tiny little chairs and would help them with their work or copying things from the board. The class taught was about ‘Creating a good learning environment’ – learning about cleaning the classroom so you don’t get sick, how to clean with a broom, what to do with the rubbish etc.

The next day when we came back to the Foster Home, we brought with us a lot of donations (clothes, shoes, school supplies) that we had collected before leaving England (we brought a total of 5 extra suitcases containing all the donation that we gave throughout the trip). The night before, we had prepared individual and personal packages for each teacher, and lots of clothes for different ranges of age, girls and boys (a lot of them we bought ourselves with the sponsored money from places like Primark and H&M). All the kids were so happy, jumping, laughing and they had lots of smiles on their faces. The teachers were very grateful that we had thought of them too. We also brought with us a financial donation (from the sponsored money again) for building a playground for the children (basketball hoops and soccer goals). 

In the evening, we put together a party for the foster children only and the staff members of the Foster Home (a full on Ghanaian catered buffet, drinks for everyone, party music, party hats and our own performance of dances and poems that we had prepared before leaving). It was a bit heartbreaking when we had to say goodbye, all the kids running around the bus and waving at us is an unforgettable image.

DAY 3: DESOS IN TEMA

On our third day, we travelled to Tema (around 1h away from central Accra) to visit DESOS (Disabled Equipment Sent Overseas). This is a centre that is being built to welcome disabled people of Ghana. The place was held by an elderly couple of around 80 years old (however extremely active and full of energy!!) and three other local Ghanaians. The whole property did not have running water or electricity; they lived at a very primal stage. 

At the centre, there is a library room for the blind, a teaching room for sign language, the disabled patients can take classes to learn how to write and read and there are workshops where they practice carpentry, sewing, art, jewellery making, and any other activities that can help them through their disability. Also, they are given the appropriate and specific equipment needed for free (cane, wheelchair etc). This centre has been opened for 18 months and has already helped around 600 people In Tema and Ghana live a better life. Our job during that day was to help build some of the houses (to accommodate the disabled people when they come for help) and some of the classes: painting, putting bricks together, cutting the grass/trees and cultivating the local food. For our lunch, we cooked kasava, plantain and yam grown from the land and in a very traditional way (pounding with a wooden stick in a wooden bowl), which was a very new and enriching experience. The food is completely different and also very spicy but it’s amazing to try new things!

DAY 4-5: REVIVAL LIFE PROGRAMME IN KUMASI

On our fourth day, we travelled to Kumasi, the Ashanti region of Ghana, a town about 7 hours away from Accra. The ride was long and extremely bumpy! The people sitting at the back of the mini-bus (including myself) kept jumping up and down! This was our team leader’s hometown (Aaron Berko), hence the choice of the city. Once arrived, we got settled in the hotel where we were going to stay for the night. Aaron Berko was part of the Revival Church during his childhood and youth and in the evening we met with the church committee that we were going to help the following day with their Revival Life Programme. This programme welcomes people of Kumasi, whether Christians or not, to have a place where they can seek guidance, help, ask questions about religion and have access to a library with all kinds of books. This programme outreach takes place twice a year: a team from the church goes onto the streets and in the neighbourhoods and approach people to let them know about the programme. As we were having dinner with the committee (a wonderful traditional dinner – boiled yams and kewele in pavala sauce) we also donated around 120 books to be added to their collection (that we had gathered before leaving).

Therefore, the next morning, we all met up (the iCAN team and the church members) in one of the neighbourhoods of Kumasi and separated ourselves in groups of 3 to 4 people - with at least one local person in each group. I was in a group of four, with my teammate Buki (again!) and two members of the church (Eric and Djara). From 11am to 3pm, we walked around the rural parts of the town. We knocked on doors and said what we advertised the programme. Some people were very open-minded and listened to us generously; others had no trouble showing that they were not interested. It was hot and humid although the sun wasn’t completely out. It was very important during the whole trip to drink lots of (bottled) water and unfortunately during that time, we only took one for four people. There was one woman we encountered that was very touched by our presence. She invited us into her home (she was the eldest sister of the family, in her early 20s) and we sat in her living room. Now when I say living room, I don’t mean what we would picture as a living room of a wealthy and modern world. She kept saying how there was never anyone in her family of 7 children that would listen to her problems. Either there wasn’t the time or there wasn’t the interest. She felt comforted when she heard that other people outside of her family would care and there was someone she could talk to.

Once we had finished, we travelled back to Accra (another 7 hours of drive). Upon our arrival, we were all very tired from the long trip and called it an early night.

DAY 6-7: COMPASSION INT’L GHANA IN ADABRAKA AND TEMA NEWTOWN

The next day was Sunday. Ghana is a country composed of 69% of Christians, 15% of Muslims and of 16% of other religions and beliefs. Ghanaian Christians like going to church every Sunday as part of their weekly routine, where traditional singing and dancing mark the services. Some people from our team were indeed Christians and we decided as a group to attend a morning service in a very big church of Adabraka “Assemblies of God Evangelical Church”. It was in fact the annual “Children’s Day”. The two-hour service was filled with colourful costumes, singing and recitals, dances and choreographies, skits and much more, all performed by the children and their teachers. It was interesting to watch.

Afterwards, we met up with the staff of Compassion Ghana for lunch, where they introduced to us their national organisation. Compassion International is a worldwide project that helps children struggle through poverty in currently 26 different countries across the globe (East and West Africa, South and East Asia, Central and South America). Ghana is part of them and celebrated its 6^th birthday this July. In total, they have 128 projects in the country, with 31,417 children registered (between the age of 3 to 15 years old) and 24,957 of them are sponsored. Compassion International works with ‘Child Development Through Sponsorship Program” (many sponsors are from USA and Canada) to help the child through their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty in order to become a responsible and fulfilled adult. Thanks to the monthly donations from their sponsors, the children are provided with benefits including food, clothing, school fees/supplies, shelter, healthcare and health education. This organisation is so inspiring and immense, and it’s incredible to hear how it all started with one single man in Hong Kong and now it has grown to help thousands of children all over the world, ‘One At A Time’. In the afternoon, we visited the Compassion International Ghana Field Office in Accra, where 47 members work. We all introduced ourselves and met some very inspiring people. They explained what they did concretely in the organisation, for example supervising the relationship between the sponsor and their sponsored child (letters, mail, money transfers…).

The following day, we visited one of the 128 projects of Compassion International Ghana. This one was called the New Life Child Development Centre in Tema Newtown. It was about two hours from Accra, and we drove through a very rural zone of Ghana, alongside the sea. The welcome we got by the children and staff members was incredible and words don’t begin to describe it fully! I had never seen such a warm, beautiful welcome. The girls were lined up on the stairs; all in traditional costumes, face and body painted and were dancing to music that was being played by the boys on hand drums. It was more than beautiful. Their dancing was so pure, detailed and seemed so natural. We were truly enchanted by this unique welcome and felt very privileged. Unfortunately, this was at the time where I didn’t have any more batteries on my camera and I only managed to capture one or two photos of this amazing moment. Afterwards, we thanked and applauded the children and the staff started presenting their project. This children centre started in October 2006 and his currently composed of 240 children, 55% of them being boys and 45% girls. All are between the age of 6 and 15 years old and 96% of them are sponsored (230 children)! The project children then put on another performance for us, consisting of dancing, acting and music. The whole was very tribal and represented an evil man where he poisoned people and in the end he was sorry for what he did and was forgiven. It was once again very beautiful and the natural talent was breathtaking.

We spent the whole day with the children, all around the age of 12 to 15. We did a lot of games, involving holding hands and clapping and jumping up and down! Out in the sun and on a very warm day, we were all sweating by the end. It was a lot of fun and we were all enjoying ourselves and laughing so much! The children taught us this game called “ampe” which involves jumping up two times and then putting either the left or right foot forward on the second jump. Depending on which foot your opponent had put down; you would win or lose. Afterwards, we had lunch all together, each carefully washing our hands with soap and water from a basin. We had a very traditional and local food called “banku and okro”, which involved eating yam dough with our right hand and scooping it in a spicy fish stew. It wasn’t my favourite dish but I loved trying it! The children enjoyed teaching us how to eat it or what was in it. We then decided to all dance together and play some music. The children taught us the dance moves that they performed at the beginning or our day. This was the most fun part of the day. All the children were crawling of laughter at our attempts to dance the Ghanaian moves (especially me, a white girl - “obroni” in twi)!

After all the laughing and joking around, the children decided to show us the arts and crafts that they had learned how to make themselves at the centre. I saw some very unique and beautiful necklaces, bracelets, earrings, dresses, t-shirts etc. It was so fascinating; all the children were so proud and grabbed us by the arms to show us precisely which one they had made. They were so happy when some of us bought them! The money they earn from their locally made crafts goes directly to the centre.

Unfortunately the day went by so fast and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. Always very emotional and upsetting to say goodbye to children that in so little time we managed to get so attached to… With hopes of seeing them again.

DAY 8: AGREDS IN ABOGBOSHIE

We spent our 8^th day at AGREDS (Abogboshie Ghana RElief and Development Services), a home that welcomes about 100 girls from age 16 to 19 during a period of 9 months. All these girls have been specifically picked out from the streets of different villages because each of them was facing a type of child labour (child trafficking, child sale, child worker, child prostitution, child pornography and many more). During this period of 9 months, the girls learn how to rehabilitate themselves in everyday life and learn key life values. For instance, they learn about sexual reproduction, sexual health and healthcare such as malaria and cholera. They learn practical skills such as cooking, sewing, nail painting and hairdressing in order for them to start their own businesses once they return to their villages and never be faced to child labour again. For some of these girls, it is like a second chance and they are very lucky to have been chosen out of the thousands of girls facing child labour everyday in Ghana.

AGREDS is located in a very poor region of Greater Accra, in Abogboshie. The streets were extremely polluted and covered with trash everywhere. It was so dense full of people. Upon our arrival, the AGREDS team welcomed us and explained their project and what happened at the girls’ centre. Each time, we spent around one hour and a half with each group of girls. It was a completely different approach than when we were with the children. This time, these girls were around our age and there was a different connection. It was like we could communicate as friends and we could be completely honest with each other. While we were with the children, we tried to play games and try to have lots of fun. With the girls, we had real conversations; they were very interested in what we studied, where we lived, if we had a boyfriend/girlfriend… All the girls were so nice and charming.

While we were at the hairdressing and nail fashion classroom, the girls insisted on painting our fingernails, which was a really nice bond. They had such beautiful smiles on their faces. It broke my heart a little bit when I would see some girls with scars on their faces or numbers tattooed on their arms. At the cooking station, the girls showed us how they had learned to cook apple pie, which smelled delicious. They all had little chef hats and aprons on which were all really cute. Once at the sewing classroom, one of the girls showed us this very detailed school outfit she sewed out of orange fabric. All these abilities demand a lot of patience and skills, which they learn during these 9 months.

At the end of the day we gathered the whole iCAN team, the staff of AGREDS and all the girls in the main room. We offered clothes and shoes to them (that we had also bought before our arrival in Ghana with the money we raised) and the girls were very pleased. They very quickly started expressing they joy by singing to us. Very soon, it became an African dance and everyone joined in! It was fun and really unique. We started performing the dance moves that the children had taught us the day before and that caused a lot of the girls to laugh and enjoy the moment even more.

DAY 9: AGREDS SCHOOL IN ABOGBOSHIE

          We returned to AGREDS the following day but in a different sector of the centre. This time, we spent the day with the school of Abogboshie. A couple of years after AGREDS was established, a lot of girls came back to the centre a few years later seeking help because they had trouble working since they had to take care of their children. Therefore, the staff had an idea of opening a small nursery so that the ex-AGREDS girls could leave their children for the day while they had to work. Very soon, this nursery became popular and many more women wanted to leave their children (even if they had not stayed at AGREDS themselves). Therefore, they increased the number of classes and teachers to create the AGREDS School of Abogboshie, from nursery to grade 4.

          During the day, we were separated in groups of two or three and were assigned a classroom. I spent the day with the youngest of all, around 1 to 3 years old. They were about 40 chilren in the classroom, a good mix between girls and boys. They were all so small, fragile, innocent and cute on their little benches! At first they were very timid but quickly became at ease and laughed, wanted to touch my hair (they were impressed with brown curly hair, something they don’t see often I’m guessing), hold hands, or come on my lap. They were all very affectionate and wanted to stay close. We helped them with learning numbers, repeating them, fitting each number in the right order in a puzzle (1 to 9) etc. Some of them had troubles while others did it in two seconds. With one teacher for 40 children, it can’t be easy to take care of each child individually.

We then served lunch for the children and went on a lunch break with the rest of the staff. When we came back, we did a lot of signing and little games. As we were sitting, I put my hand on the table and then all the children started putting their hand son top of mine. It was very spontaneous and funny. After that, I started picking up on child, and then they all wanted to be picked up. They all ran to me until I had to go down on my knees and I couldn’t stand back up!!! The day went by so fast and eventually it was time for us to leave… We said goodbye to everyone and hoped the best to all and especially a lot of courage and patience for the teachers.

DAY 10-11: EXCURSION TO CAPE COAST AND FREE TIME IN ACCRA

          For the last day and a half we had left in Ghana, we had some free time. As a team, we decided to go to Cape Coast, in the Central Region of Ghana, about 4 hours drive from Accra. Cape Coast is a historic city of slave trade. We visited the Elmina Castle, built by the Portuguese in the 15^th century, at first to protect the rich gold lands they had discovered. However, in time, it became a slave prison where men and women were kept in such a cruel way until the ships came to sail them to Europe. We had a really good guide that told us all about the history of the castle and the horrible ways the men and women were treated as slaves.

          After visiting the castle, we went to a restaurant set on the beach for lunch. It was like a paradise! The owner knew our team leader very well and he offered us to ride on his horses on the beach for free!! It was really fun and so beautifully unique.

          During our free time in Accra the following day (our plane was in the evening), some of the girls including myself went to a hair saloon to get our hair braided, the African style. It was a really cool experience, and I bet the hairdressers don’t see a lot of white girls wanting to get their hair braided! It took a really long time (with hair extensions) and it hurt a lot! I had about 4 hairdressers around me and in total, it lasted about 2 hours and a half! It was not a hairstyle I would normally get done everyday, it was part of the experience! For a couple of hours before we had to leave for the airport, we went to the markets of Accra. It was a very busy street, full of little stands everywhere trying to sell you African crafts.