COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Etta Napier
Akwaaba!
Welcome to the third blog post for the August 2014 Ghana GapBreak!
Firstly, I'd like to share with you a moment Sophie, Georgia and I experienced earlier this week. It was one of those beautiful, clarifying moments that seemed to put everything into perspective. It seemed, to me at least, to be the defining moment of our trip to Ghana. We were just beginning the day, about to start lessons, when we began to hear excited shouts coming from the front of the school. Our kids began to shout as well, and soon the entire school - teachers, students and all - were on their feet, cheering and dancing! We soon discovered that the cupboards and white boards we had paid for were being brought into the classrooms. I cannot begin to describe the atmosphere in the school at that moment. The feeling of elation and pure, unadulterated joy was quite literally thick in the air! Such a comparatively small donation to a school with so little to start with was enough to bring grown men and women to tears. I was blinking back tears as well! Our kids were jumping on our backs, singing songs and going absolutely nuts! That's the moment we realised that what we are doing is actually helping. Actually making a difference. A small one, but hey, anything worth doing has got to start from grass roots.
The past two weeks of our placement in Ghana have been focused on exactly that: the kids, and what we can do. Nicole and Phoebe have gone as far as constructing a whole extra building from the foundations up, and Tom and James have worked tirelessly to fix up their almost-in-ruins wooden classrooms - adding dividing walls, posters and whiteboards to brighten up the school. Sometimes it gets exhausting, sure, and sometimes the kids don't quite react the way we had anticipated, but hey, that's not the point. The moments when they do appreciate our efforts quite literally warm our hearts.
Living in Swedru has truly become the norm for us now. It's so sad to think we only have a week left here! We've met so many fabulous Ghanaian personalities that we will be so sad to leave behind, such as our sassy dressmaker Patrick, who insists that my stomach ache was, in fact, demons possessing my body. There's our taxi flagger, who won't tell us his name but proposes to a different one of us each morning. And then, of course, there are our host families, that find us unendingly amusing and ridiculously 'white'. Such an array of personalities to be found in Ghana!
Our weekend travelling adventures have been incredible these past few weeks. Our trip to Busua - a small, off the beaten track surfing town - was unanimously our favourite place to visit so far. Our Saturday morning was spent taking surfing lessons (on a secluded and beautiful beach) from Ghana's #1 surfer! Miraculously, we all managed to stand up, which is surely some freak of nature...
Later that day we met Craig (or as his Rasta friends nicknamed him, 'Australian Jesus') who seemed to be the only other Aussie in Ghana! That afternoon and night we partied with the Rastas, playing drums, dancing and playing drinking games by the light of a traditional Ghanaian beach bonfire. Meeting Mr Kofi the 70 year old "security guard" (I emphasise the inverted commas) was definitely a highlight, he was quite the crack up! Seemingly only half aware of the words that were coming out of his own mouth, he repeated at least 20 times 'you will carry my bum'. Don't ask us why.
Last weekend we travelled to Kumasi, one of the more developed cities in Ghana. Being there, it felt as if we weren't in Africa. Our room was air-conditioned and everything! This is coming from a group of Australians that haven't had a hot shower in two months... it was a shock, to say the least! Kumasi was chaotic, loud and claustrophobic, in the most fantastic way. Our unending quest for Western food took us out of our way yet again, this time ending up waiting for pizzas on the private balcony of a Ghanaian home! The pizza was great though, so it was well worth the effort. That night, we threw a farewell for Kelvin - Nicole and Phoebe's host brother - at the local casino. The next day was spent exploring the tourist attractions Kumasi has to offer, including the arts and culture centre, and the site of a cultural legend - a sword stuck in the earth 370 years ago that has been unable to be removed since! Another fantastic weekend in Kumasi. This weekend we head to Liati Woti, one of Ghana's natural wonders: a two-hour hike up to a waterfall and spring! We are counting down the days...
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed!
Etta Napier
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