Looking back at my incredible, life-changing GapBreak

COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Etta Napier

To all those who are considering doing an Antipodeans Abroad GapBreak program, I strongly encourage you to do so. Just do it. I promise you, it will completely change the way you see the world around you – the people, the lifestyle, the culture – in the best possible way. It will teach you to empathise. It will teach you to be appreciative of the exceedingly privileged life you live. Most importantly, it will teach you how to squeeze every last drop of awesomeness out of every day.
Because frankly, life is too short not to.

Hello!

My name is Etta Napier and in September 2014 I was privileged enough to be a part of a three-month-long volunteer teaching trip to Ghana, West Africa. When I am asked about my favorite part of living in Africa, I struggle to come up with a single answer. Because, as cheesy as it sounds, I loved every single second of my time there. Though if I had to pick just a few, these would definitely be the moments, experiences and realisations that changed me:

The first thing about Ghana I fell in love with was the people. In the developing world, there is this incredible sense of unity and care for one another, especially within the community I was living. All for one, and one for all. I was almost immediately accepted as a local, and treated like just another- albeit fairer- African! The Ghanaian people are eccentric, loud, passionate, and full of this unique appetite for life that just doesn’t really exist in Australia.

Hand in hand with this was the incredible energy within the Ghanaian culture and lifestyle. I experienced this first hand, as I was living with a host family that, for the most part, practiced a traditionally ‘African’ lifestyle. I cooked Ghanaian foods the authentic, ‘hands on’ way with my host mother, washed my clothes (and person) in a bucket, read by candlelight, attended the family church Sunday service, along with countless other unforgettable experiences.

I learned to love the utter chaos of the cities and towns of Ghana, the red dirt that made the road (and ended up stuck to our skin at the end of each day), the goats, dogs and chickens that roamed the alleyways, the mud huts, the smell of frying fish and plantain, the hectic - and sometimes dangerous – taxis and vans that seemed without traffic rules, the women selling just about anything from buckets on their heads, the excited shouts of 'obruni' (white person) that followed us everywhere we went…I could go on. These are the things that you learn to cherish.

Most importantly, I fell utterly in love with the work I was doing, and the incredible people I met through my time as a primary school teacher. The children I was working with, most of them six or seven years old, were the most positive little sweethearts I have ever come across. My days were filled with giggles and hugs and songs, and I think its safe to say those are the memories that will stay with me forever. Of course, seeing poverty and hunger first-hand is difficult at the best of times, and I did have tough days. But when you see the sheer joy you have given a bunch of kids by simply installing a whiteboard into their classroom, or handing them a toothbrush and toothpaste, it all becomes more than worth it.

To all those who are considering doing an Antipodeans Abroad GapBreak program, I strongly encourage you to do so. Just do it. I promise you, it will completely change the way you see the world around you – the people, the lifestyle, the culture – in the best possible way. It will teach you to empathise. It will teach you to be appreciative of the exceedingly privileged life you live. Most importantly, it will teach you how to squeeze every last drop of awesomeness out of every day.
Because frankly, life is too short not to.