Two weeks left teaching! GapBreak Ghana

The kids with their letters from Australia

My Ghanaian wardrobe, complete with work and play attire

Lake Bosomtwe

Kumasi Stadium

A man making a traditional drum

COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care work
WRITTEN BY: Michael Paton

It is now two weeks before we farewell the incredible kids at Calvary Methodist Prep, and head off on a journey around the country, exploring everything this country has to offer.

Since my last post, I have had many adventures! We recently travelled to Accra, where we were able to go shopping in Accra Mall, arguably the most western building in Ghana! We bought some toothpaste, clothes, and a sneaky bottle of red! Unfortunately that night our weekend was halted as Chloe's bag was snatched on the street, so most of our time was spent at the police station. I returned with Rachel on the Saturday so I could attend church, and had a fantastic time enjoying the wonders of the ICGC Gospel Choir. If you are reading this and want to see a video, send me a quick email and I'll send it straight to you! (michael.paton@hotmail.com.au).

Last week at school we had a special surprise package arrive from St Martin de Porres Catholic School in Davidson, my primary school. I had been in touch with the year 4 and 5 teachers prior to leaving for Ghana, and my roommate had the wonderful idea of asking for letters to our kids, from the St Martin's classes. So the classes got straight to it, and 6 weeks later the letters arrived. The kids were so shocked to see letters written and addressed personally to them, asking so many questions about their lives. The kids also loved the great drawings done by their new Australian friends! They wanted to write back straight away. So we had a full day of letter writing, the kids so happy to share their lives with their pen pals! We have since wrapped up the letters and will deliver them home personally to avoid any African mail complications!


On the same day as receiving the letters, we were also very shocked when a few men walked into our school with a big bag of shoes. All the kids crowded around and one by one, individual kids were given a brand new pair of TOMS shoes, completely free of charge. We researched what this could be, realizing, that the brand TOMS, has an advertising campaign where if you buy their brand of shoes, they will buy shoes for one African child. I must admit I have heard these campaigns before, but always doubted the follow-through of the corporations. It was a very pleasant surprise.

The next weekend we went to Kumasi, another main city in Ghana, this time further in-land. We arrived late at night after torrential rain, to our extremely budget hotel, and the next day explored the wonders of Kumasi. We ticked many boxes, including the Kumasi stadium, where only two weeks ago Ghana beat Egypt 6-1. We also had an explore through the Kejetia Market place - the largest open air market in West Africa. The market place was incredible, the fabric section alone had enough material in it to cover Tasmania! We also went to the National Cultural centre, to see some great wood carvings, batik clothing, and some traditional drums as they were being made. We then journeyed an hour out of Kumasi to Lake Bosomtwe, the largest natural lake in Africa, formed from a crater. We stayed in a small lake-side resort for a quiet night accompanied by the rain! Ella, Rachel and I headed back into Swedru on Sunday, to prepare for class on Monday.

Our journey was well...interesting. We began at 10.30 for our ride back into Kumasi, a one hour race apparently. We then found the tro tro (bus) to Swedru, empty. So we joined the tro tro and waited another hour for it to fill up, as is done here. We got about an hour and a half in, and suddenly had to pull over, as the axle had broken. We had stopped in the middle of no where, surrounded by just five or six houses, and no phone battery. Waiting for another hour for the tro tro to be fixed, the driver eventually gave up and called another tro tro for all his passengers. We joined the next tro tro, which then proceeded to take us on a short cut through the forest, where we saw a lot of the stripped back living you don't see in the main cities. No electricity, no cars, just mud houses and fire places. And of course in this isolated forest, our luck (or lack of) continued, as the second tro tro preceded to break down. But no problem, the issue was fixed in half an hour, and we were back on the road once again. We then arrived into a town, Akim Oda (I'd never heard of it either). We were told to get out, and find a tro tro that was going to Swedru. The time now 6.30pm, we were a bit taken aback, and laughing it all off, went to find another tro tro. We succeeded, and after a 1 and a half hour journey with two police checks, avoided with a quick bribe to the police, we arrived into Swedru at 8pm. A long and interesting adventure, it was definitely something that I will remember for a long time!

This week we will try to start finalizing plans for our two weeks of travel around Ghana, and organise some special things for our kids, to say farewell. Thinking about all this makes me a tad sad, because the children are such angels that I really don't want to say goodbye to them.

I am always looking forward though, and getting excited for my adventure around Ghana, and then to wonderful Egypt!

Make sure to stay updated on my Facebook, and Instagram! (patonmichael)