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Marianne & Claire in Ghana - 1996

We have now been home for a couple of months and wanted to write before any more time went by to say thank you so much for your invaluable help and support in enabling us Marianne and Clare to spend the first six months of 1996 in Ghana, West Africa.

These six months have undoubtedly been the most challenging, rewarding and amazing of our entire lives. It is almost impossible for me to even try and condense six months of experiences, feelings and emotions similar to none we have ever experienced before into just a few short paragraphs. Possibly it is only ourselves who will ever fully realise just how much of a positive impact our time in Ghana has and will continue to have on our lives, attitudes and understanding of other cultures.

The Geography Of Ghana

Ghana is situated on the west coast of Africa. It is a country with diverse landscapes, from dry sandy environments in the north to dense rainforest in the west and beautiful coastal areas in the south. As soon as we found out feet and grew more confident in our new lifestyle we took every opportunity to travel as much as possible. This included weekend trips to Accra, Kumasi, Mole Game Reserve and a two and a half week trip around as much of Ghana as we could reach.

Ahotokorum Home

We lived in the village of Ahotokorum, this was not a typical Ghanaian village as it consisted of concrete houses, a school, a childcare centre, a farm, a carpentry shop and an old peoples home. Ahotokorum was set up by the Fransiscan Friars and is run by Sister Pat Pearson, Sister Monica Smyth and Mark Mantey.

 

Our Work

We taught in various different schools from Monday to Friday. On Mondays we worked in the Ahotokorum dressmaking school. This was with girls of ages 1622.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays were spent teaching english in two seperate nursery schools and on Thursdays we worked together in a local dressmaking school teaching maths. In the afternoons we would always be available to help out in childcare, to help the children with their homework and often take them to a local hotel where we were teaching them to swim.

In conclusion to this brief report, we would like to say thank you once again. Without your help this experience would never have been possible.

We are both leaving for our seperate universities in the next few days and are very much looking forward to our return trip to Ghana.

 

The Camp

'The Camp' was built for people with leprosy. The local village chief gave the land and now 120 families occupy 90 dwellings.

The houses look nice, but the straw roofs leak in the rainy season, they house vermin, the ventilation is poor and the mud walls suffer erosion.

 

 

 

They live as a community and the most able help the least able. The poverty of The Camp is quite marked in comparison to the nearby villages.

Mr Saki dreams of houses like this that are dry and of sound construction!

Child Care at Ahotokurom

Anne on the left, Jennifer on the right. Their mother is blind and has learning difficulties.


Kojo is 4. His parents abandoned him and he was very disturbed. Kojo is now taking and has just started school!


Diane is 5, she was also rejected by her parents. Here she is looking after baby Alphonsus.