Clare Cooper in Ghana - September to December 2002
The Decision to Go
During the May of my final year of a geography and African and
Asian studies degree I made the decision to have a gap year before
getting a 'proper' job or starting postgraduate study. In between
manically writing up dissertations, revising and applying for places
on post graduate courses I received an email from the Dean of my
department recommending Africatrust Networks as a reputable organisation
looking for graduate volunteers interested in getting some vocational
work experience in West Africa. Excited by the prospect of being
in Africa after my studies (and ignoring the fact that the volunteer
programme cost £1950 plus £500 donation towards the
projects, and that I was already over my overdraft limit) I filled
in the on-line application.
A couple of weeks later I received a letter inviting me to an interview
in London for a place as a volunteer in the Ghana team leaving in
September 2002. By now well-meaning friends and family had pointed
out the financial realities of the situation and had persuaded me
that these things were for rich students without large debts and
rents to pay and that I should concentrate on saving money for my
masters fees. As the London interview date coincided with collecting
my degree results in Brighton, I decided that I would be in the
area and it made sense to go to the interview, for experience if
nothing else. After an informal discussion about Ghana, Africatrust
Networks and my reasons for volunteering I raised my concerns regarding
the costs. I was assured that volunteers received support in raising
the money and so far no one who had started fundraising had failed
to meet the target.
Fundraising - an impossible task?
A week later I received a letter offering me a place as a volunteer
in the September Ghana team. I decided that actual first-hand experience
of working in a developing country was fundamental if I wanted to
pursue a career in international development, and it had been my
dream to eventually work with NGO's in Africa, so I couldn't bear
to let this opportunity pass. I accepted the offer (against the
better judgement of some friends and family), and armed with positivity,
I began the mammoth task of raising £2500.
Already working as a care assistant to cover rent and living costs,
I took on two extra jobs in a bar and cinema to begin saving. I
wrote literally hundreds of letters to local shops, businesses,
schools, charities and churches explaining what I was doing and
appealing for sponsorship. To raise awareness of my fund-raising,
the local newspaper ran a story on me explaining that I would be
working with orphans in West Africa and any help with my fund-raising
would be much appreciated. I followed up this article by visiting
local businesses in person asking them if they had received my letter
and if not could I leave them another one. I found that using the
local paper and visiting people in person really effective. Still
a fair distance from my financial target I had exactly six weeks
left to raise the money or I couldn't go. As I worked in a cinema
in a thriving local arts centre I decided to organise a fund-raising
art exhibition. After a couple of weeks of manic organisation and
with the invaluable help of friends, family and local artists we
held an exhibition of local arts, craft and textiles. The day was
a real success, with lots of visitors and many of the artists selling
work.
With less than a month to go, I was closer to my financial target,
but still not there, and running out of time and ideas. With the
priceless help and support from the managers, staff and locals in
the bar I worked in we organised an African-themed fundraising day.
We had a BBQ, bring-and-buy stall, face painting, children's games,
art and craft and traditional story telling followed by an evening
of music from a number of local bands, a raffle with great prizes
provided by local shops, restaurants and businesses and a fantastic
African fire sculpture and fireworks display. As well as raising
the rest of the money, the night was a great way of saying thank
you and good-bye to all my friends and people who had been fundamental
to my fundraising.
Throughout the fundraising period I received regular lists from
the UK director of Africatrust detailing travel and health requirements,
insurance, necessary equipment and relevant literature as well as
encouraging e-mails from the Ghanaian director Before setting off
to Ghana I attended a briefing meeting in London where I met the
other volunteers on the team and had a chance to talk to past volunteers.
This meeting made the whole thing seem real, I was going to Africa,
a prospect I'd barely had time to consider amidst all my work and
fundraising. I found it really useful talking to past volunteers
and exciting meeting the people I'd be spending the next three months
with.
Arrival and Orientation
The flight was a great opportunity to get to know the other volunteers;
all three of us were scared, excited and totally unsure of what
to expect. As soon as we stepped off the plane in Accra we were
greeted with huge smiles and a warm welcome from Dr. Filson, the
Ghanaian director of Africatrust Networks. We spent the first two
weeks in Ghana in Cape Coast, a beautiful fishing village with paradise
beaches, colourful, fragrant markets and very friendly children.
The costs of the trip included a two week orientation course which
included lessons in the local language twi as well as Ghanaian history,
geography and culture lessons. As part of the orientation we visited
Cape Coast and Elmina slave castles and the famous Kakum National
Park where you walk along an ecologically constructed rope bridge
40 meters above the rainforest - an unforgettable experience. Dr.
Filson arranged for us to visit local schools and orphanages and
we also had the honour of meeting an oheema roughly translated as
Queen Mother, a culturally powerful woman who acts as a guide and
chief for women of the region.
I found this induction period really useful, the language lessons
gave us a head start in interacting with Ghanaians and proved invaluable
in our work (although English is the official language, social,
informal and day to day affairs are all conducted in local dialects,
of which there are over 70). The history and culture lessons gave
insights into why things are like they are and helped us gain a
fuller understanding of social and cultural situations and an introduction
to the politics of the country. It was really useful to have a couple
of weeks to just relax and adjust to the different climate, culture
and food before starting work.
Host Families
After the induction in Cape Coast we travelled inland to Kumasi
in Central Ghana to meet our host families and begin working. My
host family lived in a developing urban area on the outskirts of
Kumasi. I had my own room in their house and was always surrounded
by children from the house and from nearby families. As a vegetarian
I was worried about how I would survive in Ghana and didn't want
people to be offended that I didn't eat meat. Apart from my host
family thinking I was a bit strange, I had no problems and always
managed to get a vegetarian version of their meal. (Africatrust
places all volunteers with host families, and all accommodation,
food and transport costs are covered in the programme costs). For
me the host family experience was a real highlight of my time in
Ghana; I became close friends with the older daughters, learnt how
to cook the Ghanaian way, pounding fufu in the yard and grinding
pepper and beans, suffered the pain of hair extensions, learnt how
to carry buckets of water on my head and became the official homework
and dissertation proof-reader. My family leant me traditional funeral
robes and took me to some family funeral celebrations which were
like huge colourful summer festivals complete with DJs and dancing
(funerals in Ghana are held every Saturday and are huge social occasions;
completely different to British funerals). Living with a host family
is a great way to really get to know people and gives you a greater
insight into what day-to-day life is really like. I feel that I
got much more out of my experiences in Ghana thanks to the kindness
of my host family compared to if I had been staying in a hostel
and I recently met up with some members of the family when they
visited the UK.
Work Placements
Africatrust Networks places volunteers in struggling and under-privileged
state-run institutions. Myself and another volunteer were placed
at Kumasi Children's Home for abandoned and orphaned children and
the other volunteer worked as an English and IT teacher in local
schools. I worked with the nursery age and above children teaching
simple lessons, singing songs and playing games. I helped serve
the children's meals, supervised play times and spent time with
the older orphans who went to school outside the children's home.
Building on my experiences with special needs children I devoted
much of my spare time to the severely disabled children in the orphanage.
These children received little positive attention from others due
to Ghanaian taboos and superstitions surrounding disabilities and
handicaps. Although I loved being with all the children in the orphanage,
my heart lay with the special needs children. After spending a number
of weeks splitting my time between teaching and playing with the
children and interacting with the special needs children I realised
that as soon as I left the handicapped children would still receive
the same treatment. As a western volunteer in a government institution
I could not (and ethically should not?) attempt to challenge rigid
socio-cultural and religious structures. So after much debate and
discussion with the NGO director and children's home managers I
began volunteering at a local special needs school with the view
of transferring the children from the orphanage at a later date.
The special school provided education and vocational training to
a large number of mentally and physically disabled children and
young people, but suffered from severe under-funding. As a volunteer
I received an amazingly warm welcome from the head teacher, class
teachers and students alike. I worked alongside the teachers helping
the children to play, read, write, do art and vocational craft and
develop life skills. The school had a really positive attitude towards
all of its members regardless of their disability and these attitudes
were reflected in the smiles, happiness and behaviour of the students.
I definitely viewed my placement as a two-way interaction and feel
as though I learnt a great deal about different attitudes towards
disability as well as new insights and methods of interacting with
and teaching special needs children.
By far my happiest day in Ghana was the day we transferred the children
from the orphanage to the special school. Seeing these once shy
and withdrawn boys in new school uniforms, laughing and playing
with other children and taking part in lessons and sports was indescribable.
It just goes to show that as a volunteer you can change things and
'make a difference', but these changes must come from working alongside
members of your host community, in accordance with their cultural
methods for getting things done, not working against people trying
to impose your Western attitudes and values.
The Projects
Africatrust is unique in the fact that volunteers must each raise
£500 to be used as donations towards projects in the institutions
in which they're each working. Then the volunteers, Ghanaian teachers
and managers and Africatrust Director in Ghana discuss how best
this money can be spent. I believe this process of discussion is
invaluable as it gives the volunteer freedom in seeing how their
project money will be spent, but involvement of Ghanaians ensures
that the projects are relevant, necessary and realistic and will
make a real difference to the lives of the children and communities
benefiting from the projects. All the volunteers' donations are
used completely during their visit.
After discussions with my head teacher and other teaching staff
I realised that the school was not fulfilling its potential due
to severe under funding. Teachers were gravely limited in how much
vocational and craft teaching they could offer due to the scarce
amount of equipment and materials available. I realised that the
best way in which my project money could benefit the largest number
of children was to buy craft, tie-dye, leather-work, wood-work and
jewellery making materials as well as a number of educational learning
aids and recreational toys. In this way the teachers could make
the most of their expertise, and many more children could take part,
equipping them with invaluable skills for independent and sustainable
futures. With the remainder of the project money after discussions
with the head teacher we commissioned a blacksmith to build some
swings out of local materials and built a climbing frame and some
walk ways to help the children improve their balance and coordination.
Other volunteer projects included re-painting and tiling children's
play and living areas in an orphanage, mending a school roof so
lessons don't have to be cancelled during the rainy season and buying
wood and wood work tools to enable school children to make their
own tables and chairs. (School children in Ghana have to provide
their own desks and chairs and the cost of this can prevent many
children from coming to school).
Travelling
After emotional good byes at school and to the host families it
was time to see a bit more of Ghana. The initial costs included
travel to the north of Ghana up the Volta Lake (the largest man-made
lake in the world), and entrance and accommodation to Mole National
Park. The boat journey lasted around 27 hours and was a fantastic
way to relax after working and see some more of Ghana. After seeing
the Akasombo dam we passed many tiny villages stopping off to allow
farmers and market sellers to load and unload huge crates of yam.
Arriving half way up the lake we spent a night in a tiny fishing
village before crossing the lake in small fishing boats and continuing
the journey to Mole. Mole National Park is a huge forest reserve
preserving endangered forest and wildlife and offering low-impact
safaris and accommodation to tourists. A definite high point of
the visit was our early morning safari; walking in small groups
with a guide at sunrise we came across groups of deer and cobs,
new-born baby warthogs and a huge mud bath where some elephants
had been sleeping. After passing through some trees we entered a
small clearing and found ourselves face to face with five huge elephants
- a breathtaking and unforgettable experience.
As our time in Ghana was nearly up myself and another volunteer
found ourselves reluctant to go home, and enthusiastic to see some
more of West Africa. So we said goodbye to the other volunteer returning
to Accra (and after pre-arrangement with the Africatrust Director)
we continued travelling north through Ghana into Burkina Faso. The
contrast between countries both in terms of culture and climate
was remarkable; we now found ourselves speaking French and drinking
huge cups of sweet café latte and eating baguettes in tiny
roadside shacks, yet still receiving the same welcoming West African
hospitality. We continued travelling north into Mali and Dogon Country.
Aside from all our fantastic experiences in Ghana, Dogon Country
can never be forgotten. After arranging our 'package deal' with
a local guide we found ourselves laden with bottles of water on
a horse and cart in the scorching sun trotting through the sparse
and sandy Sahel.
The Dogon people inhabit the isolated Bandigara escarpment and
have their own traditional culture relating to astronomical cycles,
some of which is portrayed through intricate wooden door carvings,
animal masks and ritual objects. Aside from subsistence agriculture,
the Dogon generate a little income from tourism by running tourist
huts and selling traditional indigo, mud cloth and replica wooden
souvenirs. A highlight of travelling in Dogon is watching the sun
set on top of the escarpment, sleeping, open air on the roofs of
houses beneath the expansive starry sky and waking up to the sunrise
looking over the terracotta plains of the Sahel region.
After an unforgettable and exhausting few days in Dogon we spent
some time in Mopti, rowing on the River Niger and exploring local
craft markets before travelling to Bamako and returning home.
Africatrust Networks - A recommendation
I would definitely recommend Africatrust Networks to students and
young people who are considering volunteering in West Africa. As
the Ghanaian contingent of this NGO is actually organised and run
by Ghanaians, you can be sure that the work you do will be relevant,
useful and will 'make a difference' to the lives of people you work
with, opposed to being tailored to suit the expectations of young
westerners. Volunteering with Africatrust really gave me an insight
into Ghanaian culture, people and social institutions. I became
able to see things from a different cultural perspective, realising
the often limiting and rigid nature of our purely western perspective.
I honestly feel as though my work did actually help people, although
maybe not in the ways I first presumed, instead of merely providing
an 'exciting African adventure' for foreign volunteers. Africatrust
seeks to work alongside struggling Ghanaian institutions (social,
educational or environmental) placing volunteers in an area where
their skills and past experiences will be most useful and compatible.
The dedication and enthusiasm of Dr Filson to his country, the NGO
and the volunteer's experience, coupled with the warmth and open
friendliness of Ghanaians, makes volunteering in Ghana a rewarding,
fun and totally unforgettable experience.
Clare Cooper, Taking A Gap Year: Ghana
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