After a very last minute decision to volunteer in Dwabor and lots of fundraising myself and my partner, Steve, finally arrived in Ghana. We arrived in Accra on Friday evening and stayed in a hostel near to the airport. Accra was so busy, there were people everywhere and every time the car stopped they would come to the windows trying to sell you things, mainly food and water but also batteries, TV aerials, tea towels, some really obscure things but that is how they make a living. At first was really intimidating but as soon as you say No they walk away and go on to the next car!
Saturday we began the drive down to Elmina, it was about 250km away so a long drive in the heat, albeit very muggy. We visited Elmina Castle on the way which was the castle where the Whites sold Africans as Slaves, was a really interesting Castle and a good insight in to the Slave Trade, although the guide was very much against the Brits (because of the history) however there were some fabricated stories and missing links through the tour and the real history of the castle was not as grim as they portrayed.
We carried on the drive down to Elmina and took in all the sights. Every main junction to the coast and inland there was a village, houses made from clay clocks and bamboo huts and people everywhere. The closer we got to our village I became more and more nervous, I have never travelled, always been on holiday so was very apprehensive and had no idea what to expect. The further away from the cities we got the greener the surroundings, less pollution, less people and less mess! The villages turned from selling all the junk to selling fresh fruit, bananas, coconuts, green oranges, watermelon and so much more.
The smaller villages we passed kept shouting "Bruni", meaning white person, all they wanted to do is wave and as soon as you waved back they were so excited, the smiles on their faces were great!
We eventually arrived in Dwabor, our village for the next 11 days and met Sarah and Michael, a Ghanaian couple who would cook for us and help us with any problems through our stay. They had a 2 year old son called Noble who was adorable, within 5 minutes he was all over us and talking to us in Fante (local language) and English, he was extremely clever. We also met Aunty, she was Sarah's grandmother and owned the rooms we were staying in, she did not speak any English and was very traditional….sitting around with no top on, but you begin to get used to it!!!
We settled in and then the fun began! We met all of the children related to Aunty, they were all so friendly and very excited to meet us, we played all afternoon and walked round the village familiarising ourselves with the community, all you could hear was "Bruni, how are you?". We also went up and saw their current Kindergarten school, basically a piece of concrete floor and a tin roof, it was very overwhelming and upsetting to see how little they had.
Sunday was a chilled day getting to know the children and spending some time with another volunteer, Andy, who had been there for 4 months. All the villagers were at worship so it gave us an opportunity to let everything sink in and get advice from Andy on their culture and what we should/shouldn’t do!
Monday morning was an early start, a bell is rang at 4am to tell the villagers worship starts in half an hour, we were staying opposite a church so heard everything, they are all very vocal so we didn’t sleep through any of it! One thing that’s interesting is that there are 6 churches in the village including a Mosque, so many religions and everyone gets on so well, respecting each other’s beliefs. At 7am we were required to meet the Elders of the village and introduce ourselves in Fante, we were so nervous. They were all very welcoming and were grateful to have us in their village.
The original plan was for me to work on site, primarily shredding 6000 coconuts, the fibre would then be used as sound insulation so if it rains, the classes can still hear the teacher. However Jenny, the volunteer co-ordinator was working in School for the week and asked if I wanted to join her. This is something that I have always wanted to do so I jumped at the chance! We were asked by Head teacher Michael to teach the Kindergarten children, approximately 80 children between 2 or us. As the classes are based on ability the classes have a variety of ages ranging from 4 through to 10. Also many younger children come along to the classes with their older brothers and sisters.
No resources were available for us so we really had to use our imagination. My week consisted of teaching the alphabet and days of the week, trying to teach how letters are used to spell words, numbers, colouring, singing and making pasta shell bracelets. We tried incorporating the counting with games outside to keep the children interested. It was extremely hard work and there were times when you had no control over them. However the majority of my time was really positive and was such a great feeling seeing the smiles on the children's faces when they understood something.
The times I wasn't teaching was spent on site helping Steve and the other volunteers, Steve really enjoyed the manual labour however more time out there would have enabled us to do more work and help to complete the project. A positive outcome of the school build so far is the bamboo school. The locals now sell bamboo cups and jewellery made out of the bamboo from their local bamboo forest which is now a great way of making a living for them.
We really had such an amazing time in Dwabor and only wish we had more time to help with the build and get to know the locals. They are all so friendly and happy and have so much knowledge and wisdom to offer. Still...there is always next year!!!
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