Whitwood Division visits Ghana
After 14 months of planning and fund raising a group of selected leaders, guides and rangers from Whitwood Division Guide Association made their way down to Heathrow for a flight to Ghana. It was the 13th August 2009.
The trip had been arranged by members of the Division Exec committee to give the girls a taste of International travel with a difference to the usual long weekends in Europe or visits to Guiding owned World Centres. The aim was to give the girls a life changing experience within the Changing The World theme.
We arrived in Atorkor on the 14th, a small fishing village who’s livelihood was being taken from them by foreign fishing vessels who over fished the Ghanaian coast line.
We exited the bus to a welcome party within the walled grounds of our accommodation, people from all over the village had come to welcome us, it was an amazing experience in itself.
On the days that followed we toured the village, seeing our new neighbours, the school, medical centre, church and monument gardens, everybody was so friendly.
During our stay we visited the Medical Centre with resources we had shipped over before we arrived, taking them baby clothes, toys, basic medication, bandages, plasters, water carriers, soap and female sanitary products amongst other much needed items. We helped weigh the children at a mother and baby clinic and listened while nurses explained the importance of hygiene to the mums.
There was a very emotional end to the visit when we offered to buy each mother a bottle of liquid paracetamol for their child and we received a standing ovation. 100 bottles cost us less than £50 and would make such a difference to the little children after they had their vaccinations.
One 3 year old I had befriended contracted Malaria and was very poorly, I bought his grandmother the vaccines he needed along with painkillers and vitamins. 7 bottles of medication in total which came to about £4.50, it cost so little to us, yet his grandmother was feeding herself, and 3 grandchildren on less than 50p a day so could never have afforded the medication to save his life.
The trip had been arranged by members of the Division Exec committee to give the girls a taste of International travel with a difference to the usual long weekends in Europe or visits to Guiding owned World Centres. The aim was to give the girls a life changing experience within the Changing The World theme.
We arrived in Atorkor on the 14th, a small fishing village who’s livelihood was being taken from them by foreign fishing vessels who over fished the Ghanaian coast line.
We exited the bus to a welcome party within the walled grounds of our accommodation, people from all over the village had come to welcome us, it was an amazing experience in itself.
On the days that followed we toured the village, seeing our new neighbours, the school, medical centre, church and monument gardens, everybody was so friendly.
During our stay we visited the Medical Centre with resources we had shipped over before we arrived, taking them baby clothes, toys, basic medication, bandages, plasters, water carriers, soap and female sanitary products amongst other much needed items. We helped weigh the children at a mother and baby clinic and listened while nurses explained the importance of hygiene to the mums.
There was a very emotional end to the visit when we offered to buy each mother a bottle of liquid paracetamol for their child and we received a standing ovation. 100 bottles cost us less than £50 and would make such a difference to the little children after they had their vaccinations.
One 3 year old I had befriended contracted Malaria and was very poorly, I bought his grandmother the vaccines he needed along with painkillers and vitamins. 7 bottles of medication in total which came to about £4.50, it cost so little to us, yet his grandmother was feeding herself, and 3 grandchildren on less than 50p a day so could never have afforded the medication to save his life.
Our main duty in the village was to run a summer club during the 17 days we were there. Our timetable was heavy and very hard work, but watching the children’s faces each morning when they turned up to the school was amazing. We taught basic English, IT, Reading, Music, Sports and Arts and Crafts, while they taught us Drumming, Dancing, Singing some basic Ewe language and a whole new way of life.
The school has had a new Computer room, store and Library built recently, but they are desperate for more classrooms, many of the classes have between 80 and 100 pupils eager to learn and in the younger classes children are sharing chalk and boards to write on.
We had shipped out lots of education resources such as library books, reams of paper, exercise books, pens and pencils, craft items, sports equipment and toys to name but a few and the children were so pleased when Seniors and Juniors all received a filled pencil case and infants and Kindergarten all received a knitted teddy bear in its own bag.
We had shipped out lots of education resources such as library books, reams of paper, exercise books, pens and pencils, craft items, sports equipment and toys to name but a few and the children were so pleased when Seniors and Juniors all received a filled pencil case and infants and Kindergarten all received a knitted teddy bear in its own bag.
As a group we sponsored 6 children to attend the school and many of the group sponsored individual orphans or needy children so they too could attend and educate themselves.
On one of the days we helped support a village beach clean. The tide is quite rough on their coast line and the sea is unsafe to swim in because of this, but what does happen is lots of rubbish is deposited on the sand. Our group and many villagers met on the beach to collect all the plastic, tins and wood that had washed up. The beach looked lovely when we had finished.
On one of the days we helped support a village beach clean. The tide is quite rough on their coast line and the sea is unsafe to swim in because of this, but what does happen is lots of rubbish is deposited on the sand. Our group and many villagers met on the beach to collect all the plastic, tins and wood that had washed up. The beach looked lovely when we had finished.
The whole experience was amazing, but the time went past so quickly. On the day before we left the village held another ceremony where villagers and Elders came to say good bye to us, the children danced and sang for us and played the African drums. Each member of the group was given a small gift of a handmade necklace and we were all thanked for our hard work and support.
It was a very emotional evening, packing our rucksacks ready to leave in the morning. When we were packed we went around the village handing out the clothes, spare food and toiletries we didn’t want to take back to England, families were so thankful and their children held our hands and hugged us.
I felt like we had done so little during our stay, but to them it was so much because they have so little. My aim now is to help support the ADF charity to raise as much money as they can to build the new class rooms they so badly require. We would like to run a trip every other year and know that if future guides and rangers get half the experience that the first trip gave, the leaders will have achieved a great deal.
It was a very emotional evening, packing our rucksacks ready to leave in the morning. When we were packed we went around the village handing out the clothes, spare food and toiletries we didn’t want to take back to England, families were so thankful and their children held our hands and hugged us.
I felt like we had done so little during our stay, but to them it was so much because they have so little. My aim now is to help support the ADF charity to raise as much money as they can to build the new class rooms they so badly require. We would like to run a trip every other year and know that if future guides and rangers get half the experience that the first trip gave, the leaders will have achieved a great deal.
