Moree Volunteer Project

      Here in Ghana primary education is not free and many children don't go to school.  Walking through town I always notice kids from ages 4-16 playing, selling things, begging and carrying around goods on their heads.  All these kids should be in school, but it is not financially possible for many Ghanians.  

     I have decided to spend the second half of my 10-month long student exchange here volunteering. I knew I wanted to work with kids, so my liaison took me to a small school in the middle of Moree, a poor fishing village near where I live. 

      The first time I walked through Moree, it was quit the experience.  I think I can safely assume that most people had never seen a white person in their village, and barley anyone speaks English - they speak the local dialect, Fante.  Because when walking through town I saw so many kids on the street, I knew immediately this was where I wanted to work.

      The school in Moree is just some cement poles with a tin roof, I wouldn't have known it was a school had it not been for I chalk board with the alphabet on it.  I later spoke to the headmistress Ruby and learned more about the school.  She had started the school back in October after she'd had the same experience I'd had when walking through town and seeing all of the kids in the streets. 

      The name of the school is Unique Child and its goal is to give kids a free education.  Ruby and some friends scraped together some money to rent the piece of land and get a area with a roof so kids could learn.  Now there is one "class room" with about 50 students ages 3-7.  On an average day about 25 students actually come. We have one chalkboard,seven tables and chairs for all the kids but that's about it.

      Everyday each student gives two cedis ($00.40) to Ruby which, pays for the lunch that one of the teachers makes.  About $00.10 from each kid goes to lunch and the other $00.30 is all the school has to run on, and that includes monthly rent, the teachers pay and keeping the area from flooding.  Unique Child has two teachers.  They are great people but don't have any training in teaching; there is no money to pay for a professional teacher.

      

As part of my volunteerism, I'm raising money for the school.

      

      The piece of land that the school is currently I won't work the way it is. It is the living space for many locals, there are tons of goats and chickens everywhere, and it floods very badly during the rainy season.  The schools location is otherwise perfect, as it is walking distance for all the children.  So we need to make a drainage system, build an office so as to keep the animals out (the goats eat everything!), and build more class rooms.              

      Additionally, the teachers need books to teach from, we need more chalk boards so that we can separate the kids by age, and the students need paper and pencils, workbooks, and uniforms.  I know that it doesn't seem like uniforms are a necessity, but in Ghana many parents would rather have their kids stay at home than send them to school without a uniform - appearance means a great deal here.

The exchange rate at the moment is 4.3 GH cedis to 1 dollar.  I did round the following prices so they might not exactly reflect the exchange rate, but it is close.

The rent per month on the land- 30 cedis ($7.00) x 24 for 2 years which would be $170.00

Teachers pay per month each- 100 cedis ($23.00) x 2 which is $46.00 per month and $1,100 for two years

Building an office and more class rooms- 3000 cedis ($700.00)

Drainage system- 2000 cedis ($465.00)

Boys uniform-18 cedis ($4.00) each x 25 which would be $100.00

Girls uniform-12 cedis ($3.00) each x 25 which would be $75.00

1 chalk board- 25 cedis ($6.00) x 3 which would be $18.00

1 work book- 9 cedis ($2.00) x 50 which would be $100.00

1 blank book- 8 cedis ($2.00) x 50 which would be $100.00

1 pen- 1 cedi ($0.20) x 100 which would be $20.00

1 teachers book for one subject- 20 cedis ($5.00) x 6 which would be $30.00

All that I stated above would total at $2878, this seems like a lot of money to raise but really it is amazing that, that much money can provide 50 children at least two years of education.  Things like the classrooms, and the drainage system, the chalkboards, and office would last so much longer than 2 years.  My goal is to raise $3000.00, most will go to what is stated above and anything more can go to things like maybe a small library, some toys for the younger kids, bringing running water to the school, etc.

I work with these kids and every time I see them running, laughing, playing, and learning I want to give them an education they deserve I want to help make Ghana a place where education is a right and not just a privilege. So I'm asking for donations to this school, even $5.00 could make the world of difference. I really appreciate your help, you don't know how much it means to me, Ruby, the teachers, the families of the children I work with, but most importantly what it means for those kids.

For the moment if you want to help, my mom is coming to visit me on the 3rd of April so if your quick you can give donations to her and she will bring them to me.  I know that's really soon so if you can't get them to my mom in the next couple of days you can contact my dad.  Thanks a ton, appreciate any help!!

AFS trips

                           Volta trip

Back in the beginning of November all the yes abroad students, year program students and the volunteers from Germany (all with AFS) went and a spectacular trip to the Volta region of Ghana.  The drive to where we were staying took us through a large assortment of sceneries from the busy streets of Accra to the muddy streets of a poor village to the lush forests of Ghana.  But the most amazing view was crossing the Volta river, a huge body of water slowly moving its way towards the ocean with thick green forests on either side.  Everyone on the bus was leaning over each other trying to get the "perfect" photo.  For the night the Germans where dropped off at a hostel in town and the rest of us where taken to a hotel on the top of a very large hill with a breath taking view of the valley below.  The hotel was nice but my favorite thing about the place was that it was surrounded by nature which I miss dearly when stuck in the city.  The following day after picking the Germans up we headed to the Wli falls after a scenic drive we found ourselves on the edge of the town of Ho.  There where a couple shops with souvenirs for us tourists then we headed out on a hike to the water falls.  The hike took us through a jungle of a forest with a cliff rising up on one side.  By the time we reached the water falls we were all completely sweaty, and hurried to change into out bathing suits.  Once set I ran right into the water and headed out the where the water crashed down from the cliff into the pool we where swimming in.  For about an hour we explored all around the water fall, it was thrilling there was so much water spraying you could barley see when you opened your eyes, and to breath with out swallowing tons of water you covered your mouth with your hands.  At one point I just leaned against the rock behind the waterfall and relaxed enjoying the sound of the pounding water and the shrieks and laughter from the other exchange students. Interestingly this waterfall was home to a lot of bats and while we were swimming around we noticed a bat swimming in the water, we soon realized it was actually drowning.  Me and some other kids used sticks to help get it out of the water onto a rock, where we were there was still a lot of spray but with the bat in such a weak state we couldn't get it some place better.  We ended up using some leaves to shelter it as best we could.  Once the bat was taken care of we took lots of group photos, and in the middle we looked up and saw the bat fly away, everyone was happy cause most of us thought it would probably die.  After the waterfall we headed back to our bus, and then drove back to our hotel.  The next day we got all packed up cause we where heading back to Accra but on the way we stopped at lake Volta lake to check it out.  We had a tour of the dock from a worker there and got to tour a ferry as well which was super fun.  After stopping by Volta lake we headed back to Accra, which was really sad cause all of us had, had so much fun on the trip and didn't want it to end.

                        Northern region trip

  In the beginning of January the YES abroad kids and the three year abroad students went on an amazing trip to the northern region of Ghana.  It started with all of us meeting up in Accra except for the Kumasi kids.  We took the bus up to Kumasi, a long five hour drive.  In Kumasi we met with the two students staying there and checked into our hotel.  The fallowing day we got to do a fun trip around Kumasi.  First we went to a place where kente cloth is woven (kente cloth is the traditional cloth in Ghana, it is hand woven and very colorful).  We got to watch the people weaving and even got to try weaving a little ourselves, though we were terrible.  I bought some strips of cloth, which are gorgeous and will make for really great presents.   Later on we went to another place a got to see people doing Adinkra stamping.  This is where you use this black like dye from tree bark to stamp symbols onto cloth.  The next day we drove all day first stopping for lunch and then stopping at the Kintampo falls, where we got to go down a bunch Of steep stairs to a beautiful waterfall which you can swim in.  It was very cold water which was quit refreshing after our hot trip in the bus.  We couldn't stay long cause we needed to get to our next hostile before it got to late.  That night we stayed at a hostel which was very nice and in a quit location.  The next day we got up early packed our stuff and headed to Mole national park.  This was the highlight of the trip for me, we got to ride on one of those Safari cars where you sit on the roof to observe wildlife.  Not long into the trip we saw elephants and got to go up close and watch them for quit a while.  There were two of them and it was amazing to see them in the wild, they are such beautiful creatures.  After watching the elephants for some time we headed out again, we saw some sort of baboon (I think), some different types on antelope, warthogs, and some birds.  Everyone felt the trip was to short cause we all loved seeing the wild animals.  After the amazing Safari experience we headed to our next hostel which took up most of the day.  At our hostel an afs volunteer greeted us and told us about the community we where staying in, and about a program that the community had, had with Denmark.  After introductions we got to walk around, the hostel was next to a Savannah like area which was so beautiful to walk around in especially when the sun was setting.  The fallowing day we got to go meet the chief of the village while waiting to meet him we took pictures with local children who were so fun to be around.  When we got to go and meet the chief we met him in a large mud hut, as a greeting he gave us each a seed (the name of which I can't recall).  He spoke to us about how important sharing culture was and then we all got to ask him questions and talk with him.  After the meeting with the chief we got to go see his house, or I should say houses.  He had ten wives each with a mud hut house.  The first house in the row was for his first wife them each house went in order of which wife came next.  The first wife was not around but the second wife was so we got to go into her house and talk a little bit with her, it was a truly unique experience.  After having the privilege to meet the chief we headed to where shae butter is made.  It is made in a sort of women's community, we got to see all the steps to making shae butter and even got to participate in some of the process, though I think we were more of a comical sight to the Ghanians than actual help.  Once done with our tour of the shae butter process most of us bought some shae butter which is very good for the skin.  After this full day we headed  back to our hostel and got to enjoy being in a very beautiful part of Ghana for the rest of the day.  That night we had dance lessons from some local guys, it was really fun but I think we can all agree that the Ghanians where much better dancers than any of us.  The next day we went to the white Volta where we saw the pumps that take water to a place where they make it drinkable.  After seeing the pumps we got to cross the river in a canoe w and eat some strange fruit I've never seen before.  After the trip to the river we went to where the water is made drinkable and got to see all the systems they use to make good drinking water.  That day we got to go back to the hostel early so we decided to explore the Savannah a bit before dinner.  The next morning we were all a bit sad cause we had to go all the way back to Kumasi and we all really enjoyed staying in the north.  That day was just a lot of driving and a quick stop for lunch.  After arriving in Kumasi we went our hotel and hung out together as our last night of the trip.  The next day with the exception of the Kumasi kids we headed back to Accra, where we all went our separate ways ways after a amazing, educational and fun trip.