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March 2022

project fia nu
School Teaching & Sports Coaching in Ghana

This project was part of a program with the International Volunteer HQ organization in which you sign up to volunteer helping a local community in a number of areas. The areas you could select included Agriculture, Nursing, Medical Care, School Teaching and Sports Coaching. I ended up teaching a class of 9-12 year old's for 2 weeks and then coaching football for 3 hours every evening.

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Frankadua, Ghana

Frankadua is a town with a population of around 5,000 people around 3/4 hours drive north of Ghana's capital, Accra. The town has little facilities that we have become accustomed to in the western worlds. It is probably best described as a shanty town but the Frankaduan locals are keen to improve their situation. It is a friendly town with some great people who are actively looking at ways to improve the area and the livelihood of the townspeople.

Trip Summary

I left London Heathrow on the 14th March 2022 on a return flight to Accra. I travelled alone for this trip but upon landing in Accra I quickly got to know the other volunteers on the IVHQ program. We spent the night in Accra and then the next morning drove to Frankadua which is about a 4 hour drive along dirt track roads to a more central part of Ghana. Myself and the other volunteers travelled together as we got to know each other on the journey. They had an amazing range of skills and experience and all proved to be valued members of the Frankadua community during their stays.

My role was to teach in the school in the mornings and then coach football in the evenings. In the afternoons the temperature is often too hot to do anything so everyone seems to have a couple of hours break. Myself and Colin, another volunteer teacher, taught a class each sharing the same room. There were whiteboards drilled into the wall at both the front and the back of the class and so Colin's class faced the back where he would teach and my class would face the front where I would teach. The two classes had different syllabus' and were different ages so myself and Colin often found ourselves talking over each other teaching different subjects. The subjects we taught included English, Maths, Science, Creative Art, Ghanaian History and Computing.

The school itself was a large L-shaped block of classrooms which appeared out of the bush. It was made of entirely concrete blocks and what can only be described as some 'creative' roofing work. There were 5 classrooms in total although only two were up and running. The other three classrooms had no floors or roofs. However, there was life in the classrooms. The children had decide to grow maize in the soil of the undeveloped classrooms and so at break time the children would take the machetes out to maintain the area. My class had three people with machetes and so these children did the maize whilst the others picked up litter at play time. We also spent a lot of time learning secret handshakes in the break times too! The classrooms have no doors, windows, electricity or any other facilities we have in the developed world. The children's share benches to work from and  share textbooks on a 1 textbook to 4 or 5 children. For 9 year old's, they are very good at sharing. 

Coaching football in the evenings was great fun and the Shark Football Club were very accommodating. The manager, known as Shark, was passionate about his football and helping the youngsters do something positive with their lives. The age groups ranged from 8 years old to 26. We often played all together and tried to make the teams even in terms of ability to keep it competitive. We had 4 or 5 footballs for the training session of around 30 people, although another volunteer was donating lots more to help Shark coach the children better.  I love my football but I can't say I have played on a pitch like that before. The pitch was part grass, part dust, part mud. The goalposts were broken and the grass that was still on the pitch was overgrown. I made a £50 donation early in my trip and Shark bought a lawnmower to maintain the pitch. 

The two weeks flew by and i have been blessed to meet some great people. My fellow volunteers were great company and I couldn't have asked for a better group. The local Ghanaians made us feel very welcome and I look forward to returning their one day.

We will be building a library for the school as one of the future projects and then hopefully helping the Shark FC after.

 

With Thanks

IVHQ

Elvis

Simon

Colin Wolfe

Anne Pragar

Eva Hermanova

Mane and Vurrito

Jack Clark

Phillip

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Village Projects Foundation is a UK registered charity with the Charity Commission under registered number 1202332.

©2021 by Chris Jones.

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