Home sweet hut! This is where I am living for most of my 3 weeks in Ghana during my LRTT project. It comes complete with ceiling fan, 10 bunk beds with mosquito nets and a sink that works intermittently. I hear there is WiFi, but I have had very limited success using it.
We love it here because we are right next to the ocean, which offers benefits such as a cooling breeze in the evening and hearing the waves from bed.
We also appreciate the generator that kicks in when the power goes off and the water tanks that mean there is usually 1 tap that works even when the water in the town has been cut off.
We’ve walked and driven past a lot of buildings where presumably people actually live. Made of breeze blocks, concrete, metal, wood, plastic, mud, leaves and fabric, they provide little the way of shelter and comfort. Even though this is considered the ‘cold season’ here, the heat and humidity are exhausting and just make everything hard. Many of the children here don’t have access to essentials such as clean running water, electricity to power lights and fridges or in some cases even sewer systems. They walk to school in often ripped and very worn uniforms to learn in stiflingly hot classrooms. As we pass by, my instinct is to give them anything I can to help, but a bottle of water and a few snacks aren’t going to make a substantial difference.
Working with LRTT, the aim is to drive sustainable change in the way children are taught. Education is an opportunity for people to work themselves out of poverty and have a say in the way their country is run. People here seem to look out for those who have even less than them, with local traders donating profits to projects such as schools and orphanages. The people are what make Ghana, with their hospitality, sense of humour and warm nature. Although the people here are obviously poor in many ways, their communities are rich in love.