COMING TO YOU FROM GHANA, WEST AFRICA
On May 31st a group of thirteen young people from the Fort Wayne area arrived in Busua, Ghana, West Africa to volunteer with Teach on the Beach International, a non-profit/NGO (non-governmental organization) that focuses on education.
We have been in Ghana for three weeks now, and it has flown. On June 18th we said farewell to nine of our group members at the Kotoca International Airport in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Remaining in Ghana until August 8th will be Ross Barrientos, Kris Andorfer, Mackenzie Kneller and Megan Ryan. For the remainder of the summer the four of us will be working on various developmental projects with the Teach on the Beach scholars.
Benjamin Haruna is my name, I am 18 years old. I come from Accra, Ghana but I currently live in Busua, Ghana. I attend Baidoo Bonso Senior High Technical School where I am a junior. I am one of the ten scholars at the Teach on the Beach house. I was living with my mom in Accra, and my uncle named Pilo. He brought volunteers to come and teach us. One day one of the volunteers who came was Aaron Adler who was doing a study abroad in Ghana. Aaron ended up starting Teach on the Beach.
My name is Ross Barrientos. I am from Van Wert, Ohio but I currently live in Fort Wayne. As of the next six weeks I will be living in Busua, Ghana. This coming August I will be attending my senior year at Bishop Luers High School.
Since Ben is interested in pursing a career in journalism, we have decided to team up and write The Waynedale News biweekly updates about our projects and experiences here in Ghana.
As of right now we are constructing a basketball court, which is a very difficult project considering our daily schedule and the constant rain. In the United States right now it is the summer but here in Ghana it is the rainy season, and we’ve come to a crossroad of about a week of rain every day. So we are working as hard as possible to get this project done. The construction process in Ghana is much slower and hands on than in the United States. We have to level the entire court by hand with shovels. The goal is for the basketball court to draw even more students to participate in our after school program.
The basketball court is just one among many projects being worked on so look for our next article with further updates and cultural experiences. We look forward to sharing with you.
Update On Page 6 by Kristopher Andorfer. For more photos and information about Teach on the Beach, go to: www.teachonthebeach.org.
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