After our trip to the rainforest, the much-needed break gave a new lease of life to the team as they began their work this morning. The main project to really kick on was the Library. For the first couple of days, the team had been waiting for the tradesmen to finish their construction work and now finally the room was ready to get prepared. It is a large space, probably around the size of a classroom, having knocked through 3 smaller rooms together to make a bigger space. The students set to it straight away, with litres of white and blue paint slapped on with abandon. Hot working conditions did not inhibit the team too much and they took on regular water to ensure they could continue at a good pace. As the morning progressed so did the complexity of the design – a beautiful bookshelf painted onto the walls which looked fantastic.
Meanwhile, the accommodation team were pressing on, now moving on to the fourth and fifth apartments – the plastering had been finished overnight. The apartments are made up of two rooms and a veranda overlooking the school. The back room will be a bedroom, while the front room will be a living space, and has been adorned with some beautifully designed word-art using key bible passages and then some fantastic oil paintings added by one of our Partner Ghana guides who has a wonderful talent for artwork. Assuming we can finish this, it will be quite something to see, having conceived the idea 2 years ago standing in a broken and dilapidated shell of a building. The Chapel team were also working hard, concentrating today on completing the construction of the altar and the lectern. Again, using reclaimed wood from various sources of broken furniture the pieces have been fashioned really effectively and are now beginning to look like they will be excellent pieces of furniture within the Chapel environment. We are also told that this will now be the only school in this region to have its own chapel and that on the Wednesday after we leave, the local Bishop is coming to bless it and officially open it as a place for worship.
In the afternoon, students were treated to a dance and drumming workshop, where a group of local artists came to tutor them for a couple of hours. Once a shady spot had been found, the dancing was executed well, and the students really enjoyed learning a little more about this culture. After this was done, and an opportunity to buy some souvenirs was taken, we headed back to the project work and pushed on further with the work before concluding with a well-earned dinner and relax.
Darkness comes so quickly here – around 6pm, the sun seems to shoot out of the sky and pitch black arrives within 15 minutes. It is slightly un-nerving but again leads to a fantastic trait of this trip – students asking to go to bed early! Most are asleep by 8 or 8.30pm and only a handful stay up playing cards. It is another good day, and as the projects are beginning to come together so the communal vision for what we are doing continues to grow.
Although Thursday had really pushed things on, Friday was a key day for the project work, particularly for the carpentry. Mr Skinner was quickly dispatched to British Komenda and Kissi to make all the necessary purchases, and indeed was to return (much later than expected!) with all the goods required. Meanwhile, the Library team had a lot of work to do to make the now clean and tidy room look more colourful and more stimulating as a learning environment. They decided to put a giant quotation on the wall, which once it took shape, looked fantastic. The accommodation team completed all five apartments on schedule and are now ready to paint the outside of the building all day on Saturday – it’s going to be amazing when it is finished. Finally the library team worked hard on their wall designs and canvasses, while the furniture was completed and the painting of it could commence. By lunchtime, we were well on schedule to eat and then leave for an afternoon tour.
First stop was the Aynesudo School where we were given a tour of the amazing new building that had been designed and erected by Partner Ghana around 3 years ago. It is a beautiful design and its light and airy setting had clearly been well used by primary teachers to create a stimulating learning environment for the children. The visit was also an amazingly coincidental reminder of Emmanuel’s first visit to Ghana back in 2011, where we had been based at this actual school. During that time we had dug a number of the drainage trenches that serviced the school, which were now in action, and also the first ICT suite that we had installed in 3 chaotic days in 2011 was still there, still in action and it was amazing to meet the Headteacher that we had served at that time – a lovely reunion. It shows that if you invest significantly in something here, you can see a return and you can genuinely make a difference.
Pressing on from this visit, we made the short journey to Elmina for the most moving part of the trip so far – our visit to Elmina Slave Castle. It is still one of the great horrors of visiting this part of the world that one is brought face to face with the reality of the slave trade and the dispersal of Ghanaians around the world through this abhorrent business. To then visit a site which brings this to life in the most shocking and appalling manner is extremely challenging. During our tour, we cram ourselves into tiny cells and dungeons where slaves were held before their transportation, and one can only imagine the desperation and squalor in which they lived. We are told of the disgraceful ways in which women were abused and punished and then further challenged by our movement upstairs to the church of the castle which stands directly above the dungeon. It therefore is certain that each Sunday while the European traders met to worship and pray, they did so one floor above hundreds of captives. It is incomprehensible. Students make this trip with their Ghanaian buddies and it is a quite moving experience to discuss with them on the way round the reality of our free society where we can relate in this way as friends, not as business propositions. It is a sombre experience – in some ways quite haunting, embarrassing and moving.
We return to camp for dinner and then afterwards hold a spontaneous talent show, where we are treated to some wonderful performances, some slightly dangerous but highly impressive ‘bow staff’ work from Owain, and then some ultimately surreal entertainment from our Ghanaian teacher friends! The night is capped off by a wonderful comic song performance from Mr Wolfe, Mr Skinner, Miss Jones and Miss Hutchings, and then the delights of the first prize – some chocolate! It is a happy team that heads to bed, ready for the tomorrow’s final project push.