Day 6 – Tuesday, 22nd October 2019.
Group 2
The day began with eggy bread and pineapple for breakfast, followed by a walk along the beach to Bantuma School. We were greeted by a large group of very excited children who were awaiting the start of their sports day. Having split into three teams, we began our events, which included ‘lime & spoon’ and ‘sand bottle filling’. We were put to shame by our buddies in the sack races and three legged relay, but continued in high spirits, with red team (team 2) finishing in first. After a very hot walk back to Stumble Inn, we headed out once more and made our way to a local hotel’s pool, which we welcomed with open arms for the opportunity to cool down! We walked back home along the beach by the sunset and were met by dinner.
Maya
Group 3:
We began day 7 with a plate of warm cinnamon scrambled eggs with toast. After getting ready, we boarded the buses and headed to Bantuma school, before splitting from group 1. Today we would begin our first project, which we were all very excited to get stuck into. Our first job was to paint the walls, followed by a brief ice cream break. The ice cream was so tasty, we wish we could buy it back in England. After this we resumed the hard work alongside our buddies until all the walls looked great. Lunch was a very nice but spicy vegetable curry. Our next and final job was to paint the doors and shutter, which was a lot harder than it looked! After the work we headed back to Stumble inn for a quick rest before group 2 started their drum and dance workshop. Dancing was fun although we were showed up by the Ghanaian children who seem to born dancers. Drumming was difficult but very rewarding as we were eventually able to all to play a good tune. The dinner of red red (bean stew) with rice and plantain was enjoyed by everyone. We finished the day talking among st ourselves on the sand
Anna and Amélie
Group1
The day started off with high hopes within group one for our first day of project work. We were overjoyed to be able to help an additional school that were in desperate need of a safe and sustainable play area. When we arrived with our budddies, we were split into two groups tasked with two different projects. The first group began with building an outdoor reading classroom using tires as seats. Teaming together with our buddies, we had to dig 22 deep holes under the intense Ghanaian sun using shovels, pickaxes and other instruments. We worked hard digging holes all morning and into the afternoon. Meanwhile, the second group were creating an adventure trail also out of recycled tires. As a team, we dug holes and bolted together the tyres to form fun obstacles. The labour was long and strenuous as it was hot and the ground was dry and rocky. After a well earned lunch break, everyone took on different roles in manufacturing cement supports for what we had built earlier that day. The first stage of making cement was collecting broken rock and powder, then shoveling this mixture whilst continuously depositing rocks from the sides to the top. It was then transported to the wheelbarrow to be taken down to the rest of the team who were diving it out to stabilize the tyres before it solidified. The last stage was to fill the stacks of tires with dirt and water to allow the children to use them as stepping stones. After this physically draining labour, we sat for a refreshing frozen yoghurt kindly donated by the head teacher of the school. We then returned to Stumble Inn and enjoyed a cold shower after which we realized that we had been covered in mud rather than tanned.
~Katherine, Ava and Ella