Crocodiles & Kelewele

I could put good money on the fact that right now, you're asking yourself "what the hell is Kelewele?!" For those that haven't already Google searched, it's a Ghanaian dish made from deep-fried plantain and a selection of herbs and spices. This was something that rapidly become my favourite go-to meal during a visit to Ghana in 2011. 

I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to visit this vibrant country in west Africa as part of a a trip arranged by my secondary school. The trip was designed to develop new relationships and build on those existing with our partner schools, as a way to enrich both parties' education and experience. It also gave us a taste of the culture, the chance to travel for the first time without family and afforded us the oh-so-nerve-racking opportunity to teach at a primary school.

My trip began in a small village, Tortibo. We were welcome by what was undoubtedly the friendliest and most humble group of people I have ever met. They showed us around the village, filled us up with more kelewele and red red (a bean based dish) than we could possibly ask for and gave us an overview of what we'd be getting involved with during our time there. To say we were thrown in the deep end on our first day would be an understatement to say the least... We were paired up and set to teaching a class of 30 primary school students. Fortunately we had all been given the chance to prepare a rough structure for a lesson in advance but it was a daunting feat nevertheless. As the two eldest girls on the trip, a classmate and I were assigned the kindergarten class to teach but to our surprise, the class was 60 pupils strong so we ended up each teaching a class of 30 kindergarten students with a minimal understanding of English. The good news is that I'd prepared a creative / crafts based lesson that had the children making masks so the language barrier wasn't so much of an issue. By the end of my time with them, everyone was singing, smiling, laughing and had made a very individual mask - it was a phenomenal feeling. By the end of our lessons we'd all made friends with the children in our classes and found that they were quick to hold our hands and show us back to the heart of the village for food and some lessons in tie-dying and jewellery making which was enormous fun. 

Looking back, we didn't spend perhaps as much time in Tortibo as I’d perhaps have liked but our trip was far from over when we left the village. From there we travelled on to a girls secondary school where we sat in on some of the lessons to get a feel for how the curriculum varied from our own, before being given some "down time" with the elder girls and the chance get to know one another. This consisted mostly of name-dropping A List musicians and listening to the Ghanaian girls perform astounding and soulful renditions of the songs. 

Yet another surprise came our way at the secondary school during a 3 hour church service.  We were asked to perform a song in front of the entire 600 person congregation with a mere 30 minutes to prepare!!! Imagine, if you will, the contrast between a gospel hymn effortlessly sung by 3 Ghanaian students in contrast to the meek, tone-deaf stylings of 11 British girls who don't sing, period. It was a diabolical performance of "You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace..." Do you know the one? In any case, everyone was good-natured and kind enough to applaud our efforts at the end of the song so it wasn't a total tumbleweed moment. As someone who doesn't really practice religion, I thought I'd really struggle with such a long service but I can honestly say, hand on heart, I have never had a funnier, more enjoyable three hours!

A couple of days later we had the (quite literal) high of our first ever trip to the rainforest, walking along wooden walkways in the canopy which, although we didn't spot a single animal, was ever such fun. Having said that, I did find myself within about 4 ft of a sleeping crocodile and a monkey checking itself out in a shard of mirror later on that evening at our hostel, so I didn't go without seeing wildlife!

But where there are highs, there are also lows. One of  the"low points" was during our final few days, one of which was spent at Cape Coast Castle. It was built in what is now a picturesque coastal location, but was once a large commercial fort built for slavery. While it was fascinating to learn all about the history of the castle, it was haunting to actually go inside and only imagine what anyone would have experienced at the time. I think this was an incredibly eye-opening experience for everyone on the trip, myself included. You learn about some of the horrific and tragic things that went on but it sometimes doesn't resinate fully until you're there. Naturally, this brought on a lot of emotion.

On our very final night, we all dug out our tie-dye and each made a unique dress with the fabric to wear to dinner. The evening was spent reminiscing about the highlights of our trip, the incredible and humble people we had met and what we'd learnt about ourselves in turn. There were only 11 of us that went out to Ghana (13 if you're including teachers) and although we we're all a similar age, most of us were not in the same friendship groups and didn't know anything about one another. When we left the UK this was incredibly daunting prospect, but by the end of the trip we had all shared laughs, tears, nerves and secrets with one another - we were acquaintances when we arrived but definitely left as friends. The whole experience was truly one to remember and cherish forever. I would strongly recommend something like this to anyone looking for an adventure, change of pace and something a bit different to lounging on a beach in Cannes. In fact, if I can find another trip along the same lines, I'll be the first one on the sign up sheet!