Every Finish Line Is The Begininng Of A New Race

This has been the last week of our life changing experience in the Gold Coast. I personally have had struggles in which iv had to strive through in order to survive. Ghana has a special ambiance everywhere from Accra to Kumasi to Cape Coast. The people make the place here, its mind blowing. On numerous occasions iv been strolling down the rocky road lost in taught until my bubble is broken by a was-sup or cool homie. Iv met people iv never met before but feel as though were connected its as if everyone is one big family.
I have had to deal with my internal issues and the problems I'm faced with yet my eyes stray to the issues the Ghanaians face on a day to day basis. I have had to sit on buses with cracked roofs and floors, excreted in holes in the ground and sat in a mosquito infested school however I can go home. The children and people I have worked with are a credit to the human race and have an unbreakable dignity. Everywhere you go there's music blaring and people dancing and singing having a great time leaving there problems at their doorstep.
In comparison to England, Ghana is obviously less developed and needs work however Ghana has priceless aspects. Ghana has spirit and its literally unexplainable. Ghana has something indescribable about it you would have to experience it to comprehend. It has a interesting people which has given it interesting history. The tribes that inhabit Ghana have their own symbols, languages and rituals we have deep meaning.
This trip has given me a new lease on life ( I know its sounds cheesyier than a pack of quavers but im being serious) I don't want to settle and just manage I now have goals, ambitions and aims. I do not want to just "jam" I want to explore the world venture out in order to discover more about myself and people in general.

If their is one thing this trip has taught me it is that owning your mistakes are worth more than owning your success. Everything that happens in life is neither bad nor good. If  their wasn't struggle on this trip I wouldn't have learnt any lessons or developed as i have.      This trip feels like a stepping stone to a new me and I know it will give me a sustainable drive for the rest of my years.

I have this poem for you all today,

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FN:Michael Hamilton
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Hello everyone Im Aaron and I have this poem for you all today,

Which lets you know about the wonderful time Iv had throughout my stay,
Iv  travelled from London and haven't seen it for 6 days,
I miss my mum but Ill be OK,
I packed my bags and flew on a plane,
Ive enjoyed the sun and embraced the rain,
Iv seen lizards and iv seen wild dogs,
Iv seen mosquito's and leaping frogs,
Iv seen things that im not used to
Iv been with you kids and you've helped me pull through,
Iv been to the market and seen how mad it is,
Iv helped to teach you superlatives and comparatives,
Iv come in the morning and seen you all smile,
When you have learnt something new it makes my day worthwhile,
The day I leave I will be awfully hurt ,
Forever in my heart Refuge Primary School Baptist Church.

Cultural Kumasi

Today we were all dressed up to meet the chief of the asante tribe. We had a long drive the night before so everyone was tired. We set off to the asante palace and I was upset because the chief was currently in London. The asante palace was a museum the tour guide showed us a DVD about the tribe and then escorted us through the museum. It was extremely interesting the asante tribe were a very powerful group of people. They had a lot of customs and symbols which were intriguing.

The tour finished and we then headed to lunch at a lady named Harriets house. I ate plain rice and boiled potatoes : / . She was very welcoming, had 3 rowdy dogs and a lovely house. From her house we went to the cultural centre to buy gifts. There was lovely jewellery instruments and carvings there.
By this time I was extremely tired and we had to go back to Harriets for dinner, I ate plain spaghetti and plantain accompanied with a cold coke. Harriet needed to go to Accra so she came on the bus with us on the painstaking journey back home. My knee was in excruciating pain but I took it like a man and kept quite. The roads were extremely bad which made it hard to sleep.
We eventually got home and i got my key opened my door and went to sleep!

Mighty Mo and the miscommunication misshapp

Mighty Mo and the miscommunication misshapp

Yesterday I went to refuge baptist church school to do my usual days work however the school was closed! Me being such a sensible and responsible young man used my initiavtive and made my way to the women of glory.( Mo might have a different opinion on the matter lool) Kebeh welcomed me with open arms and taught me how to make beaded jewlerry.

 

I was skeptical at first but began to really enjoy making the bangle, bracelet and necklace. Making the jewlerry required patience and care, I found threaded the beads very theraputic. The first half of the day went quick because i was enjoying myself so much before I could say BANKU it was lunch time.

 

Me Paris, Holly and Jessica went to lunch in our usual spot and i was very hungry. I orderd chips and as the women came up the stairs Mo, Ben and his mum were behind her and I was totally shocked. I knew I had to tell Mo that I didnt go to the school but I spent half the day bead making :/ she was not a happy bunny.

 

When the day was over and Mo returned to the hotel she had a word with me and i understood her frustration because beadmaking wasnt stretching me. The day came to a close and I had a good day considering the circumstances :)

 

Mikey Mike

 

Mikey Mike

 

Today was the day Michael came and I was pleased to see him because I think hes a cool dude. It was a typical sunday minus my mums cooking and premirship football in the morning but I got over it.

I must admit I was in an absoloutly dreadful mood and every little thing was annoying me. Michael had arranged a meeting which would durate 1 hour and a half and I was not amused.

Michaels meeting/ speech was the best thing iv heard in a very long time. It shed light on alot of things he basically outlined low motivations and high ones. For example fear and anger are low motivations which can get in the way of the high motivations which we are actually trying to acheive. I completly took in everything he said and it changed my outlook on everything for the better thanks mikey!

After the meeting my day was spent watching avatar lol

start of a new day

A portion of the group had issues with their placements so Andrew and Mo had to try and sort it out. I had to accompany Andrew Maleeka and Bianca to Pink Fm. Everyone else seemed ok with the walking but I was tired and hadn’t even started work yet! Whilst Andrew was in a meeting with their boss I was nodding off on the chair and before I knew it, it was time for me to go to my placement.

As we left Mr Ofari said we didn’t need to go to the placement because it wasn’t what I requested so he suggested I go to the Baptist Primary school. I was a lot happy because it would benefit me and id be able to help the children effectively

As I got their I met the deputy head and the head of English. I went to an English lesson and as soon as I walked in the whole class stood up and recited " hello visitor how are you doing today?" I was shocked at how disiplined these young childeren actually were. The teacher told me to look at their notes and I peered over them and noticed they were doing adjective nouns and syllables. Within 1 minute the teacher told me to teach and had to think fast.

were here!

After the long build up were here! I waved my Mum, Nann and Brother off and lumped my suitcase onto the minibus. I was a mixed bag of emotions for the whole coach jorney ( I DID NOT CRY!) just gazing out the window with my headfones in. I felt lossed for a while then I digged into my bag to search for my camera then I found a picture of my family with a note at the back which gave me reassurance.

After about an hour and a half we reached Heathrow and checked in. We then had to send our bags away once Id done it the lady asked for my passport and yellow fever certificate. I passed it to her with no hesitation then she replied "Were is your yellow fever certificate?!" I can confirm I was "shitting it." Luckily I found it on the suitcase trolly and was completly reliefed.

Once we had done that we went to the duty free and it was great timing because I was absoloustly starving. I left the group and had a wonder by myself and hapenned to stumbble across a bar :) ! I had a pint and ordered a portion of chips and didnt recieve a portion just a handful and ate it in a couple seconds.... (literally)

Bording the plane was simple and smooth along with the flight itself. As I stepped off the plane in Ghana it was absouloutly amazing. The heat was so overwhelming I could barely breath! We had to pass through immagration which took a while then got escorted to the cab where we were bombarded by people asking for money and hello magazines ? : s

Driving through Accra was a total contrast to my usual lifestyle. People were carrying heavy loads on their heads, standing on top of cars and running everywhere a it was only 7 am Lewisham isnt even open at those times! Everyone looked extremely busy and had purposefull body language which was a good site to see.

Once we arrived in the hotel it looked amazing from the outside with a hut area to chill in restaurant and bar, however inside wasnt as sophisticated and Moe was not pleased. Their was word through the grapevine that we are going to move because Moe was unhappy with the conditions. It was now breakfast time and to be completely honest i wasnt looking foward to it even though i was very hungry because i didnt know what to expect. In contrast to my pesimistic beliefs and assumptions the food was abosoloutly amazing. We had bread and vegetable omelete accompnied with ( BOTTLED) water. The bread was unlike any other bread I have eaten before it was similar to hardough bread but slightly more doughy and sweeter. The omelete was cooked to perfection and had various vegetables in it to give it that slight crunch.

This was how my two days panned out I miss absouloutly everyone and everything however I feel il be fine out here and will remain positive for myself and the group.

Day 2

Today was the day we finally met our supervisor. I was to work for a man called Afonso in an ICT club and I was eager to meet him and start working. We met each over and got talking straight away. He was really cool and easy to talk to, he was explaining the placement and telling me about himself. He said he is Liberian and had to travel for 10 days to Ghana in order to seek refuge and I usually complain when my mum sends me to the shop!

All workers and supervisors had a meeting and lunch once that was concluded I was on my way to work with my boss. As I got their I noticed the facilities were really bad the rooms were so small and the computers were on their last legs. I asked to go to the toilet and regretted it afterwards it was an absolute mess. After I had finished I went to another room where I met Tolu the guy I would be working with.

Mr Afonso said I would have to create a database for Mr Ofari to keep records of his business. I wasn’t too excited at this point as I have no experience with databases and would be completely useless. After I had a look around the placement it was time for me to go back to the hotel.

Most of the group had issues with their placement so we requested a meeting at dinner time. I told Mo the situation and told her I assumed I was going to work with children and so did she so she told Andrew to come to my placement in the morning. After dinner and the meeting I was shattered and went to sleep.

Day 1

Mo was absouloutly livid with the hotel we was staying at and decided enough was enough so we were booked into Sora Boffa. We left the old hotel at 7 am and then made our way to the new one. The bus journey really underlined one of the main reasons I wanted to go on the trip. Seeing the Ghanians getting on with their day to day activities in their enviroment was enlightening. Young childeren were walking around selling mothers cooking and men doing some serious construction work which looked exhausting. I was observing my surroundings whilst being jerked side to side by the uncomfterble bus and hitting my head multiple times. ( Dont Laugh Nathan!)

We had arrived at the new hotel and some of the group we impressed some dissapointed. Personally I liked the new hotels atmosphere and the room i was given was alot more equiped. I literally had to drop my bags in my room and gather with the group in preparation of the trip to town. The bus stopped and everyone got off as we arrived and the first thing i noticed was the smell. To be honest it smelt like a bin. We walked through the market and it wasnt like anything I had ever experianced before it was totally different to Deptford market. It was extremely hectic ,hot and smelly but it allowed me to understand how people interacted in Ghana. As we was walking a lady who was selling crabs shouted " Hey nigger with the earrings come here baby!" I didnt know whether to turn around or run looool. We came to the end of the market and eventually reached the restaurant by this time it had started to rain which added to the dampness of my back added to the sweat.

The group sat down and began ordering, for the time iv been in Ghana I havent experimented with food yet, I didnt experiment this time either. I orderded chicken burger and chips and paitently waited. The food was taking very long so Mr Ofari had a word with the chef and my chicken burger shortly arrived. The food was nice and the chicken burger was huge! Once I had finished I went outside and Holly and Jessica followed. We were suddenly approached by two men who were selling beads and paintings. Although they were there too make money one salesman had other intentions for the ladies. Me being the good guy I am; said they were both my wives one cooks and one cleans and he backed off ...... for a while he was very persistant.

After everyone had finished and pruchased all the jewllery and paintings they wanted we made our way back to the hotel. As we got there it was evidant a party was going on and I was desperate to join. I went to my room had a wash and came staight back out and got to know the birthday girl and her family. The rest of the group came out a little later and I introduced everyone but the group were still unsure.

Although i wanted to party I had to accompany ben to his house and jameela said she would come with me. The journey was supposed to be ten minutes accordding to ben but it was alot longer but still a great experiance none the less. Leading up to Bens house there was literally a swamp surrounded by an army of frogs. Me and Jameela were brave and just blocked out the noises and kept our cool. Once Ben had his things we made our way back to the hotel and soon after feel asleep.

A once in a lifetime experience

I am currently at Haberdashers Askes Knights Academy Sixth Form studying business.

In contrast to what I am studying now I will be studying childcare and hope to become a teaching assistant or a youth worker.

I have decided to do international volunteering because it will be a once in a lifetime experience and will help me to appreciate what I have.

I hope that through the experience I will become more independent and learn to adapt to new situations and environments. My best hope for the experience is to make an impact on the children’s lives out there and help them to the best of my ability.