lisa

DESTINATIONS

0800 345 75 82

When Lisa arrived in Ghana this summer to volunteer with Original Volunteers for the first time she didn’t realise that a few weeks later she would be building a school...of her own!

Lisa Finlay wrote:

The school is in Bepong which is five min from where the volunteer coordinators live.

I decided to start the project following a visit to the village and discovering a lot of poverty and some children in far worse circumstances than those living in the orphanages. The schools were basically wooden sheds and it was terrible and I just wanted to help. Many of the schools are private and too expensive for the local children so many just work on the farms for their parents or end up getting pregnant and then that’s their education over with.

The school I am opening will have to be private so that the teacher can be paid and cover meals but it will not need to make a profit so it will be cheaper than the others.

It was very easy to start the school, Ben my project manager helped with every thing and took me to the chiefs palace to get permission to build a school, got all the equipment from machines to wheel barrows and trucks to transport the wood up and down to recruiting the joiners, plasterers and weeders.

I would love the school to be finished by Christmas (2007) but it all depends on money. The people in this village are just so excited that this white woman is coming to help them. They think it is going to be the best school in Bepong so I have a lot to live up to!

Any help is very much appreciated by anyone whatever the contribution be it big or small. The children really want to learn but because of the costs involved in private education and the poor quality of education even in these private schools I hope this school will change things for the good and fill a much needed gap.

By the way I also want to start a youth centre which will also be able to offer English classes to the older boys and girls who have missed out.

GOING BACK

ORIGINAL VOLUNTEER LISA FINLAY RETURNS TO GHANA

Currently busy fundraising in the UK, Lisa plans to return to Ghana in December to finish the school. If you would like to find out more about or make a donation to the project you can contact Lisa at: lisafinlay1981@hotmail.co.uk

Can you help?