Jak Wright
5/5
Ghana 2018
On the 20th October 2018 I set off to Ghana alongside 10 school friends and a teacher. Over the following 11 days, my life changed.
I worked in Woe EP Basic School. The team and I constructed hundreds of bricks to build a wall for the perimeter of the school, and also taught in classes from ages 2 up to 14. We worked hard in the sun, spent time together in the evening and kept ourselves busy from early morning until late at night. On the weekend, we travelled in the Volta region; feeding monkeys and swimming in waterfalls.
Its still hard for me to put into words how amazing this experience was, but I've learnt many things; not only about a foreign culture, country and people but also about myself. Whats clear to me now is really how small and insignificant most things are. Its dawned on me whilst traveling to just one community in one tiny corner of the world that we WANT a lot, we don't NEED a lot. Its amazing to see an entire community leading a happy life on the bare minimum.
I planned to go to Ghana to help a community. That community has helped me. I planned to go to Ghana to teach underprivileged children. Those children have taught me. They taught me that they aren't in fact underprivileged, we are. They have the privilege of a simple happiness, whilst we're wrapped up in the straining complexities of the modern world.
Anyhow, this was the best experience of my life so far (more to come) and I'm lucky to have spent it with such amazing people. I'm also lucky to have such wonderful family and friends who have supported me and made it possible for me to do this. Thank you to everyone who donated.
On the 31st October 2018 I returned from Ghana alongside a second family, with memories to last a thousand lifetimes.