2021/2022 winners reports
Thea Osullivan
October 2022:
I have been in Ghana for a month now, volunteering with the organisation project trust. Project trust is an international volunteering charity that focus on long term overseas placements. I am living in Strogbe, Ghana and team at east ridge junior high school. I am teaching Maths and Science to form one. However as many teachers do not always turn up to school everyday I have been covering other lessons at short notice. My classes consist of 40 people , between the ages of 12-18. After school I often visit a big family I have befriended and help the children to practice their reading and writing while the parents teach me to cook , speak and eat like a true Ghanaian. Strogbe is in the Volta region of Ghana , home to the ewe people so I am currently learning to speak ewe and have already mastered their traditional ewe dance. I have been lucky enough to attend a wedding here which has helped me to really emerge myself in the culture. At the end of the month I will also be attending a funeral , which are huge celebrations of life , family and friendship here. So far the experience has been amazing and I cannot wait to continue learning about and exploring this wonderful country that is my new home.
February 2023 :
As i approach the half way point of my placement , I wanted to send an update.
I am teaching maths and science this term to form 1 classes ( about S1 level ). This is keeping me very busy as I also help out covering other teachers lessons when they sick or cannot teach for some reason. I am trying to encourage a love of learning and the idea that trying your best is all you can do. I have a closer bond with a few of the girls in the class who come to me for extra maths help at break times. I hope i am encouraging the girls to see that maths and science are oaths they can go down if it is what they want to do and being a role model to be a brave and independent young women. I love encouraging the kids to dream big by asking rhag simple questions about what they want to be when they are left and how they will get there.
Outside of school I have been learning all about Ghanaian culture and particularly the culture of the ewe tribe ( the people I am living amongst ).
April 2023:
As i approach the half way point of my placement , I wanted to send an update.
I am teaching maths and science this term to form 1 classes ( about S1 level ). This is keeping me very busy as I also help out covering other teachers lessons when they sick or cannot teach for some reason. I am trying to encourage a love of learning and the idea that trying your best is all you can do. I have a closer bond with a few of the girls in the class who come to me for extra maths help at break times. I hope i am encouraging the girls to see that maths and science are oaths they can go down if it is what they want to do and being a role model to be a brave and independent young women. I love encouraging the kids to dream big by asking rhag simple questions about what they want to be when they are left and how they will get there.
Outside of school I have been learning all about Ghanaian culture and particularly the culture of the ewe tribe ( the people I am living amongst ).
August 2023:
I have now had time to digest my time in Ghana and begin to reflect. I want to share my final thoughts and experiences of the whole year.
This year has taught me so much and opened my eyes to a new way of life. Ghanaian culture is one of openness and teamwork. I have been inspired to take on these values in my own life and always have room in my heart to help and look out for others. The comradery I experiences especially with the women of ghana has been amazing. The women of ghana are super heros, they take on so many roles. They are teachers and sellers , business women and amazing cooks, wonderful mothers and talented singers.
I left school after my students sat exams , I was so proud of how hard they worked and the results they gained. I can see an improvement in their confidence and am sure this will continue as I pass my project on to the next set of volunteers.
In my final month in ghana I got in touch with an ngo called “girls club ghana” and helped them to find a period manual to share with girls in the region. They also have a program teaching communities to make their own reusable menstrual pads. My mother and I were able to donate some materials for them to do this.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me throughout this year and encourage all those who have the opportunity to visit my second home , Ghana.
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Barney Mills
I spent 6 months living and working as an English teacher in Seva M.A Zion Basic School, based on a small island community in the Keta lagoon national park by Anyako, Volta Region, Ghana.
I chose a project in a high school because of that being the time when education can have the largest effect on a child’s prospects. I also chose an African project because my inspiration was partly because of my South African prep-school science teacher who told us her experiences teaching in rural schools with extremely limited resources. I chose a rural project (Seva’s population is below 3000) as opposed to a large town to try and build a tighter bond with my community. Despite me having faced many difficulties living and working as a teacher here, I have not regretted for a moment my year with Project Trust.
After having completed my fundraising (thanks to the support of your trust), I was sent out to my project in Volta Region, Ghana on the 14th of January 2023 after a few days’ initiation in Accra. Prior to that we attended a 5-day training course at the Project Trust Hebridean centre on Coll. The money which we had raised through fundraising contributed to the costs of flights, training, insurance, and a living allowance of £100 a month for food and necessities. The rest of the money for our own travels and anything extra we had to raise ourselves.
The project involved us teaching mainly English and STEM to classes from the start of upper primary (age 10) to Junior High School 2 (age 15). At the start it was slightly confusing as in our school seemed quite organised and well-endowed with teachers. However, they said they needed one full English and one ICT teacher for Junior High School, and I also was given creative art for JHS 2 and ended up teaching English to Primary 5 and 6. In total I had about 13 lessons a week split between the junior high and primary blocks of the school. I was also given the role of head of positive disciplinary techniques, and of librarian and assistant quizmaster for the biweekly intellectual quiz competition.
I faced some challenges with my teaching, not least because by the age of 15, the older students had lost their respect for teachers and sadly the love of learning that made the 12-year-old students so teachable and (generally) well- disciplined. Without using the other teachers’ main method of discipline- the cane, - which we refused for obvious reasons- there was little else we could do to make the classes learn except try our best to make the lessons interesting and rely heavily on motivational rewards like stickers. I focused on just getting the basic curriculum across to the older pupils, then extending or mentoring the gifted/weaker ones in my free periods. On a more positive note, I set up two weekly clubs for Reading and did 1 on 1 tutoring for the weakest student from my primary class. I also started clubs for judo and rugby and began a small vegetable garden in my compound for the kids to learn from.
Moreover, I greatly enjoyed my work on pupils’ art projects for CAD and the national cultural competition- I donated some art materials for their final paintings and got some of my greatest feelings of reward from it. Most importantly, what I think I left as a long-term future benefit was influencing the teaching community slightly by trying to advocate positive disciplinary techniques. Despite some of the older teachers laughing at me, the younger and more open-minded ones engaged slightly and took some of my suggested techniques on board. The headmaster was also supportive in this as he recognised indiscipline as a major problem, so he quickly agreed to my proposals to use some of the stationery and art materials I had left as rewards for hardworking pupils.
Through my role in the community, I hope I left some sort of legacy and small positive difference in their lives and education. If nothing else, I think the younger boys enjoyed having me as a role model as there are few men below the age of 60 in Seva, and I think their English improved.
On the other hand, I have doubtlessly benefitted from living here immeasurably. From the straightforward fact of having to adapt and get used to a new culture, I have developed confidence and strength for having survived and hopefully succeeded in it. Moreover, being useful and not just accepted in the community required real determination and imagination on what to spend my time doing; Engaging with the culture and language (ewe) of the local people was crucial to this. Towards the end, even doing routine jobs could feel hugely rewarding because of my level of fluency in ewe and better understanding how everything works. Doing my own washing, cooking, and managing of the house also developed me in my independence and organisation, making me more self-reliant and happier as a result. This especially applied for my travels when at times I had to organise my own transport and accommodation in Benin and Togo without really knowing the country. There, skills that I had acquired interacting and living alongside people in Ghana proved invaluable to me.
Though it certainly had its challenges, teaching almost full time for 6 months stretched and developed me both in professional capability as a teacher and for skills that I will no doubt use in the future. I have also learnt a lot from the lifestyle and wisdom of the ewe people and have developed in my values and worldview as a result. Overall, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to throw myself into so warm and welcoming a community as Seva and get to grips with such a different and rich culture. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time living here, and without a doubt I have received far more than I have given over the last 6months.
Barney Mills.
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Rhys Jones
Having finished my exams on the 20th of May I turned my eyes to my looming year abroad. I had planned to make use of my lengthy summer to become a qualified teacher as I had already secured a job as an English teacher in Ecuador, but a better opportunity came my way. Following the outbreak of war in Ukraine many refugees had fled to Wimbledon and King’s (my old school) had pledged to give 12 of them beginners English language and culture classes before a more stable situation could be found for them in the new year. King’s knew I was an aspiring language teacher and asked if I’d like the experience. I spent the month running classes alongside a full-time teacher and it was an incredible introduction to the profession. I was taken aback by the incredible resilience of the boys, far from home and surrounded by a language they didn’t understand they seemed to have a bottomless reserve of energy and positivity. In an exchange that will stick with me till the end of my days a boy of 12 turned to me and remarked that his village had been hit by a missile that day, but the damage wasn’t that bad, before asking me if I knew about Harry Potter! It was a slightly surreal experience for someone so recently out of school. They made real progress during my time with them and having met some of them a year on a couple weeks ago I was so glad to see that they are really finding their niche.
Encouraged by the generous scholarship I was gifted by the Bulkeley-Evans trustees I started my gap year proper in September 2022 by enrolling on a CELTA teaching course in central London. I spent one month attending lectures, observing foreign language instruction, completing written assignments and giving graded lessons. I had a great time, learning from my mistakes as I gave free lessons to people from Ukraine, Brazil and plenty of other parts of the world! Having attained my CELTA qualification with a “Pass B” (top 30% of my class) I set off for Ecuador with high hopes that I might have what it took, and a sinking feeling that I was terribly out of my depth.
After a 30 hour journey I crashed onto a hotel bed in central Quito at midnight. The next day I was let into my flat-share and informed by my boss that I would be teaching the next afternoon, which gave me little time to get over the jet lag and would not be the last instance of me having to work things out on the fly…
My first lesson was 4 hours long with one 20 minute break (which was a bit of a change of pace) and given to 10 year old beginners (apparently the fact I was only qualified to teach adults wasn’t really relevant). I arrived bristling with confidence and a bit encumbered by the small mountain of worksheets I’d made, sadly this group of “beginners” were in fact no beginners at all and had made their way through my mountain by half time. Having panic walked to the teachers lounged and then made a mixed first impression on a fair few present by blurting out that my class had finished their work with 2 hours to go I was touched by how quickly the other teachers rallied around me, suppling me with their own resources to get me through to the end of the lesson. I vowed that I would come prepared for all eventualities to my next lesson, 4 hours with 15, 12-14 year old intermediates the next afternoon. Unfortunately, I was blindsided once again. I arrived, ready to teach past and future tense, to find that the majority of my students, having spent the last 2 years doing lessons online due to covid, could hardly introduce themselves. I would come to see this as a bit of a boon in the months to come as the considerable overlap with my other children’s class allowed me to use resources for both but this lesson felt long as the children struggled to grasp what I was saying and I had to pivot down a few levels.
In the months to come I would take on 7-9am (with an accompanying less than welcome 5am wake-up) and 9am-1pm Monday-Friday adult classes as well as a 8am-1pm class of 16 year olds and an evening class online. I coped surprisingly well with the early rises (though one or two Saturday mornings were a little tricky after a stint in the salsa club) and introduction of adult classes, for which I felt properly trained, helped me get into a bit of a groove. The staff around me were lovely and I got invited out to a wild sales team social that really made me feel welcome.
Me with my more adult class during our last lesson
