This Is Africa

Brittany Gibler, a student at the University of Notre Dame spent this summer–the summer after her sophomore year–traveling on a United Planet Quest in Ghana.  She went into it with an open mind and heart, and left full and satisfied by the love she experienced in everything; from the people to the food–and especially the students she taught.  Here are some highlights from her trip, check out her blog for a full account!

The beautiful Ghanaian landscape

Before traveling to Ghana through the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Brittany had been to Australia and New Zealand, but had never spent time in a country with a completely different language and culture from her own.  Her trip began after 14 hours on a plane and a day of traveling by car–about 3 hours across unmarked roads.  She arrived in Sokode-Etoe at nightfall, and since there was a power outage, she had to wait until the next morning to take in her surroundings.  She awoke on her first full day to the sound of a rooster crowing, and knew she was in for a solid adventure for the next 9 weeks.

During her first couple of days she and another volunteer, Melanie, explored the area under the guidance of the United Planet country coordinator, Akos.  Brittany explained, “Sokode is a village of five parts and we were in Sokode-Etoe—a decent sized village with a main road that goes through it.  All five parts of Sokode (which are next to each other) have one chief, Dogbe Fia Kuku, whom the elders selected to be chief.”  They had the pleasure of meeting this chief, who invited them back to his home anytime during their stay.

The weekend before their first full week of teaching, they were able to climb the tallest mountain in western Africa, Mount Afadjato, in the Volta Region, about an hour from their village.  Brittany recounted in her blog, “When we got to the top, we couldn’t help but exclaim “This is Africa!”  The view was unbelievable, filled with thick, mountainous forests with little villages in between, and the vague trace of a red dirt road to connect them.  You could see waterfalls and the border of Togo.  You could also hear the drumming from a funeral from a village below.”  It was one of the many exciting weekend trips they went on, including trips to the Cape Coast, Kakum National Park, Accra, and Elmina Castle, to name a few.

Working one-on-one

Though her weekend excursions were incredible and eye-opening, Brittany was happiest during her time at the school.  She recalled the pride and joy of teaching, explaining, “I loved all my students so much. They were so fun to play with, so entertaining. I also loved teaching; it’s really cool to see the look on a kid’s face when they finally get it.”  Brittany and Melanie also found ample time to bond with the teachers at the school, both in the classroom and in the teacher’s lounge area.  Though they had different styles of teaching (including, but not limited to, the use of cane punishment), Brittany and Melanie were thankful for the teachers’ wisdom and advice.

Brittany and Melanie learned right away that you have to be creative and think on your feet while teaching a foreign language.  Brittany explained, “the biggest setback in teaching was from the trouble with accents.”  She had to learn how to talk more slowly and use simpler language so that the kids could understand her.  In her classroom, the kids were forms 1 and 2 of junior high.  This is the equivalent of 6th and 7th grade in the USA, but the ages ranged from 6-20 (since she had just turned 19, the kids pointed out that 5 kids in her class were older than she was).  That took some getting used to, but was the norm in the area due to strict pass/fail guidelines in the local school system.

Despite the many moments of frustration and anxiety during their time teaching at the school in Ghana, Brittany and Melanie were able to work out ways to communicate and gain trust with the children.  Instead of teaching lessons without stopping, they went beyond simply memorizing textbooks and incorporated new ways of thinking and learning to make sure everyone understood the topics.  Some of their favorite moments included playing games with the kids to help them grasp grammar or math subjects that they were struggling with.  Brittany even volunteered to teach an extra class every day after school to help students grasp difficult concepts so they could move onto the next subjects in a timelier manner.

Dancing in the classroom!

In the future, Brittany hopes to work for a non-profit organization, so the main goal of her trip was to get a sense of the needs of a foreign country—to be completely immersed in another culture and learn about the people, directly from the people.  What she found was that it’s much more complicated than she could ever have imagined.  She summed up this realization very well, and we’ll leave you with her words of wisdom:

“It’s not that you’re there to change everything–not everything needs to be changed–it works for them. Even looking back it is still hard to grasp what could be changed; they are happy with their wonderful culture and lifestyle and they want to welcome you into it so you can experience it.”

Thank you, Brittany – for your commitment and dedication, for sharing your wonderful story, and for choosing United Planet to make your journey possible.