1. TRIP LOGISTICS:
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Me to We
Toronto, ON
Two Weeks
June 24th-July 5th
Anna Patterson & I
Position: VOLUNTEER
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Village: Nyameyekrom
Takoradi, Ghana
Three Weeks
July 5th-July 26th
19 Students: 18 gals, 1 boy
Project: SCHOOL BUILDING
On my enrichment trip I spent two weeks volunteering at the Me to We
headquarters in Toronto, ON from June 24th to July 5th. Here I was
immersed into the Me to We culture. Working hard to help them fold and
organize their fair trade, Made in Canada T-shirts, I was exposed to the
shameless idealism and incredible work ethic of the Me to We and Free
the Children staff. I had the opportunity to meet with members of their
domestic Leadership Development Team that works in Canada and the
USA to empower youth to take action. As well, I met trip facilitators and
on the ground staff that work to create sustainable and systemic
development abroad.
A special thanks to the Brown Fellows Foundation and
the University of Louisville for making this possible. I
would not be the person that I am today with out their
support. Also a special thanks to Dr.
Elmaghraby, Andrew Grubb, and Dr. Karen Hadley for
helping me formulate this plan and make this trip a
reality.
NYAMEYEKROM
In the local language, Fante, you are named by the day of
the week on which you were born. So in the village
Nyameyekrom names are shared abundantly. I was given the
name Ama, for being born on Saturday, and had the pleasure
of sharing the name with two beautiful girls who came to
hang out at the work site after their school day. Just as
names are shared, love is shared endlessly through the
community. Entering the village each morning we were met
with the cheers and hugs of excited children and parents
looking forward to the construction of their new school.
School building was our main project. Upon arrival we had
only the foundation of the structure in place—a mud floor.
Our goal was to mix cement to give the students and
teachers something sustainable to stand on where they can
begin their education. When we left the floor and pillars to
hold the roof were in place and the entire school building was
just finished last week!
The community members took such pride in their village. As
they showed us through the village we were better able to
understand their lives. Their reality is absolute poverty, but
they work every day to sustain their lives and have embraced
Free the Children to break the cycle of poverty. The people of
the village work on the local Palm Plantation as farm
workers. It was heartbreaking to witness the terrible working
conditions and the lack of health care in Takoradi. But
something the community is not lacking is hope. Everyday I
saw it in their eyes and in their smiles as they went about life
as they knew it—seeing that change was coming.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
AND GLOBAL AWARENESS
Generally we were on the work site for
half day or full day build and then
remainder of our time was spent back
at our accommodation on the coast
where we worked to understand our
impact on the global community and
the concepts of social responsibility.
Our facilitators organized modules with
us to help us better process and
understand the poverty that we
witnessed in Nyameyekrom. We had
discussions about our passions, our
hopes, fears, dreams, and together we
focused them into attainable goals for
our return home. My trip with Me to We
to Takoradi gave me an entirely new
perspective and a passion for meaning
in life. The people of
Nyameakrom, through their
expressions of love, hospitality, and
uncanny happiness gave me more
than I could have ever given them in
the three weeks we spent together.
CAPE COAST CASTLE
On day 17 of the trip we travelled to Cape
Coast Castle. There we took a tour of the
first and one of the largest slave ports on
the African coast. On our tour the guide
showed us inside the male slave dungeons.
No bigger than an average classroom, 200
men survived side by side. There were six
chambers side by side. Light was only let in
through one window—the same window in
which food was dropped from and where
the white men listened for plans of rebellion
and escape. The floor they stood on was
saturated with feces, puke, urine, and dead
bodies of their companions. On top of the
male slave dungeons the English built the
church. As our tour guide said, “It
was, ironically, heaven up there and living
hell down here.” We toured the female
dungeons where the women were held
captive and raped repeatedly. And we saw
The Door of No Return through which the
slaves passed as they boarded the ships to
the Americas.
We look back on slavery and the slave
trade and think of how it was so disgusting.
What will people look back to 300 years
from today and think of us?