Sixth-formers life-changing experience in Ghana

Barrow sixth-formers had a ‘life-changing’ experience in Ghana as they built classrooms as part of a two-week trip supporting a community development project.

The nine students grafted pushing wheelbarrows of building materials across the sand, laying heavy breeze blocks and painting the classrooms and toilet block at Maranatha School.

They also delivered four-team football strips, sponsored by Furness companies, to the people in the tiny coastal village of Ada Foah on the Atlantic Ocean as well as dozens of premier league shirts and piles of books to create a lending library.

The students were Danny Nixon, Maisie Bartlett, Bethan Reeve, Isobel Mapstone and Andrew Macauley from Barrow Sixth Form College and Florence Dobson, Megan O’Donovan, Adam Bartlet and Ben Jenkins from Ulverston Victoria.

Isobel said it had been an ‘amazing time’ working on the project, creating a lasting legacy for the students and getting to meet the people.

“The trip was life changing,” she said. “We were treated like a part of the community and that really showed how grateful everyone was. I would definitely do it again just to see the smile on the children’s faces when the work was finished.”

They were led by Barrow Sixth Form Geography tutor Malcolm Halsey and his wife Jeanette, a teacher at Ulverston Victoria High School.

Malcolm said the students had returned with a new perspective on their own lives and how much they had compared to the students in Ghana.

“Trips such as these really help to broaden the students’ horizons and learn about new cultures. They live in huts alongside the local people, eat the same food and play games together. It’s hard work – we built three classrooms and a toilet block – but extremely rewarding.”

During the visit, the students also explored the unique wildlife during a rainforest canopy walk, spotting crocodiles and birds and took part in a drum-making workshop.