By jamfanous
My time in Ghana is rapidly ending and our project is almost done! This entire semester I worried that something would go wrong and prevent this project from completion but now, so close to the final product I believe it will carry on after we leave. Many of the students and teachers are invested in the project and will continue it, as well as CDDF staff that have many more ideas for the school and will be keeping a close eye on the recycling being done.
Since my last post we have managed to acquire all the materials necessary for the project, now we are just waiting for the kids to come back to school! Conveniently, the students at St. Anthony’s went on a three-week spring break once we had everything ready to send over.
So now we wait. The students come back the 14th of May so we are planning a big Garden Party. With the free time we’ve had lately the team decided to plan an event at the school as a good way to introduce the recycling and composting systems.
There will be planting, some recycling education, maybe painting, among other activities. In addition to the plants we are bringing over, we’re going to have each of the students start their own seedlings to care for. Hopefully having personal plants will inspire some competition among the students to keep their plant alive. My mission is to have the kids invested in the project before we leave. The student engagement in recycling and planting is the most important. Knowing that the students and teachers will continue the project and build from it is truly the most important thing.
My internship with CDDF presented me with many opportunities to experience all the struggles and successes an NGO must go through in Ghana. Every NGO in Ghana has various hoops they need to jump through in order to find resources i.e. money, materials, and people to support their cause. A project as simple as mine took much more time and effort than in more developed countries.
With that said, I will be following a very similar track once back in D.C. This summer I will be managing the GroW Community Garden( on H St & 21st NW) which hosts many groups of volunteers eager to learn about urban gardening, recycling and composting.