Final Daily Update - Ghana Link Trip 2

18/05/2011

Six intrepid St Catherine’s School students are currently in Ghana as part of a link with St Paul’s School in the village of Wenchi, in conjunction with St Catherine’s Church, Ventnor. The students are being accompanied on the trip by Brendan Carleton, Head of Education, Gloria Grant, Head of Care, Reverend Graham Morris and David Tamcken both from St Catherine's Church, Ventnor.

We will post updates each day from the group, as and when they report back to school:

Tuesday 10th May - The group arrived safely and are travelling along Cape Coast.

Wednesday 11th May - The group have been on a canopy walk in the rain forest. They have seen lots of wildlife including crocodiles. They have also visited the Old Slave Castle at Cape Coast. The group are throughly enjoying themselves, everyone is getting on fantastically well and they are eating lots of fresh fruit! 

Thursday 12th May - The group are having a very good time. They are currently travelling from Cape Coast to Tamale in northern Ghana and are expected to arrive at 7pm tonight.

The weekend update:

Friday 13th May - The group visited St Matthew's School, Tamale, and also met the Bishop of Tamale.

Saturday 14th May - The group visited a traditional village, meeting its tribe and being introduced to their chief. Whilst there they were treated to a display of traditional drumming and dancing and visited a project set up by the local chuch to help poor people.

Cheynne and Rosie had their hair braided in the traditional Ghanaian style , which took 6 hours!  

In the evening the group had a traditional Ghanaian meal with their link host, Solo.

Sunday 15th May - The group visited Tamale Cathedral for a service, which was very animated with lots of singing and dancing. As part of the service, Reverend Graham Morris who is part of the group had the privilege of being made a Canon. After the service, the group then had a meal with the Bishop of Tamale.

Monday 16th May - Today the group are visiting St Matthew's School, Tamale again to see the children and are visiting a local market.

The group are all fit, well and are enjoying the heat.  

Tuesday 17th May - The group have travelled to Mole National Park, Ghana's largest national park. They are all fit, well and having a great time.   

Wednesday 18th May - The group got up at 7am for a walking safari tour of the park. They saw elephant, crocodiles, baboons, buffalos, antelopes, waterhogs in the wild.

In the afternoon, the group travelled to St Paul's School, Wenchi. They had a lovely evening with Barnabus, the head of the school.

Thursday 19th May - The group went to St Paul's School to meet the children. In the afternoon, they spent time at the market and went to a church youth group in the evening.

Friday 20th May - The group have spent all day at the St Paul's School and have presented the students with the gifts they have brought from the UK. The students then put on a display for the group including dancing.

Saturday 21st May - The group spent the day helping with the cementing/concreting of the new library building at the school.

Sunday 22nd May - In the morning, the group went to church to a service that was led by Reverend Graham Morris. At the service, they presented the congretation with the money they had collected for them. In the afternoon, they started the journey back to Accra, spending the night in Kumasi.    

Monday 23rd May - The group are making their way back to Accra. In the morning, they   visited a craft market before getting a night flight back to Amsterdam, where they will arrive Tuesday morning at 6.40am. They will then get a connecting flight to Heathrow, arriving back in the UK at 9am.

Tuesday 24th May - The group have arrived back on the Isle of Wight.