So it came as no surprise when she told me that she was heading to Ghana to volunteer for six weeks in a little village called Dekpor where the population lives well below the poverty line. The school is overflowing with students who come from around the local region to attend class, many orphaned but despite this, they have made school a priority in desire to better their lives through education. There is no electricity or running water in the village, let alone a proper school building.
Diana along with other teachers were heading over to help finish build a library as well as classrooms. The kindergarten class is held underneath a tree and there are 140 children in that ONE class!!
So where does Paige fit into all this, well Diana was looking for donations of anything; school supplies, books, summer clothing, etc.. so when talking to Paige, her response was "Well don't we have lots of clothes and books?" Paige along with Oliver, Brendan and I decided to go through the boys clothes and make a pile, we covered everything from newborn up to size 7 (a lot still with tags on) and trust me the pile was HUGE!! Along with the clothes, we gathered school supplies, books and baby supplies and along with all the clothes made a big care package for Diana to take to Ghana. Paige was so proud of how big the pile was....the boys were a little concerned where their stuff was going...
Paige was a little upset that she didn’t get to go to Africa and see all the kids (well maybe one day), but Diana was thrilled and has said that the village was blown away.
The headmaster at the school told Diana that this group of volunteers was the first in history to help this village and told them of a Ghanaian saying
“god helps tail-less animals” meaning that animals who have tails are able to swat the flies from their backs on their own but god doesn’t forget about the animals who don’t have tails and steps in to help" They felt that god intervened and sent them as help (i'd like the think Mer had a part in it too!)
The village now has a library filled with books and the classrooms are in a more presentable state thanks to Diana and friends. I’d like to think that because of that one afternoon spent ‘making piles’ we’ve put a smile on a little boys or girls face that will last a lifetime.
I’ve included some photos of the school and the village rather than Paige standing by a pile of clothes so we can see how fortunate we are here with our education! More information can be found on their website http://dekporschool.org
Mel xo
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