the wisdom club

February 25

One of our projects here has been to support some students from one of the schools to start an Environmental Club and the big day for our environmental clean-up with “The Wisdom Club” arrived today!  The last group of YCI volunteers presented on the UN Millennium Development Goals and from that presentation the students were inspired to create an Environmental Club to look at environmental issues in Takoradi.  This week we purchased tools and jerseys for them to have to do clean-ups around town – they were SO excited and I know those items will be well taken care of and put to good use.

Arriving in Ghana I was immediately struck by the amount of plastic waste that you see pretty much everywhere.  But in a country where you have no choice but bottled/sachet water and with limited waste management services let alone recycling facilities, there aren’t too many options.  Even though garbage is often more visible in Ghana than most Canadian cities, I know the amount of waste produced by Ghanaians is only a drop in the bucket compared to their North American counterparts.  Upon arrival it is easy to be angered by all the litter-bugs and a whole lot harder to turn the microscope onto your own country to really measure your carbon footprint in an effort to understand the impact of your daily decisions on communities worldwide.  It’s a tough pill to swallow, but unloading all our trash in one spot and out of sight certainly doesn’t make us saints and certainly doesn’t give us ground to criticize waste in areas where burning piles of plastic bottles is the only viable option.  We’ve still got a long way to go in every corner of the globe. 

But back to the students.  We decided to work first to clean their own environment, the school, before venturing out into the community.  The dozens of members of “The Wisdom Club” (the not-so-obvious name the students chose for their environmental club) worked tirelessly to get the gutters unclogged and the school grounds neat and tidy.  It was great to be out there working with them and getting green!  We hope that these students will set an example to the rest of the community to think twice about using plastic and to make efforts to dispose of it appropriately when they do.  

Here are all the members of the club.  In the centre is Anastasia, the lovely school counsellor who is supporting the students (and us!) on this venture.  I am so thankful for the enthusiasm and compassion she has shown not only the students but to us volunteers.  These kids were so dedicated, so excited and so happy to get out there and get dirty that we all left confident we set them up with the tools, resources and community support needed to be self-sufficient and successful.  I can’t wait to hear about what they plan next!