Returning to Ghana

I’m writing this blog whilst 35,000 feet above Southern Europe and North Africa, with my headphones blasting out Afrobeats, as my plane jets towards Accra. I know this flight very well having done it numerous times since I first visited Ghana in 2006. I also know the way the air will feel when I first step down on to concrete at Kotoko Airport, the chat lines the taxi drivers will use as they try to solicit my custom and how that first Club beer will taste at a back street spot bar.

But having not visited Ghana since 2017 I am not entirely sure how I feel about the trip as a whole and my return. For roughly a decade Ghana was rarely far from my thoughts. Spending over two months there when I first flew out as a volunteer, plus subsequent trips, had a profound impact on the direction my life took ranging from career opportunities, setting up KickStart Ghana and how I view many social issues.

In those ten years I would always be on the look out for future flights and count down the days and weeks until my next trip. Additionally the search for opportunities to fundraise or recruit volunteers to send to Ghana to work on a variety of sporting and educational programmes was never ending. I would spend hours reading anything I could find from educational outcomes for Ghanaian pre-schoolers to economic development indicators to local football results. I’ve been lucky enough to love my jobs but KickStart Ghana was my ultimate passion project, bordering on an obsession at times. A colleague even bought me a “I love Ghana” mug one Christmas.

I have shared countless examples in the past about what there is to love about Ghana along with photos to show why not to visit. Stunning beaches, vibrant cities, beautiful national parks and a genuine openness for tourists arriving in the country. These things haven’t changed over the past 20 years and I believe they’ll be the same for the next 20, and many more.

I’ve previously written about some of the reasons I stepped away from KickStart Ghana. My motivation to do the hard and more boring bits of the work wasn’t there anymore. Another reason that I didn’t explain, and perhaps I didn’t fully grasp at the time, was an exponential increase in my cynicism about people from the global north having such influence in communities in the global south. I began to recognise more of the biases within me and the conscious and unconscious power and privileges that I held.

At KickStart Ghana we had made efforts, and had successes, to counter this by pretty much ending sending international volunteers to Ghana, always showcasing beneficiaries in a positive light and trying to strengthen the Ghanaian board and volunteer base. In effect the charity in the UK would fundraise and do nothing more, but that still wasn’t enough to end the creeping sense within me that I was in a space I shouldn’t really occupy.

I know that many people will disagree with the above, quite possibly Ghanaian colleagues and friends. I helped raise ten of thousands of pounds that was spent giving opportunities for many young Ghanaians to achieve better educational and sporting outcomes. There are aspects of my involvement in this work that I’m proud about, but there are other bits where I feel, and have felt, deeply uncomfortable.

This might indicate that I’m now passive or not interested in this work but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Playing an active role in raising the standards of international collaborations and, in particular, international volunteering are things that I think about a lot and I’m fortunate enough to have platforms that I can use to spread awareness and encourage people to ask themselves and others some difficult questions that I certainly shied away from at times. I also recognise that I have many imperfections in critiquing this sector, and the various social issues surrounding it, and sharing my platforms with others and welcoming differing views is something I enjoy.

I am also unwavering in the belief that young Ghanaians need and deserve continued opportunities to be able to fulfil their potential. Fortunately there are many people doing incredible work to ensure these aims are met and I’m lucky enough to have seen some of these change makers at work when I’ve been in Ghana. I’m just growing in my conviction that people like me can assist in different ways compared to traditional charity methods and that often involves stepping out of the way.

So, this trip gives me a chance to reflect on some of the above. However, I can also promise that it isn’t all quite so heavy! I really do look forward to that first sip of Club, I’m excited to showcase different corners of Ghana and I cannot wait to see friends that I’ve missed. The football banter won’t have changed (one of Ghana’s downsides is the number of Arsenal fans), I’ll be able to add to that Afrobeats playlist and I’ve get another 15 opportunities to try and capture the elusive perfect sunset photo using one of the several cameras I’ve packed.

If I fancy it I’ll blog again and look to answer some of the questions and queries that I’ve posed above. In the mean time I’ll be knee deep in fufu and red-red.