I’m not even a doctor, just a 22 year old teaching assistant from South Manchester. You might be wondering why I was so special to be sent to a developing country through no cost of my own. Well the truth is I’m not; I read about Platform2 in my local paper and like most, I believed it was too good to be true.

I looked into it anyway and found repeated positive testimonies on the website so decided to give it a go and apply. I’d looked into voluntary programmes before but the cost was always too excessive. My voluntary work and campaigning for Oxfam had helped me to focus on developmental issues such as: malaria, HIV, poverty, climate change and gender inequality so I knew I would get a lot out of the programme.

 My girlfriend and I applied and after a couple of nail-biting months we found out our respective countries; she was going to Kenya and I was going to a small village called Kasapin in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. For 10 weeks I would be building a community centre, teaching in local schools, farming with a host family and working in a hospital laboratory. With no real qualifications or skills in these areas I was extremely excited about the personal development I would obtain.
When I and 16 other UK volunteers arrived in the capital city Accra I was struck by the normality of the city: the roads, the well dressed people, the road worthy cars - it could have been any urban landscape. This, however, provided a sharp contrast to the village we resided in for 2 ½ months. The roads were potholed and the houses consisted of dried mud and wooden supports with the lucky ones having tin roofs. The children roamed the streets barefoot with the rejected clothes from charity shops now stained with the red dirt which covered the area. As we were welcomed by the villagers I was shocked at the difficulty they had in communicating with us especially as the national language of Ghana is English.

Within our first few days we were welcomed to all the important locations in the village, in particular to meet the Chief: Opunawisie Wiredu Brempong. He was extremely fluent in English and when I asked him what his hopes were for Kasapin he replied, “Development, as long as there is development there will be jobs for the children.”

Within my first few days in the village I was made to feel so welcome that I became part of a community, something I had never experienced in my home town of Stockport. I was given the name of Kofi Sam (Kofi is the name given to a male born on a Friday) and this resonated from the children as I walked down the main road every day. I became aware that I was at a new beginning in my life and I felt extremely fortunate that I was a part of profoundly significant.

Initially I felt satisfied with the labouring on the worksite, the extra tuition I provided in the high schools and the blisters I burst farming with a machete for my host dad but soon I became restless and agitated. The people of Kasapin had been so hospitable I felt they deserved something more.

I begin to feel irritated that there were no bins in the village so all rubbish was thrown on the floor. My purpose started to make sense and I realised I wanted to provide the villagers with a sanitation structure, something I’d never even thought twice about before coming to Ghana.

I gained the approval of my supervisor, the chief and the seemingly non-existent sanitation officer. I picked 10 locations where bins were desperately needed. Lots of the volunteers wanted to help so our first job was to raise 70 cedi’s (approximately £35) for 10 bins, wood to support them, and cement to keep them in place. We approached the churches and made appeals for any amount possible thinking this will help us creep closer to our goal. We were amazed when the community reached out to us and understood the importance of the bins. They were enthusiastic for us to begin and managed to bring us up to our total.

From this point on, the real work began; not only were we continuing our main duties but in our small amount of spare time we had to collect money, purchase materials (which was surprisingly difficult), prepare the ground, build the supporting infrastructures and when all this was done we had to mix and set the cement. In addition and perhaps most importantly, we taught lessons at the schools about the importance of sanitation and the health implications. Along with the children we collected litter in the surrounding area to show them how easy and fun it can be. Altogether it took 5 weeks to complete this extra project and on the day of completion I was overwhelmed with this feeling of elation - I remember speaking to my Dad and he reminded me when I returned home that I’d said it was the best day of my life.

The community were so grateful and it was incredible to see the roads clean and the bins being used. More importantly than my own gratification was the assurance from the Chief that this had created new paid jobs for community members maintaining the system we had put into place. Furthermore, the doctors guaranteed me that the reduction of litter in the streets would result in less stagnant water, meaning less breeding ground for mosquitoes which consequently will lead to a decline in the rates of malaria. So this is the story of how I went to Ghana with Platform2 and saved lives.