Mondo's volunteers in Ghana

  It’s not the first time I’m doing such an experience but the reality is that you’ll never be 100% ready. The first few days you’ll always miss your home, your people and you will feel lonely. I guess it is important to realise the normality of the process to avoid being overwhelmed by it. Here is the thing I’ll try to do in the next few days: I will try to find small things that make me smile, things that make me feel better and that remind me why I am here and why it is worthy to be here.   As soon as I entered the meeting room for my welcoming meeting, I read this write on the board. It was meant to be for me but coincidentally it was exactly what I needed at that moment. “Nothing last forever!!”, I think that is something we should all remember when we begin a new path: with time everything gets smoother and easier. The sense of loneliness had fastly faded and for how much I miss my family and my home, I know I will find home here also. Yesterday when I came back fro...

  It wasn’t my plan to write so much so frequently, but the fact is – a lot is going on, despite Kongo being in a predominantly rural setting. I think it’s appropriate to start by listing my observations from the professional perspective.                   First and foremost, there is plastic and waste everywhere. I saw a trash can only once in Kongo, in front or the District Education Office. Plastic bags are heavily overused. If you simply buy a bottle of water, they’ll put it in a small, black plastic bag. Just another day I saw a street dog tearing off pieces of a plastic bag with sauce leftovers inside! (The most shocking discovery is that dog meat is eaten here) ☹ As for the people, they just discard their trash as they go along. The locals drink their water from 500ml plastic bags which can be seen lying everywhere.   There is a company, ZUUM LION, whose workers come early in the morning and collect the...

  September / October 2023 As I publish this blog post, the first month in Kongo community at the Upper East region has passed. It feels like it was longer than that. I didn’t have that proper dive into the new culture as I met with the Mondo delegation in Accra and we flew to Tamale together, where I accompanied them as they attended meetings with Ghana Development Community Association, their other Ghanian partner. One of the things that struck me was their School for Life affiliated organisation, which has over the decades taught over 400 000 children how to read and write so they could enrol in formal education system! Even more, many of them end up overperforming! I also did a little bit of networking on my first day in Ghana and the press officer from GDCA has shared a short documentary “Bearing the Burden”, which portrays   farmers in Northern Ghana being affected by climate change. It would prove to be a source of very important information for me. But, for now, I’m ...

    Romantic moments with my paw paw     On my birthday I arrived in the Kongo community in Northern Ghana. I thought it will be refreshing to do something on my birthday that I have never done before. And it was special, but – to be honest – also very exhausting. Travelling on the roads in Ghana is a bumpy adventure which takes quite a long time. In addition, it is incredibly hot! However, in the end I was rewarded with a comfy new home AND delicious paw paws on my birthday. Most important, the members of my host organization were extraordinary welcoming. They made us feel more than comfortable on our arrival and the weeks after... Our compound My comfy new home                                           Nevertheless, the first weeks were full of challenges. Three big challenges to be precise.    The first one was to cope with the new...

Blog entry  #1 (originally posted on 15 September 2023) I should have already arrived to Kongo. My suitcase was almost packed, I’ve resolved most of my affairs at home, but a mishap with the Italian post had my passport stranded for several weeks. Luckily, after many calls and emails, along with the help of the very kind embassy staff in Rome, I had my visa issued within a day. So, after rebooking flights and receiving my travel document, I am all set for deployment. I say that I am all set because I have been meticulously planning, reading, making lists and asking questions on all possible fronts. I may have my concepts of what I’m about to encounter, but I promised myself that I am going open, adaptive and eager to learn. Even though this volunteering experience which I’m about to kick off will undoubtedly change the course of my life - I want it to change my life, I feel that I need to make a note of how it came to be in the first place. Before arranging various disease vac...