Mondo's volunteers in Ghana

  At the beginning of the month, I was in an art gallery, the Artists Alliance Gallery, in Accra. I was there with some friends on a Saturday afternoon. The place is amazing; it has three floors full of African arts: painting, jewellery, fabrics, statues and so much more (unfortunately, I can’t show you pictures because since it is a gallery and every piece is original and for selling, they don’t allow photos). At some point, I was digging around some oil paintings on a random counter and I saw one that impressed me. It is a painting of three Ghanaian women. One is carrying a baby in the typical way (on the back, wrapped in a fabric) and all three have large trays full of stuff on the head. The background is light brown, like a sky full of sand. It reflects the women reality that I see every day around me in Ashaiman. It is very impressive how these women can carry heavy things on trays on their heads as if it is nothing, with grace and agility even in the traffic or in crowded p...

  It has been a long journey to get here, but here I am. I was accepted in April for the Junior Psychosocial Support and Organizational Development position in Ghana. Then I waited until June for the training, both on-line and in Bulgaria with a wonderful group of people (I feel very lucky for that), and then my vaccinations appointments and visa process took some sweet time (I am Italian, paperwork in my country is never a pleasure); so I waited even more. As “the cherry on top”, on the 1st of August after 5 hours of delay my flight from Brussels to Accra was cancelled and I needed to spend one night there and to take one the next morning … However, after this VERY LONG waiting and postponing I have made it! On the 2 nd  of August, I arrived in Ghana and I started my deployment! Therefore, I spent more months between the acceptance of the role and the actual deployment than the deployment itself, that will be for 3 months and 19 days exactly. I think that this particular timi...