Teachers Ghana visit

A Liverpool teacher swapped her Widnes classroom for a schoolroom in Ghana on a visit to see charity work in the West African state.
Heather Smith, 28, who teaches English at Wade Deacon School, visited the West African country with her mother Gillian, who sponsors Veronica, 12, a young girl in Ghana through children’s charity Plan UK.
Although Gillian had visited Veronica and her family before, it was Heather’s first time to visit Veronica in Ghana.
“Nothing can prepare you for when you step off the plane, it was eye-opening. But it was great, we were made so very welcome,” says Heather.
“We arrived at Veronica’s school, met her teachers and saw her school report. Then we walked over to the family home and met the rest of the family.
“It was really nice to see them in their home environment. We were made so very welcome,” she adds.
Money donated to Plan through sponsorship benefits whole families and communities, rather than individual children.
A donation of £15-a-month helps provide clean water, healthcare and education in communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Sponsors receive regular updates and photographs from their sponsored child and keep in touch by writing letters back.
Plan UK has 95,000 sponsors in the UK, generating £24 million a year, and supporting one million children worldwide.
While in Ghana, Heather spent a week teaching at a school run by a friend of her mother, in Oyarifa, Greater Accra.
“The children were so friendly and welcoming, they really wanted to learn, to get involved and to try, even if they get it wrong,” she says.
“I did a lot of creative writing with them, I gave them a description of the school where I work and they told me about theirs.
“The classrooms walls were quite bare so we worked on some displays and also painted a classroom,” she adds.