RGV Volunteers are making football nets for children in Ghana

This is a guest post by our volunteer Selina. She was in ours until the end of January 2017 in Ghana Conservation project on the beach active. There she made great soccer goals out of plastic bags together with other volunteers and students from the region. Read more about our recycling campaign here.

In my last weeks in Ghana we worked in a school in Axim and together with the children we did something great! In Ghana you can buy half a liter of water in plastic bags for a small amount of cents, unfortunately the locals like to throw them on the street and because of their frequency and stability they are a good way to create something new with them. Together with the children and some teachers, we made a real soccer net out of the plastic bags for the soccer goal, which previously consisted of just three bamboo poles.

Already on the first day things are progressing quickly

First we went with the students and collected our material. We were totally amazed how many plastic bags we could find in such a short time. Since the bags were mostly dirty, they had to be washed first. Then they were cut into rings. After that, the motivated helpers waited for more and more rings, because the others couldn't cut them as quickly as they were connected. On the first day all the vertical rows that we needed for the one goal were tied.

Pride and fun on the second day

On the second day of the project, the horizontal rows were tied. Again the students were hard at work. They told us that they were extremely proud of their net and that they had been enthusiastic about telling their friends from other schools about their net. We are happy to hear that the children are having so much fun and that they are learning that the rubbish can be used for something else. Unfortunately, too few people in Ghana are informed about the consequences of the garbage on the streets and in the sea. Neither in school nor in the media do you learn anything about the correct disposal of waste. The sad truth is, even the teachers are amazed at the consequences we try to explain to the children. If even the teachers don't know, how are the kids supposed to get these facts?

Many great ideas on the third day

We were so surprised! Because the teachers and students have thought about how we can best build the network. You yourself came up with the idea of ​​building a smaller gate behind it in order to set up a "real" gate. Since we had already used up all the bags we had collected from the first time, we ran a second time to collect new ones.

Five boys stayed behind on the beach to clean the bags there, because that way you can protect the environment even more if you use the water that is available and don't have to take it out of the tap every time - this suggestion also came from the increasingly environmentally conscious people Guys. Pia, another volunteer, and I were as proud as Oskar when they suggested it to us.

There was also active help on the last day - each of them gave it their all again so that we could also finish. We even ran out of time, but the hard-working kids were there until the last minute and excitedly cheered us on until the net was ready.
Finally done!

A total of around 50 children, 5 teachers and 4 volunteers worked on 3 days for 4 hours at 34 degrees Celsius in the shade on one football net. We counted, calculated and calculated how many bags we probably used. We couldn't believe it at first, so we did the math a second time and again came up with this unbelievable number: 6600 bags!

It is unbelievable what the children have put together. Without their motivation and perseverance, this would never have worked out. I'm so incredibly proud of them and also of us for being able to help the children, who more than deserve it, to finally have a net for their goal.

Your Selina

By the way, the location described by Selina has been with me for years sustainable commitment and development aid on site score. Now it's up to you, himself active to become!