Weekend Recap - Part 1

This weekend was full of so many stories that I'm going to break it up into a couple of posts. Frankly, it would be quite a long read if I didn't. Two weekends ago, we went to brunch on Sunday at the Movenpick hotel for Jon's birthday. While there, he invited us to a BBQ the following weekend up in Akosombo at the school where he works. We talked about it and agreed that it would be a fun weekend getaway outside of Accra.

Saturday morning, Hannah and Robin (and their driver Asare) picked us up from our place and we were off on the two hour journey to Akosombo. The drive was actually pretty fun as I've not been outside of Accra since we got here three months ago. It's amazing how drastically the scenery changes when you leave the city. Akosombo is on the Volta River and the area is so quiet and peaceful. I kept mentioning to Dan that it looked like something out of the TV show "Lost", which he then kept following up with "well that just means something terrible or weird is about to happen". If you ever watched that series, you'll agree that it's a fair analogy...

To get to the school you have to cross the river, which normally would be done via a very nice looking bridge; however, it's currently closed for some reason. They have put in a temporary ferry system that you can actually drive on. So we drove onto the ferry on one side, parked, the boat takes you across, and you drive off on the other side. Seems so simple but I was fascinated by the idea. When we got to the school, we realized we missed the BBQ. What? It's 1:30pm and it's over?! Oh well, at least show us around since we came all the way up here.

The school is called Right to Dream and I was totally blown away by what they are doing. It's a sort of soccer academy with some pretty impressive sponsors: Tullow Oil, Nike (who provides all the soccer equipment), and they partner with Manchester City in the UK. (Side note: the guy who started this program used to recruit for Man City before moving to Ghana to try to start some sort of soccer school for less fortunate but extremely talented kids.) Basically, they hold recruiting events in different regions of Africa, where the kids come together and recruiters watch them play. Then they pick a few from each group to move on to the next round, and so on. Those kids are brought togehter for more games, and more kids weeded out, until it funnels down to a handful of kids. Those kids are invited to come stay at the school on a trial basis for two or three weeks and at the end the staff picks the kids who will be offered scholarships. Many of these kids are from really poor areas who would otherwise not get any sort of education, so it's really an amazing opportunity for both the children and their families. The school has 5 teams I believe: Under 11, Under 12, Under 15, Under 18 and a Girls Team. Two of the kids, one from Kumasi here in Ghana, and the other from Benin, took us around the campus and showed us the classrooms and dorms, etc.

They have about 6 classrooms and teach English, French, they have a small computer lab, a science lab with microscopes and bunsen burners, and the Barack Obama Library (amusing for a couple of Americans to see living halfway around the world). Some of the children come form Francophone countries in Africa and don't speak a word of English when they arrive. It's amazing what they are able to accomplish in this environment.

The kids were so polite and friendly and just beamed when talking about their school. It was clear that they were aware of the gift they had been given. My favorite part about the school was they had a huge wall map with pictures of Right to Dream alumni and where they are currently playing. Some are at Universities in the US, some are playing on MLS teams in the US, and some are even playing for clubs in Europe. We asked the kids of all the players on the map, whose path would they most like to follow. The kid from Kumasi pointed and we asked "why that guy of all the ones up here?" and he smiled and said "because he plays for the Black Stars". The Black Stars are the national team here in Ghana, the team who played the US in the first match of the 2014 World Cup. Kid has some big goals for himself :)

It was an amazing experience. Seemed like everyone associated with Right to Dream was a big family from the expat teachers, to the locals helping to recruit, to the students. I'm truly glad we got to see it.

The Ferry going across the Volta River

The main school buildings at Right to Dream

Some of the students doing some homework in a common area

The wall map with the photos of players in different areas of the world

(and Hannah and the two boys talking about who they want to follow)