It’s been a month now since we returned from our phenomenal week in Ghana, and every day I am reminded about our trip in some way. Whether it be from writing this blog, receiving a message from a friend in Ghana, glimpsing the sunshine for a full five minutes, admiring my Ghanaian painting, or gazing wistfully at my redundant bottles of suncream, my experiences from the week still constantly creep into my mind as I try and focus on revising for our upcoming exams. We didn’t embark on this trip looking for a life-changing experience, whether that be to better us, or to change other people’s lives. We didn’t go to ‘find ourselves’. We went ostensibly as tourists, to experience and enjoy the country, and to partake in an educational exchange with our partner university. I was met with some surprise and, in one instance, criticism, when people back home found out that I wasn’t going to ‘Africa’ as part of a charity campaign, or to go and volunteer in a place which, frankly, would not have benefited from a coach-load of English students attempting to gratuitously implement change based upon our Western ideals. I am just thankful for having had the invaluable opportunity to travel to a country I knew nothing about, that we had our misconceptions of Africa as one, homogeneous nation challenged, and that I will now take every opportunity to embrace all opportunities that come my way. So thank you, LU Ghana for your kindness, hospitality, wicked sense of fun, and for the vitamin D boost to get us through the temperamental British summertime.
Thank you for the best week of my life.