Tag 3 : Schooools out…

03.02.2022 (see in english below)

I'm a bit behind, but that's not war reporting here.

So it's about the third day, on which we left the 'Country Lodge' in Nsawam in the morning after a good breakfast. In fact, there was a little more water that morning, but very few of us could really use it.

On the way to Ogidi's home community we wanted to get some money for a moment, but immediately buried the thought and postponed it to a later date, as a very large queue had formed in front of the only machine, since money had just been refilled.

So onward. Out of Nsawam it became increasingly rural and he was clearly more poor. Ogidi first showed us his house where he lives with his sister.

From here he has organized everything he has built up to now. And that's remarkable. Ogidi, Alaska and Saddick usually work in a hospital building medical prostheses. In his free time, Ogidi has set up the Firstrate Charity Foundation to support local schools and promote prosthesis projects across the country. So in their free time they drive all over the country fitting and distributing the prostheses. The material then comes, as it does these days, from Chris Gulley's organization. Ogidi's boss in the clinic is also a great support in that he gives him additional free time. The loss of earnings from

He only gets about 2,100 cedis per month (about 300 EUR) compensated to a limited extent...mostly with some money that Chris G. gives him at the end of the tour.

After Ogidi's house, we then looked at a plot of land on which Ogidis' uncle produces cement blocks for building houses. A new house will be built there. This project will take several years. After a short visit to Ogidi's family, who live together with 4 of his uncles, his grandfather and many children, we finally went to a property that Ogidi received as a gift. In an area that was difficult to access (guess who was wearing flip-flops again), near a school construction site that will also take several years to complete, he showed us the huge property. Partly cleared by a controlled fire but still heavily overgrown it covers approximately 14,000 square metres. It is near a watercourse and streamIs already up to the emerging school.

Ogidi is planning a training or education center here to prepare people for certain professions so that they can find a job more easily.

After the visit we went to the local school and what awaited us was an incredible, unforgettable afternoon.

After the very warm welcome by the rector and his assistant, we first went through all the classes. The entire building is approx. 120 to 150 meters long and approx. 8 to 10 meters wide/deep, so that all classes are in a row. Beginning with a preschool class with children ages 3-5, through grades 1-8 to the final two grades that make up high school. After the inspection, during which everyone was still a bit reluctant, the soccer match was prepared and the donations were presented by Sebastian and his colleagues. He had lots of footballs and exercise books and books with him. From the IT equipment that we brought with us, some tablets, computers and SIM routers also go to the school. A little lady (cover picture) grabbed a children's tablet straight away and didn't give it back all day.

Well then... our football team consisted of the prosthesis crew and we were given 3 students to support us. The other team consisted of seniors. We drive so due. Even before kick-off we were completely exhausted in the burning sun. With the kick-off, an impressive wave of well-trained high school students with explicit soccer skills ran towards us. Ogidi, our 'El capitan' pushed us to peak performance and we countered it with what we could. With Ramon it was the head: press shot in the middle of the face marked by pain. With Sebastian it was a leg... with a fall on the floor consisting of Krass, sand and stones, he bloodily underpinned his enormous commitment to the team. I bravely threw myself at a mighty shot on goal, but with the wrong side of my astral body... the planning for children is finally and irretrievably done. After 8 minutes, our side substituted in to the cheers of around 350 spectators. The Deputy Principal entered the arena and sent one of our supporters to the bench.

So we braced ourselves against the impending defeat and were actually able to create our own chances. After two halves of 15 minutes each and after we were briefly resuscitated on the edge of the field, it was time for penalties. Under the cheers of 350 kids, who formed a huge cluster around the penalty area, it fell quickly. With the better ending for the school team. We were beaten 3-4 and there was endless cheering and the home team's last goalscorer was carried off the field on our shoulders and celebrated. After recovering a bit, Chris G. And Ogidi drove back to town for money because we hadn't gotten any in the morning and we still had 10 cedi in our pockets. Refueling is only possible in cash and we still had a long tour ahead of us. In the meantime, Ramon, Seba and I went through each class again. We thought about what we could possibly do so that we can talk more to the kids. We then took a photo with all classes and printed it out directly with a small mini printer. After a minute, the development was then developed in good, old Polaroid manner and the amazed kids had a great memory. With the tour through classes, the ice was finally broken and the kids asked us a thousand things and when we arrived in the last classes, it ended in unforgettable joint actions. We sang together (including Old McDonald had a Farm), to the screams of all the girls, Ramon had to throw his flowing hair back like a three-weather taffeta model and we performed a stop dance (my daughter's favorite game). We had so much fun doing it together. The final highlight was an arm wrestling contest between Ramon and a boy of about 7 who had the idea. A gigantic spectacle. Ramon was defeated ;-) and all the kids were over the moon. After word got around about the instant photos, Seba and I had to take countless group photos and selfies, always accompanied by countless questions about food in Germany, the weather and many other things. During this time, Ramon entertained a huge group and shot unforgettable selfies (see photos).

Unfortunately, we had to leave the school at around 2:00 p.m. and after a difficult farewell to all the students, we made our way to Kumasi. We needed about 5 hours for the 215 km and arrived quite groggy at about 7:00 p.m. at the 'Homey Lodge' in Kumasi. Here, too, we occupied almost all the rooms and were the only guests. It is a very good clean hotel with spacious rooms and working showers and air conditioning. We were then only able to move into our rooms and went straight to the rooftop bar so that we could order something to eat. After about 90 minutes everything was served and it was really good and huge portions. At around 10:30/11:00 p.m. we all went to bed quite tired.

Findings from a great and unforgettable day: football is not for everyone and the children will be with us for a long time ... in one form or another.