SCT and Besease community were lucky enough to receive two visits from Dragoman in February 2009. On both occasions, Dragoman arrived at 7.30am in a big orange overland vehicle, creating hysteria amongst the school children as they chased it across the football field. Once parked they were given a school induction and project briefing by Will Mitchell: Community Coordinator in Besease.
Dragoman travellers were given the task of creating murals to decorate the walls of the new Besease school library using materials provided by SCT. The murals would have to be aesthetically pleasing, educational and also act as a learning aid: something that could be referred to by teachers when using the library for classes. The murals had to be completed by the time Dragoman left, giving them only two mornings!
A decision was quickly made by the team to design the murals based on a geographical theme. They would paint every flag in the African Union on one of the walls, a regional map of Ghana on another wall and spaced in between shelves and book cases would be literacy and numeracy learning aids. The headmaster was happy with their design and so they set about chalking the outlines on the wall space.
An hour into their hard work and the Dragoman team were interrupted by the Besease school culture group inviting them to a welcome ceremony to be held at the community centre. The school culture group performed traditional dancing and drumming on route as they led Dragoman through the village. Elders and community members were waiting to greet the visitors on arrival at the community centre. Before more entertainment could begin, every Dragoman member had to stand and introduce themselves in Fante, a daunting task for some! Welcome ceremonies happened for both Dragoman visits, an indication from the community of their appreciation for the hard work Dragoman put in and the donations they made.
Once finished at the community centre, Dragoman continued their work on the murals for another two hours. As you can see from the photographs, the paintings were a huge success and will be very much enjoyed by the children of Besease school. We cannot thank Dragoman enough for the hard work they put in on those two mornings.
At noon, Helena and Kakra, two ladies from the village, prepared a local lunch, consisting of banku and fish palmnut soup, or the very spicy rice and stew. Dragoman loved the food and couldn’t get enough of it so thank you Helena and Kakra!
After lunch there was not much time to rest before the all important football match between Dragoman and SCT volunteers against the Junior High School team at 2.00pm. On both days matches were superb fun (even in the searing heat) even though we did lose on both occasions 3-0 and then 2-1.
Both days were tremendous fun and Dragoman, the school and the community all played important roles in making the days such a success.
Looking to the Future
SCT and its communities look forward to a long relationship with Dragoman as they always do such a fantastic job on the projects we set them. We would like to thank Dragoman and look forward to seeing them again soon. |
