Constructing Schools in Ghana

Giving something back to communities is something that at Walker Laird is very passionate about. Two of our staff Graham Paisley and Luke Eaton, of our Paisley office, went over and above in helping those in need by giving up their time to fly to Ghana and help build all new facilities at a new school this summer.

This level of dedication has impressed the whole team at Walker Laird, and we wanted to share their story from their time in Africa and just how their work will go to help children over there.

Inspired from a previous trip to Uganda two years ago, also to help construct important buildings, Luke was wanting to return to the continent and assist once again. For Graham, this sounded like a brilliant opportunity to give something back and signed up alongside Luke to go out to the village of Kaleo in Ghana for 17 days, both there as part of a team of nine to help build a teacher’s dormitory at a new school.

 

Once they were both signed up, they worked hard at fundraising the money they needed to go over for the trip. After some hard work putting on dedicated fundraiser evenings, raffles and sponsored walks, they both met their target and were ready to embark on this trip.

They arrived in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, which both described as being as “a bit more upmarket”. From here they then had a 17 hour bus journey to the small town of Kaleo, where they would be spending the rest of their time to help construct the dormitory.

Arriving on the Sunday, they met with the builders on the Monday to go over the full project and understand exactly what work needed to be done. Graham and Luke’s team of nine were joined by another group, also from Scotland, who were building classrooms. During their time their, they all worked hard to construct these much needed areas for the school.

Supporting Education

In this school most of the kids who would be attending were not actually from Kaleo, but from outside. This is simply due to the fact that it still costs money for a child to attend. So over the 17 days they were there, Graham and Luke were able to get to know some of the local children and residents, including the village chief, who could be found enjoying a refreshing beer in the 40°C heat!

Since they returned, they both said that they would “go back in a heartbeat”, and have plans to return in a few years and volunteer once more. The experience has been an extremely positive one for Graham and Luke, and everyone here at Walker Laird are happy to have two such giving members of the team.

If you would like to find out more about how you can get involved with helping communities abroad, why not check out the charity Graham and Luke supported on their trip – Connected. Check out more of their pictures from the gallery below!