A lecturer and two students from the University of Winchester visited schools and communities in Ghana to help a charity promote its campaign to combat plastic pollution.
Dr Annabelle Boulay, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, was accompanied by Arin Davidson and Ceri Evans on the trip to see the work of Winchester-based company Trashy Bags Africa.
In Ghana almost two thirds of the population rely on water packaged in plastic sachets as its main source of drinking water. Discarded water bags choke watercourses and litter the landscape posing health and environmental hazards.
Thousands of plastic water sachets awaiting recycling
Trashy Bags collects nearly 250,000 pieces of plastic waste per month which are upcycled to create a variety of products including tote bags, backpacks and laptop sleeves.
Annabelle, Arin and Ceri visited the charity’s workshop in the Abelempke district of the capital Accra, where they saw school bags being made.
Thanks to a partnership between Trashy Bags and another UK-based charity, School In A Bag, poorest pupils receive a bag packed with exercise books, pens and pencils plus a reusable water bottle, soap and a toothbrush.
Dr Boulay with pupils and their new school bags, made from recycled plastic
The Winchester group delivered 50 of these bags to nearby Abelemkpe 2 Basic School.
“The children were really excited and grateful to receive the bags,” said Annabelle. It was quite an emotional experience to be able to give them these bags. For some it is the first time they’ve ever had their own toothbrush and toothpaste.”
Away from the Accra, Annabelle and the students accompanied members of Ghana’s Forestry Commission on a visit to three rural communities around Winneba.
The visit aimed to inform elders in the community about the work being carried out to protect biodiversity and the environment in order to gain support from the community.
Following the visit to University of Education, Winneba’s Department of Geography, the Winchester group went to Uncle Rich School in Winneba with staff from the university of Winneba, to deliver a workshop on plastic pollution.
The aim was to get the children to realise the extent and impact of plastic pollution in their environment and encourage them to collect and recycle plastic waste.
Annabelle said: “Many of the children were aware of the problem of plastic pollution but until they have clean drinking water supplies, they have little alternative but to use plastics. However, they also realised they could reduce consumption by re-using as well as recycling.”
On the back of the Ghana trip Annabelle has made an application for funding from the British Council to develop an education programme on plastics pollution for Ghanaian schools in collaboration with UEW.
She is also working on a children’s book on the subject which she hopes could be added to the school bags distributed by the two charities.
Annabelle hopes to encourage students at Winchester to run fundraising events to supply more school bags for poor students in Ghana. The visit to Ghana was largely funded by the government’s Turing Scheme and Annabelle also thanked Angus Paddison, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Winchester, and Michael Bradshaw, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for their support in arranging the trip.
Annabelle plans to return to Ghana next year with a larger party of students.
My time in Ghana was transformative. Visiting different schools and interacting with the locals was a really special experience which I know I will never forget.
Prior to going, I would describe myself as generally distrustful of people, but going to Ghana showed me how welcoming and helpful people can be. I really enjoyed visiting different schools and getting to know some of the children whilst teaching them about the impact of plastic pollution. It was amazing donating some school supplies to them and seeing the difference they would make, and I would love to do more to help. Speaking in front of a large group of students allowed my confidence to grow, as did introducing myself to new people at both the university and the forestry commission.
We were also given the opportunity to explore Trashy Bag Africa, which was another eye-opening experience. I was impressed with the variety of products they were able to create from plastic and seeing what they did myself made me appreciate what they did for the local schools even more. It was great getting involved (even if only for a couple of hours) and inspired me to develop more sustainable practices of my own.
Throughout our stay, we were exposed to numerous exciting opportunities. From visiting castles and walking across canopy bridges to boat rides and walks across natural wetlands, each experience provided me a chance to try something new and learn more about Ghana. I loved finding out more about a culture so different to my own, and as someone who wants to work within the travel industry, provided me a glimpse of what life beyond university could like. It confirmed that pursuing travel writing as a career was something I’d like to do and ignited my determination to make it happen.
Overall, my experience in Ghana was an invaluable one and I feel others would benefit greatly from the chance to go. I am very grateful for the opportunity and it ended up being one of the best months of my life.
Pictured top: Students Arin Davidson and Ceri Evans with Elvis Eboluah, project manager at the Trashy Bags factory
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