News & Updates

January 2010

I have just returned from my epic 6000 mile trip to Ghana by motorbike. Please click here to find out more.

September 2009

In September I intend to return to Ghana after 7 years. I will be riding a motorbike from the UK, through France, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso and then Ghana. The journey will take approximately 4 to 5 weeks. When I arrive in Ghana, I will be going back to Nkwanta, where I was based with Raleigh International.

While staying in Nkwanta, I intend to investigate the work of the GEP (Ghana Education Project). GEP is a UK based charity helping to support and fund the work of Gill Norris who lives and works in Nkwanta. Gill has been active in Nkwanta for many years and is responsible for the building of a new community centre amongst other things. Her next project in the building of a new school for girls, which is well underway.

I hope to take many photos and write some case studies about how things have changed in Nkwanta over the last 7 years and how GEP has had an impact on the surrounding area. I also hope to do some trekking in the nearby Kyabobo national park and find out how things have progressed there as well.

I am funding the entire trip myself. You can, however, donate directly to GEP using the following link! :

www.justgiving.co.uk/benridestoghana

I will keep anybody who donates updated with my progress.

Ben.

7th September 2008

On Sunday I attended the AGM of the Ghana Education Project and I had the pleasure of meeting Gill Norris MBE. Gill has been the brains behind the project and spends most of her time working with the project in Nkwanta, Ghana.

The Ghana Education Project is an initiative to help develop the town and surrounding villages of Nkwanta, which is located in the Volta Region of east Ghana, West Africa. The region is one of the most poorest and deprived areas of Ghana with school attendance rates as low as 35% in some villages. There is a distinct lack of economic diversity with the vast majority of inhabitants relying on subsistence farming with average daily wages of around $1 a day.

Through the work of Gill, the G.E.P have already created an new community centre called The Kyabobo Centre. From this centre are run a number of teaching projects including a National Award scheme similar to the UK's Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. The charity has just started the building of a new school for girls, which will be one of the largest in the surrounding area. It is hoped that Nkwanta will become a major centre of education. The charity is in need of donations to continue building the school.

Having worked in Nkwanta myself, and having experienced the deprivation at first hand, I fully support the work that Gill and the many other people involved in the charity are doing. If you would like to find out more about the charity and make a donation, please visit: http://www.ghanaeducationproject.org.uk