SHS Seniors Bound for Ghana

This June, a group of up to 16 high school seniors and chaperones will travel to Accra, Ghana where they will spend 11 days helping Ghana’s poorest fight malaria. The trip is being coordinated by Seth Evans, an English teacher at SHS with the support of the Scarsdale Schools Interdependence Institute, the Adakum Educational Foundation, SHS Senior Options, the Afya Foundation and the student run “Nothing But Nets” club.

Their work in Ghana will be to install treated mosquito nets in the homes of residents of Mallam, which is one of the poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of Ghana.  Students will have the opportunity to meet the people who live in Mallam and work with children in a partner school in Accra. In addition to installing the nets, students will provide instruction on proper usage and health education.

Seniors who are selected to go on the trip will spend part of their Senior Options session preparing in numerous ways. They will select a Senior Options assignment here that relates to the work they will do in Ghana, and they will attend 2-hour weekly training sessions to learn in-depth about malaria, Ghana, 3rd world volunteer work, and other relevant issues.  If they wish to, they can also participate in making a film about the trip as part of a film institute run that will be run by Mr. Leong.

The trip will extend from June 11 – June 21. While in Ghana, the group will be housed in a guesthouse run by the Adakum Foundation.  In addition to their work, students will experience life in Ghana by participating in traditional and modern Ghanaian music and dance; going to soccer games, meeting with local and national dignitaries; visiting historic coastal forts used in the Atlantic slave trade; going to the beach in Accra; working with local news media; visiting a nearby rain forest preserve; and visiting Accra’s extensive open markets to buy clothing, bead-work, traditional woodcarving, and other crafts. 

The cost of the trip is around $2,000 and financial aid is available.  Currently, Nothing but Nets, a student-run Ghana Club in the High School is raising the money that will pay for the mosquito nets and will help support trip participants whose families are in difficult financial circumstances. 

The motto for the project is Non Sibi, which translates as “not for oneself alone.”  According to Seth Evans, “This project reflects our commitment to bringing that motto into action in a manner that provides substantive benefits to the people we serve, while also giving our students, a chance to learn, through the act of service, about themselves.

To learn more, go to the SHS website: