Thomas Sinden supports employee’s volunteering trip to Ghana to help local community

Thomas Sinden’s Project Surveyor, Habib Jakkari has recently returned from a second volunteering trip to Ghana where he converted an old church into a library for the locals to use.

Habib visited Ghana in October 2018 with friends and found the experience so rewarding that they decided to use some of their annual leave and return to the country to help once more on projects in the local community.

Habib and his friends volunteered through Original Volunteers, the UK’s leading independent volunteering abroad specialists who have more than 100 projects across 20 countries.

Habib comments, “Following my experience visiting Ghana last year, I was keen to ensure that we could help as much as we could in the time we were out there. I approached the directors to see if the company would sponsor a project and was extremely pleased when they agreed.

“Prior to leaving the UK, I also contacted the organisers and got suggestions of how the money could be used to help as many different people as possible and approached ‘School in a Bag’ who provided us with 30 bags full of books, pens and packed lunch boxes which we could distribute to the local orphanage.”

Upon arrival, the volunteers got straight to work converting the local church into a community library. The first task was to buy all the materials in order to replace the corrugated sheet roof, fix new fascia, plywood the ceiling, re concrete the steps and put power into the building along with lights.

Habib continues, “The work we had to carry out would normally take around a month or two to complete as the money raised by the daily volunteer fee would not be sufficient to get all the materials at once and the required tradesman. However, thanks to the money donated by Thomas Sinden, we were able to purchase everything we needed and pay for a carpenter and electrician to help us throughout the week. The locals were also keen to assist where they could.

“With the money left over we were also able to donate money towards the operation and living costs for a young boy in the orphanage called Felix who has a hole in the heart, sponsor schooling for one year for a child from the local village, give money for food to the children at the orphanage and snacks for the children in the outreach project. It’s great to know that we have been able to help so many and that the Saafi library is now completed.”

Des Thomas, Director of Thomas Sinden said, “We are really pleased to have been able to support Habib during his volunteering and very proud of the work he and his friends carried out whilst in Ghana.”