TUC General Secretary and former volunteer Brendan Barber goes back to Ghana to visit his old school
(1 March 2006)
Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, visited Ghana in February with VSO, where he’d worked as a volunteer teacher in the 60s. A full account of the interview will appear in the summer issue of our supporter magazine Lifechanges.
“It’s quite something, as an 18 year old who had left the country once previously for a week’s holiday in Spain, to go to a very different part of the world. It was a stunning experience to see first-hand a dramatically different way of life. Very, very different conditions that people were trying to cope with."
On a more personal level, the challenges of trying to make a decent contribution as a teacher with little professional training as a teacher. Being able to try and copy with those demands, probably gave me a bit of confidence as I’ve moved on in life.
And in terms of perspectives, I’m pretty conscious at home of some of the inequalities you saw in Britain at that time, and still see today to many respects, but clearly to see other parts of the world where it’s a matter of survival. That certainly gave me a perspective which helped shape my view of the world, and my sense that where there are big problems we need to tackle them.
One of the differences from when I went to Ghana all those years ago was that VSO was more of a GAP year opportunity for people to go and make a contribution. VSO has rightly become much more sophisticated at trying to identify the kinds of assistance to be provided that might make a kind of strategic difference to the capacity of the country where the volunteer works to respond to the issues that they face. And an element of that is taking advantage of the experience that an older volunteer might offer. Some real professional skills reinforced by some real life skills. So the contrast of my time there as an 18 year old and the new kind of project like VOLPHIG (providing income generating opportunities to people living with disabilities) is sharp.
Dave Palmer had obviously made a real difference and the management skills he had brought to bear on the project were clearly really appreciated in managing and delivering the project. He’d been able to help them innovate in terms of the way they organised the work, and on an individual basis it was clear he’d gained some real satisfaction. I mean the project itself is about trying to bring assistance to people with disabilities in Ghana, and in particular to give them a sense to give them a civic voice. The confidence to take their place in society, and not just be seen as victims of their misfortune. For some of the leading members of the project who we had the opportunity to meet, it was clear that it was a life-changing opportunity.
The highlight of the trip would have to be the trip back to the school. Just on a personal basis, it was moving to go back to somewhere that you’ve not seen for so many years. 35 or 36, and to be so warmly received, which I took not as a kind of tribute to me personally, because the number of people who would have remembered me from my short time there would have been very few and far between. It clearly represented an affection for the volunteer scheme. The period of six or seven years during which VSO sent volunteers made a really positive impression on the whole community and has been seen as adding something to the life of the school."
