Of Climate Reality, Football and a Village I Love

I have not written a blog post the whole of 2014. This surprises me considering my deep affection for blogging. But life has been very busy, busier than I had imagined this year would be; and I could hardly keep track. One of my resolutions for this year was to visit 12 new villages in Ghana to talk to children and young people about the environment. My goal was to train a new generation of young people who are passionate about the climate and are driven enough to take action. The vision is to see the youth environmental movement spread to every nook and cranny of Ghana and I believe we could start from villages and peri-urban communities where environmental awareness is very low and opportunities extremely less.

Earlier this March, I became a Climate Reality Leader — personally trained by former US Vice President Al Gore, to educate the public about the causes, dangers and possible solutions to the global climate crisis. Johannesburg was a huge inspiration for me and the hundreds of people who flew from all over the world to learn from Chairman Gore.

At the Climate Reality Leadership Corps

My first Act of Leadership after Climate Reality was a presentation to the youth group of OrphanAid Africa, more than 70 young people between the ages of 18-26 who had chosen the environment as a topic to discuss for the month of March. To many of them, global warming was a distant term they only hear in literature and from the media; but to others too, it was a stark reality they were confirming once again through the photos of wild fires, drought and floods. By the time I finished the hour long session, the room was dead silent you could hear a pin drop. A young girl stood up and asked, “Sir, what can we do to stop global warming?”I smiled.

Climate Reality presentation for young people from OrphanAid Africa

Soon the time came to visit my first new village. I made a 7hrs journey to Amoako village in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region of Ghana. My friend Emmanuel had fallen in love with this awesome little community during his national service days. For the love of the underprivileged kids and the startling absence of opportunities to support their development, he chose to stay to serve the village. I wanted to see this village and meet these amazing children.

The road to Amoako village from Nketsi, the nearest village is 8km and can only be accessed by foot or a motor bike

I heard the boys of school going age in the village really loved football. Well, football is my second passions too, so why not play football and use soccer as a tool to talk about the environment?  Prince, my team member from the Ghana Youth Environmental Movement (GYEM) made the trip, and being a football addict himself, the stage was set. We had a great soccer game and afterwards an interactive chat about the environment laced with ice breakers. What a fulfilling day it was! Amoako is a village without electricity, we will travel back there in August to promote solar energy using football.

The Amoako village Eco-Soccer team