TEENAGER Sophie Carabott is learning so much from God by spending six months in Ghana.

The 18-year-old went to live with the Bishop of Ho and his family, and to help teach children in a local school who she first met two years ago. Sophie, who is the daughter of lay pioneer minister Fran Carabott and his wife Clare, flew out to Ghana in October and is due back in March.

She originally spent time working in St George’s Anglican School in Ho back in 2016. She was part of a group of 17 adults and young people who helped paint a classroom for children with special needs children. Once she had finished her A-levels, Sophie, who goes to Harbour Church in Portsmouth, decided to spend six months contributing to a worthwhile project, and decided to return to a place she had grown to love.

She said:

“On the 3rd of October I embarked on one big faith-filled adventure to place very close to my heart. The Lord said “go to Ghana” so I did. It’s been almost five months since I left the UK, the memories I’ve made are endless and the friendships I’ve built are simply beautiful. I feel so blessed to be living in Ghana, submerged in their culture and living my best life to glorify Jesus with the gifts he’s given me.

“Even though I am far from home, I’ve hardly ever felt alone. I’m surrounded by an amazing family that I have grown very close to, to me this feels like a second home. I live with Mother Lucy and Bishop Mathias at the mission house here in Ho, there are nine of us in total including me. Of course you can’t forget the pet goat and the two dogs that Bishop named ‘Stupid’, although I call them Mowgli as they live outside roaming around with their friends. Whenever I leave the house the dogs come running up to me wiggling their bodies with joy, I always feel so happy when I see them.

“Life in a Ghanaian household is very different to my home in Southsea. Over here in Ghana we wash all of our clothes by hand using a round basin and a bar of soap, every week I sit outside on a little stall and begin to wash all of my dirty clothes in the hot African sunshine. Washing by hand is very strenuous and tiring, it usually takes me over an hour depending on how much I have to wash. Everyone in the house thinks I'm crazy as I like to wash directly under the sun, I tell them that I have to top up my tan, which they find extremely funny and probably really strange.

“Food in Ghana is completely different to the food we cook in England. When I first arrived It took me a little while to get use to the tastes of their local foods, especially banku, but now I’m used to it and I really enjoy the taste. The way we cook is by using a coal pot which is a little fire. We heat beans and stews and fry plantain and yam using this fire. My duties are to fan the fire and keep it going so that it doesn’t burn out. Another local food is called fu fu, the way we make it is by pounding boiled plantain and casava which is a very strenuous task. We eat fu fu with something called light soup.

“My day begins at roughly 6 am. I’m woken up by the rath of the local cockerel making its presence known. Every morning I help mother to set up her stall outside the house, I arrange all of the biscuits on the shelves as this has been my daily job ever since I arrived. Lucy sells so many different things that the school children come to buy, this is her mission. She sells biscuits, pure water, granaults, pens, books and many more.

“After I finish helping set up the stall I sit and wait for baby Osborne and Ethel to arrive in the car, Osborne is nearly two years old and Ethel is five. At around 8 am, me and Ethel run down to the classroom, greeting the headmaster as we run across the dusty tracks of the school grounds. The class I teach in is KG2 which is the second kindergarten class, the students are of ages four and five.

“When I first set foot in the classroom I was swarmed by lots of adorable children hugging me and touching my blonde hair. I experienced a beautiful moment whilst I was surrounded by a sea of children, a child from afar shouted my name and I looked round and saw a little boy run towards me. This little boy remembered my name from two years ago and gave me the biggest hug. His name is Courage and he’s my favourite student in my class.

“Teaching at St George’s school is so much fun, I taught the kindergarten class a kids’ Christian action song called ‘Nothing’s too big big big for his power’ and we do it every day. They absolutely love it and I was surprised how quickly they picked up the words and the actions. I teach the children types of fruits, the alphabet, animal sounds and many many more. I have drawn lots of posters for the classroom walls such as names and pictures of different local fruits. The teachers and students love my drawings, especially when I draw pineapples they feel so happy!