Ex-Frome Community College student, Dougal Croudace, has returned from his travels to Ghana, where he has spent the last seven months helping a desperately deprived community.
But while most travellers would hang up their boots after such an expedition, 20 year-old Dougal is doing exactly the opposite. He has set up a charity to allow others to volunteer on projects in Ghana, or help support their work.
Last October, Dougal revisited his old college to accept donated sports kit for young African pupils, before heading out to Ghana where he has been coaching young African pupils in sport. On his trip, he also took part in a programme saving leatherback turtles. It was while he was out there that Dougal decided to set up his own charity, Dream Big Volunteer Ghana, to help others embark on their own projects in Ghana.
It all started when Dougal went travelling after finishing his studies at Frome College. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, my friends were going off to uni but I went travelling. But that was just a holiday really, I got back and knew I wanted to go away and help. I originally wanted to go to South America but I got offered a place out in a very poor part of Ghana. I had such a rewarding time that I now realise that’s what I want to do with my life.”
Dougal has been out in two villages on the coast of Ghana, around 2 hours from the capital of Accra. “Basically, it’s such a poor area of Ghana: 10,000 people live in the two villages we work with and there’s just one toilet block. They’re in such dire need of help: no human should live like that.”
“I’ve come back and I’m trying to get volunteers out to Ghana. They’d be doing community development projects, working in schools, wildlife projects, and there’s also an orphanage project. It’s amazing to help someone else, it’s really something pretty big.”
Dougal welcomes volunteers of any age, and anyone interested can find out more from the website www. ghana-volunteer.com and fill out an application form. Anyone can help the people of Ghana by giving donations towards the build of a new orphanage.
Pictured: Dougal joins village children in Ghana to say “thank you” to Frome Community College, after the school donated sports equipment last year.
