School bus

When the school opened in 2010, the school had a van that was barely worthy of the name. As long as it was running and not many children had to be picked up yet, we were happy with what we had. After about two years, this van was no longer sufficient to get all the children to school on time. Fortunately, we had already been able to save some money and with the help of an American volunteer we managed to buy a second, old van. Fortunately, the “new”, blue bus was in a much better condition than the first.

However, due to the extremely bad roads in Ghana, it didn’t take long before the first van was completely ready for the scrap heap. The idea quickly came to buy a new, solid bus. This time no cast-off but a decent bus that could last a long time. However, everything with four wheels costs a lot of money in Ghana, so a car is a real luxury product. We also absolutely wanted to avoid having to drive the new bus every day on the very bad road to the remote villages. After all, this would quickly deteriorate the condition of the new bus.

Fortunately, we were also busy building a boarding school in the meantime. From this came the decision that all children from the villages located on the worst road would stay at the school anyway. With this idea in mind, the savings and the search for a new bus began. While we were doing this, the condition of the blue bus got worse every day. The bus regularly broke down and the children did not make it to school. The costs of repairs or renting another bus were therefore high. We therefore decided not to incur any unnecessary costs on the blue bus and to sell it as quickly as possible. One bus proved to be sufficient due to the arrival of the boarding school.

At the end of 2016 we were finally able to buy a new bus. A second-hand van, straight off the boat that had never seen African roads up close. This seemed like an ideal choice to us. The van was converted into a real school bus and was soon on the road with our children. This bus is of good quality which not only increases comfort but also safety. Hiring a new driver who knows very well how to drive safely and carefully on the Ghanaian roads was the icing on the cake! We therefore hope that this bus can last a very long time.

The bus was due for overhaul at the beginning of 2024. The seats were re-covered, the dents were removed and the bus was re-sprayed. This way she can resist it for a while!