Kiwi teacher fundraises to rebuild Good Foundation School in Ghana

Jaimee Perrett with a student at Good Foundation School in Tetrem, Ghana. Photo / Supplied

A New Zealand woman inspired by her time teaching in a small village in Ghana is fundraising for an entire rebuild of the school.

Jaimee Perrett, 28, first travelled to Tetrem, Ghana after she graduated as a teacher in 2014. After a four months working at the Good Foundation School - including in the village's nursery, primary and junior high school - she moved back to New Zealand to work before heading to the UK.

Now teaching in the UK - where she has been since 2017 - Perrett said she fast developed a connection with Tetrem, and the people working and learning at the school.

"I basically spent the next three years trying to figure out ways to go back to Ghana," she said.

That included moving to London, which is just a 6-hour flight away.

Since then she's been back to the small village twice. The main attraction for returning, Perrett said, was the people.

"They're so hospitable and welcoming and loving, and they all take care of each other. It's a proper village."

Perrett with a classroom of kids at the Good Foundation School, in Tetrem. Photo / Supplied

Perrett said there wasn't a huge need for an improvement in the teaching side of things, but the school's infrastructure left a lot to be desired.

"They're basically in wooden shacks," she said.

"The way the walls are boarded up, you can literally hear the lessons going on in the two classes next door. The children have to be as quiet as they can during the day. It's really just a 'listen to the teacher' style environment - there's not too much room for conversation."

Having seen the need for change, she'd been working at raising money for the school for the past few years - predominantly by selling bracelets and paintings done by kids at the school.

A bigger opportunity to help surfaced when Perrett's friend Bernardo Carreira offered to launch a Kickstarter page to fundraise for a rebuild.

Several others jumped on board and under Carreira's guidance, the Kickstarter page fast took off.

A little more than $10,000 has been raised for the school; a decent chunk of the $48,000 the team is aiming for.

The team of six hopes funding will be in place by the beginning of next year, when several of them can make it over to Ghana.

Perrett wants to oversee the initial building to ensure money is being spent in the right place.

The vision for the school is modelled off a draft drawn up in Ghana by a friend of the family, devised in the hopes it might someday become a reality.

"We're using that photo itself, because our vision is their vision," Perrett said.

The aim was a school comprised of 12 classrooms with concrete walls, a library, and hopefully accommodation to cater for some kids at the school.

Perrett would soon be moving back to New Zealand as her British visa was due to expire.

However, she plans to continue her visits to Tetrem to help the school.

"It's like the missing piece of me when I'm not there."