Hingham Teen Gives Back in Ghana

(FOX25, myfoxboston) - At first glance, Allison Hoffman looks like most high school students, into sports and school.

“I was looking around for something to do in the summer, and I started looking at abroad programs because I wanted to do something out of the box, where people around here would say, what are you doing?” Allison says.

Her summer vacation ended up being a lot different than her peers'.

Through a program with Global Leadership Adventures, the Hingham High sophomore traveled to Ghana for three weeks to help do work in orphanages and schools.

“They were so nice. They were the nicest people you’ve ever met. You would be so surprised, they have nothing, they have one shirt, no shoes, and they are just happy all the time," Allison said. "They have and opportunity to go to school, most of them, and the only piece of wardrobe they have is their school uniform”

Allison’s group worked to help build the foundation of another building for the school, and spent time with the school children. She even shared one of her passions, lacrosse, with the children there. It was a sport they had never seen.

But what struck Allison most was the conditions in the schools. Absolutely nothing like what we are used to, and supplies were limited.

“There’s cement walls, a dirt floor, one chalkboard, and just a couple of desks thrown in there. The kids have nothing. They come to school with a little workbook, composed of six blank pages,” Allison recalls.

So when Allison returned home and prepared to start her school year, she didn’t forget her new friends so far away.

“When everyone was going out to get school supplies, so I decided that it would be good to just ask around and when you're at Staples or anything, just grab one extra notebook, and just donate it to the cause.” Allison said the response she got was overwhelming.

Over 300 pounds of school supplies were donated. “I was expecting maybe max 50 notebooks, a couple of packs of pencils. I was so surprised, people were dropping off huge boxes of 50 notebooks, the surplus packages from BJ’s and everything, and I was just so overwhelmed,” Allison says.

The next hurdle, though, was getting the donated supplies over to the African country. So two local businesses stepped up. Will-Ship of Weymouth volunteered to pack up the supplies, and with the help of Tom Findley of Red-Line Freight Systems , six packages are on their way to Ghana, a Christmas surprise for these deserving kids.

“There’s ways of getting it there, but it’s expensive. We have a logistics arm here, and we’re able to move product at a much more realistic and cheaper rate, and it was the least we could do to help Allison with her endeavor,” Findley says.

“They are going to flip out, they are going to be so happy. They would come up to us everyday and say when you go home will you just get a soccer ball or a notebook or something to send over just to let us remember you guys. So when they see all six boxes, they are going to be so happy,” Allison says.

So while the trip was meant as a way for her to give back, Allison realizes it gave her much more in return, “I’ve just had much more appreciation for what we have, just the small things, like running water, clean-prepared food, clothes. It definitely opened my eyes to how fortunate we are.”

For more information visit Global Leadership Adventures