The fall of the Ghana Bridge Year Program

“I firmly believe in the value of Bridge Year and am very pleased that the program has begun to grow,” John Luria, director of the Bridge Year Program, said in the announcement.

But what wasn’t announced at the time was the myriad of unresolved issues with the Ghana location that led to the University’s decision to stop sending students to the West African country. There were many factors influencing the decision to drop the program, including logistical and transportation issues, doubts about the impact of the group’s service projects and concerns about student safety.

Last year, during the second half of the Bridge Year Program trip to Ghana, a female Bridge Year student was robbed at knifepoint while walking alone after dark and sustained an injury, according to an individual on the trip who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue. The Daily Princetonian generally does not report the names of victims of crimes.

Although Ghana is noted for its low crime rate among African countries, certain areas can be dangerous places to walk around at night, especially for women, said the same individual.

Luria confirmed in an email that the incident occurred, but he said the committee that reviewed the program considered factors other than the robbery in the decision to change locations.

“Princeton and its partners work diligently to minimize the likelihood of incidents like this, but when they do occur we respond to the situation and later assess the specific instance as well as any trends,” Luria said. “In the case of the Ghana program, we conducted a thorough review and were confident that the safety standards and emergency response processes were strong enough that we could continue to offer the program with confidence. The committee that recommended the recent changes in the program considered a variety of other factors before making the recommendations.”

The decision to end the Ghana program came after first consulting the students who had traveled to the location during 2010 and 2011. According to Luria, a committee was formed in the fall to explore possible future expansion of the program. Based on the committee’s recommendations, Bridge Year will send seven students each to China, Senegal, India and Peru next fall.

The decision to change locations highlights internal issues with the Ghana program in particular, which both the Bridge Year Program and the University thought would be best resolved by changing locations to Senegal.

The University questioned how great an impact the participants’ service project — teaching English at local schools — had on the local community, especially during the final weeks of the program. These reservations partly led to the review of the location.

“Students felt that the period of time between the end of the Ghanaian school year (early to mid-April) and the conclusion of our program (May 31) offered somewhat limited opportunities for meaningful community engagement,” Luria said. “The circumstances led us to consider other program options in Africa.”

Henrique de Freitas ‘15 said low student attendance at the sessions blunted the impact the Bridge Year participants’ service work could have.

“The last three weeks were an extension of the children’s school year, and we held tutoring sessions,” de Freitas said. “It’s hard to say, but it wasn’t really effective. Each day, it was unpredictable to know how many students would show up. Some days, it was 15; other days it was only two. You’re asking kids, ‘Why didn’t you come to class yesterday?’ and they say, ‘Well, my parents wanted me to work,’ and you know they are telling the truth,” he explained.

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During this final stage of tutoring, the Bridge Year students also worked at a women’s shea butter plant for the last two weeks prior to departure.

“Both years, everyone thought the last two weeks of the program were dull,” de Freitas said. “Working at the women’s shea butter plant was too small a project to be effective. I don’t think either of the years were completely pleased,” he added.

Nick Ricci ’14, who went to Ghana with the Bridge Year Program in 2010, said the decision to switch sites was partly influenced by the lack of improvement on some of the weaker aspects of the program.

“The great aspects of the program remained great, but the weak areas were not addressed and improved upon in a sufficient way,” Ricci said. “For a program that is purely funded by grants, I can understand the frustration and why the switch was made.”

Another major factor in the decision to drop the Ghana location was the logistics of the program. Many participants on the trip said commutes from their homestays to service internships in Accra could take multiple hours.

Ryan Fauber ’15 worked at the Human Rights Advocacy Center as well as an art community outreach organization in Accra during his first months in Ghana. His commute from an area far outside the city often took over an hour each day.

“We knew there were a few logistical issues with the trip,” Fauber said. “Accra is a difficult place to live because it has the same challenges as any big city. The small villages were much more welcoming places; people in the city look at you as a tourist.”

Luria noted that lengthy travel times into Accra were a driving factor in the decision to change locations. “Long commutes in Accra significantly limited the amount of time students had to engage in other program activities,” Luria said.

In the end, de Freitas said that Ghana’s potential may not have meshed with the University’s vision of the future of the program.

“Ghana might have been a difficult place to expand since the Bridge Year is now adding seven students to each location,” he said. “Some homestay families spoke a different dialect of the language than the one we were learning, and homestay families were difficult to find.”

Ricci, who said he was initially shocked and hurt when he heard about the news of a location change, has a new perspective after reflecting on his nine months in Ghana.

“I suppose I just feel immensely grateful for the time that I did have in Ghana and that it was possible,” he said in an email. “I can only hope that future Bridge Year participants in Senegal have the same sort of experience — not a sensationalized experience that is confined to nine months and lives on in cheesy Facebook photos but a meaningful experience that changes the way its participants view the world and impacts them in their future studies and careers,” he explained.

By the fall, the Bridge Year program will have severed all ties with World Learning, the organization that served as the program partner with Bridge Year for both Ghana and Serbia. The new locations in China and Senegal, as well as India, an existing location, are all supported by an organization called Where There Be Dragons, which specializes in youth education and outreach in the developing world.

Correction: Due to incorrect information provided to The Daily Princetonian, a previous version of this article misstated the end of the Ghanian school year. It is early to mid April, not early to mid May.