A TEENAGER’S year-long trip to Ghana to teach youngsters has been cut short due to the coronavirus.

Elise Ildevert swapped Pencaitland for Lokokorpe, in the south east of the African country, at the beginning of September last year.

However, her 12-month trip with the Project Trust was prematurely ended because of the global pandemic.

The teenager was preparing for another week of lessons when she was told she had to come home in March.

She said: “It kind of all suddenly happened.

“Myself and my partner there were keeping an eye on the news in the UK to see how things were going.

“We had sports week at the school and things seemed to be going fine.

“One Sunday, I called my parents and they were really worried and I started to get worried.

“We got told the Project Trust were meeting on Monday and then we were going home on the Wednesday.”

Schools and borders were closed in the African country as Elise returned home to East Lothian.

The former Ross High School pupil had been tasked with raising more than £6,000 ahead of the adventure.

As well as writing to charitable trusts, Elise had a stall at the Tranent secondary school’s Christmas fair.

That saw her raise the money needed to go to Ghana, where she taught maths, English, creative arts and French in a small village’s primary school.

She said: “The school was very small. I taught P6 and in my class there were only six pupils but it was really good because I got to really know them.

“The school was quite poor and without resources – I had a blackboard and chalk.

“My lessons had to be really creative and I had to think on my feet.”

As well as the change in lifestyle, 18-year-old Elise had to overcome the language barrier, with many in the village only speaking the local language, Ewe.

She added: “Because they live in such a rural village, they don’t leave a lot and did not speak much English. The older kids helped us and we learned to communicate with a lot of actions.”

Elise told the Courier it felt “surreal” and “like a dream” that she had spent six months in Ghana and was now home in Pencaitland.

She described the trip as “amazing” and added: “I think it was seeing how people live.

“It was so different and they are all really religious.

“They are so happy, despite the fact they had not a lot and made you realise a lot of things are more important than possessions.”

Before the trip, Elise was planning a career in teaching and said the adventure had confirmed it was what she wanted to do.

She said: “I’m going to university and I have got a place at Dundee to study teaching.

“The start date has been pushed back until October and hopefully I can still go.

“Going to Ghana made me sure I wanted to do teaching; I loved it.”