Madventurer.com

Mad Chief

Madventurer started when our Chief, John Lawler, set out on his gap year to teach in a small village in Ghana, West Africa.

His experience had a big impact both on him and on the villagers, who enstooled John a Chief (Togbe Mottey I) for his contributions in help setting up a Secondary School in the village. He decided that he wanted other people to have an amazing experience like his, so the next year he went back to Ghana with a group of friends who all worked together to build a school and to teach the children subjects in their curriculum. Before going home, the group then set off in an overland vehicle in an attempt to reach the mystical Timbuktu…and Madventurer had begun!

John is now joined by his newlywed Elaine whom the villagers recently enstooled as their Queen (Mama Ama Wu Sika) in all things that are Mad! John pioneers new projects and adventures around the world and Elaine helps run the Mad Foundation registered charity in order to further assist our madventurers’ work.



Madventurer has gone from strength to strength, being awarded the Shell Livewire UK Award for Sustainable Development and a Prince’s Trust Business of the Year Award.



Madventurer was founded by John Lawler, who continues to manage it today. John's first experience of Africa was as a teacher in Ghana during his gap year. In recognition of his contribution to the village in which he taught, John was enstooled as Ngoryi-Fia (Chief of Development) and renamed Torgbui Mottey I, which translates as Chief Pioneering Pathfinder through the Forest.

The following year John took seventeen of his fellow students from Newcastle University back to Ghana to take part in development work. After further visits to Ghana, Madventurer was established and the company has since expanded to offer year-round projects, and adventures throughout Africa, South America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific.

   

John is responsible for leading the youth of the community in development projects whenever he is available in Ghana.

John spends much of his time at Mad HQ in Newcastle but manages to get away to Ghana at least once a year to undertake his tribal duties. As the original 'madventurer', his last conquest was to drive from the UK to West Africa crossing the Sahara to leave a Land Rover for the Project Leaders out in Ghana.

He continues to encourage others to take time out to experience a different way of life in another culture and to make a difference with their 'time out'.

An Interview with the Chief (John Lawler)

Age: 34
Occupation: Tribal Chief

Hi John - or should we say Chief Torgbui Mottey I? Which do you prefer?
You would have to pay a fine of a couple of goats if you called me John in Ghana! In the UK, most people call me Toggers as they find 'Togbe Mottey the First' a bit of a mouthful!

Tell us about your own gap year in Ghana. What did you do there?
I took a Gap Year between my second and third year at Newcastle Uni from January 1998 and spent 8 months of this time in West Africa. Unfortunately, within a couple of hours of first arriving in Africa, I fell into a storm drain and broke my ankle. This meant I had to spend the first couple of months in a cast and on crutches so the hustle and bustle of Accra soon got to me and I decided to help teach in a village to get away from it all. Some volunteer friends passed through a village called Shia and told me of their desire for someone, anyone, to help establish their Secondary School. The opportunity seemed too good to miss!

Did you enjoy the experience? How did it affect you?
Ghana was fantastic and still is my favourite place on Earth! The reason I took this Gap Year from Uni was that my grades were down and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after Uni - I needed time to breathe! Living in Ghana in a village for 4 months made me appreciate everything I had in the UK and blew my cobwebs away! I saw how my degree was applicable in the 'real world' which meant I went back to Uni to finish my final year refreshed and excited! A 2.2 in Environmental Engineering was very commendable given they had kicked me out and I had to fight my way back on to finish the course!

Would you recommend that other gappers visit Ghana? What's special about the country?
Ghana is probably one of the best countries to take a Gap Year in because it offers so much in terms of adventure, volunteering opportunities, culture, scenery, safety, and the people are just amazing! After the 4 months teaching in the village, I went backpacking around Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin for 2 months. There is just so much to see from mind-blowing waterfalls to herds of elephants! When I returned to Ghana, I persuaded other volunteers to go to Shia from Accra and help out the school, and I also helped some volunteers from a gap year company get out of Accra and head to other rural teaching placements so the scope is huge for working in Ghana too.



So how did you come to be enstooled as a chief?
The question I am always asked but the most difficult to answer! There seemed to be 2 things said when I asked the elders of the village the same question - one was that they saw me continuing to visit the village and bring more help to assist their development after my initial visit, the second was that they could not believe someone on crutches and injured would even contemplate doing what I did during my time there. They inaugurated the position of 'Chief of Development' as they saw me an elder of the village, taking a genuine interest in its development, and wanted to know if I wanted the job for life! It took me two seconds to breathe before saying 'go on then!'

What did the ceremony involve?
It took 8 hours altogether, starting with a slow walk under a parasol with an escort of the 4 other village chiefs in full toga, to the durbar ground where 2000 villagers had gathered, along with my mum and two of my sisters. After several speeches I was given a stool I had to sit on, golden flip flops to wear, a crown, and my right arm was smeared in talcum powder to signify victory and honour. From there I had to make the oath of allegiance to Togbe Dadzawa III, the Paramount Chief of the area with the traditional sword. I was renamed Togbe (meaning chief / grandfather) Mottey (meaning Pioneering Pathfinder of the Forest) I (the First, as the role can get passed on if I ever bear fruit!)

You continue to visit the village - how are you received there? Do you still perform chiefly duties? What do these consist of?
The village expects me to visit once a year to do what I can as when I was I enstooled I was still a student, well before the idea of Madventurer ever took shape. They make no demands and are very appreciative of any help that they receive. I feel right at home there and during my last visit was given an acre of land to build on. The village chiefs now see it that after 6 years of being one of the elders I should now have my own place. In my next visit to Ghana, I shall lay the foundations to what will become the Chief's Palace, one of five now in Shia. Whenever there is something to celebrate, the biggest festival being the annual 'Yam Festival' then I would wear my toga and full regalia. If any madventurers have been doing a development project then I would also wear my regalia, along with the other chiefs, for the opening ceremony. Sometimes I wear a cloth for church (the village is 95% Christian) if I'm there on a weekend.

What does your status as a chief mean to you personally?
I still feel very honoured that the village has given me this role and it now feels as much a home as Newcastle does, and certainly as tribal!

Tell us about your Land Rover trip down West Africa - why did you do this?
I needed another Gap Year! In Madventurer it is equally important to find time to relax, refresh and regroup your ideas, which I try to do every year by giving myself a challenge. The Sahara trip was in 2003, and in 2004 I tried to learn how to skydive which left me with a broken vertebrae, that thankfully led to a full recovery. I would still like to do something along the lines of a Polar walk if anybody has any ideas!

What were the most memorable moments from this trip?
Missing a coup attempt in Mauritania by a day, going through a minefield using GPS instead of guides, and driving solo from Mali to Ghana, without any lights and windows (including windscreen) after the Land Rover rolled several times down a bank near to Timbuktu. The driver was flown back to the UK and as I stood looking at 'the beast', which had all the body work hammered out so the wheels could move, I knew I had a challenge on my hands. I drove the remaining part of the expedition at 20mph which I found exhilarating. I had to wing my way past 30 odd police and customs check points, including 2 border crossings, with some x-rays I got taken in Ouagadougou, Burkina's capital city, saying that I was in a hurry to get to Accra for an operation. The dozen plasters on my head and arms also meant that a lot of red tape could be cut through so I could get the Land Rover to Accra to a place I knew could replace the body of it and to get it ready for mad crew to take over.

Your experiences of teaching in Ghana led directly to you setting up Madventurer. Why do you think volunteering in the developing world is a good thing to do?
Volunteering is a great way to take time out to find out where you are heading in life and to put something back in places that genuinely need the assistance. Volunteering at home in the UK is an amazing way of giving something back to your local community, but helping a community that you have no previous ties with is the height of altruism.

What things can gappers do with Madventurer in Ghana and elsewhere in West Africa? Give us a few examples.
We are currently working with DFID in helping build primary schools in the Volta Region of Ghana, and we have already built several kindergartens, primary schools, junior and secondary schools, draining ditches, public loos. The Adventure which we call 'Mad to Timbuktu' takes you from the game reserves of Ghana to the slave-trade forts of the coast and north to the ancient city of Timbuktu on the fringes of the great Sahara desert. Trek through the spectacular Dogon Country where you can experience the unique culture of the Mali people, take a ferry across the Niger, clubbing in Ouagadougou, barter for silver outside a giant mud mosque, bush camp under the stars, and relax on some of Ghana's stunning beaches.

Finally, past and present Madventurers all become members of the Mottey Tribe. Tell us about the culture and rituals of this mysterious tribe.
I would love to but unless you are part of the tribe there is very little I can say. The Mottey Tribe is the social part of Madventurer that each person going out on a project automatically becomes a part of when they complete a project (we have not had to make anybody do a walk of shame as yet!). Jobs in Madventurer also are reflected by this tribe, for instance, my official job title is 'Tribal Chief', what is normally placement advisors in other Gap Year companies are 'Hunter Gatherers', and overseas staff are 'Tribal Warriors' etc - which make business cards a bit more interesting! Every year we have the Mad World Ball where dedicated members of the tribe may be made elders, and is by invitation only, where rituals take place. I can put your mind a rest by saying none of it involves furry animals!

To contact John, you can email him at chief@madventurer.com

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