General Impression
Overall Rating: / 10
My volunteer experience in Ghana was absolutely incredible (which does not mean it was easy)! Especially at the beginning I felt a bit helpless at some point. But by the time I realized that I could not do anything wrong for those wonderful children, they were happy just because of having me there and I fell in love with them so quick! Besides that, Karen, my Volunteer Coordinator, was such a great help in every respect. No matter which problem I had, she always gave me advice and talked to the local staff.After some time I felt very much like home, thanks to my wounderful guest familiy. Especially at the beginning, they were very quiet, so I learned to be the "speaker" of the family and that's how I became a part of the familiy :)
I loved so much what music means to all the kids in both of the programs I joined. I turned on the speaker and everybody was happy, lots of the kids started dancing immediately and they are amazing dancers! With some of my girls I sang a lot, they loved listening to me: I taught them "Price Tag" by Jessi J. All I can say is that music really brings people together, it's always a big part of the culture and it made a "real Ghanaian" out of me (like my guest family supposed to call me).
Country
Ghana is loud, full of people, hot, colourful, happy, musically....and RELIGIOUS! Ghana's culture is not comparable to what I'm used to (the volunteer experience was also my first time in Africa). You should really be open-minded. People, especially children, will call for you, saying "Obruni, Obruni, Obruni" (foreigner/white person). It's never meant in a mean way, people want to get in touch with you or just can't believe their eyes.
On the one hand Ghana is very tolerant: A body shape is just a body shape, not perfect or ugly. People are allowed to keep on dreaming, you can dream of becoming a doctor or a musician, it doesn't matter.
On the other hand Ghana and it's inhabitants set limits: Religion, rather Christianity becomes a culture. It's a way of life and it means total sacrifice for god and the bible. For a lot of people this means that homosexuality, sex before marriage, tattoos and piercings... are sins.
Besides the culture, Ghana has a beautiful nature as well! I loved all the palmtrees and the incredible beaches!
On the one hand Ghana is very tolerant: A body shape is just a body shape, not perfect or ugly. People are allowed to keep on dreaming, you can dream of becoming a doctor or a musician, it doesn't matter.
On the other hand Ghana and it's inhabitants set limits: Religion, rather Christianity becomes a culture. It's a way of life and it means total sacrifice for god and the bible. For a lot of people this means that homosexuality, sex before marriage, tattoos and piercings... are sins.
Besides the culture, Ghana has a beautiful nature as well! I loved all the palmtrees and the incredible beaches!
Project & Staff
First of all, I just want to mention that my accomodation from the "Disabilities & Special Needs"-program was not a volunteer house as described in the information on your website, it was a guest family. Furthermore I lived close to Apam and not in Senya-Beraku. Just to let you know :)
Both of my programs were amazing, like I already said. I'm not pretty sure whether my help was that necessary in teaching the kids, but it's more about chatting with and entertaining them somehow. They want to hear about the world because they can't imagine how life is outside of Ghana. I guess thats the type of education I was able to give the most.
The local staff was very friendly and I enjoyed spending time with my supervisor Seth a lot. He asked me quite often how I'm doing and accompanied me on every trip I made, I never felt unsafe.
Both of my programs were amazing, like I already said. I'm not pretty sure whether my help was that necessary in teaching the kids, but it's more about chatting with and entertaining them somehow. They want to hear about the world because they can't imagine how life is outside of Ghana. I guess thats the type of education I was able to give the most.
The local staff was very friendly and I enjoyed spending time with my supervisor Seth a lot. He asked me quite often how I'm doing and accompanied me on every trip I made, I never felt unsafe.
Tips
Be open-minded; give yourself some time to settle in; take every chance you get to help, so you feel integrated pretty fast; talk to somebody, if you need help and advice at the beginning...ENJOY, at the end you don't want to leave anymore