Volunteering in Ghana

The country
Ghana was the first African colony to win independence, in 1957. Back then it was known as the Gold Coast, but the first thing the new administration did was change the old colonial name to Ghana. This was the name of a great African kingdom that existed about 1000 years earlier, to the north of present-day Ghana.

Ghana was the richest country in tropical Africa at the time of its independence. A massive population explosion combined with changing leadership and political unrest then put an end to the country’s good economic and political situation.

Despite its poverty, Ghana has managed in recent years to attract capital and many Ghanaian citizens return home from abroad with new investments and ideas. Compared with well developed countries Ghana is still a poor nation where many people live in deep poverty without access to basic facilities such as clean water, medical care and education.

Even so, African traditions combined with foreign influence have created an exciting, modern Ghanaian culture; open, musical and diverse.
The natural environment is spectacular. Few African countries have attractions like Kakum’s rain forest and Mole savannah. Here are colorful festivals, pristine beaches, traditional holy shrines and a population often called Africa’s friendliest.

Population
A 2011 census showed that Ghana has about 24 million citizens. The population could well reach 35 million by 2025.

Most people live along the coast or in the larger towns, such as Accra and Kumasi.
The population belongs to many different groups, speaking over 50 languages and dialects. About 70 % of the population is Christian, 16 % are Muslim and the rest follow traditional religions or have no religious affiliation.

The Climate
Ghana has a tropical equatorial climate, with temperatures that are stable year-round. There are regional differences in rainfall:  warm and fairly dry along the southern coast; warm and humid in the southwest; warm and dry in the north.

Program and start dates
This is an international program with volunteers from several different countries. Most work places are in the Kpando district. Kpando town is the center of Kpando district, in the Volta Region of Ghana. About 70,000 people reside in the district and are mostly Ewe speaking nationals. Formore information see: Kpando district. The people in this area mostly farm, fish or work in the kaolin mining industry. The area is also known for its pottery making and woodcarving. The vegetation in the area is partly savannah woodland and forest, with famous rivers like the Volta and the Dayi.

The main crops grown here are vegetables, rice, maize, yams and cassava. Both the social and the road network infrastructure are well developed throughout the district. The district also has the world-renowned Margaret Marquart Catholic Hospital and two other large hospitals.
Ho is the capital of the Volta Region. Unlike the capital Accra, Ho seems like a village that has swollen into a city. Ho is noted for a lively and huge open market that attracts people from all over Ghana and Togo. Ziavi is a small town close to Ho. There are several tourist attractions in the area with the Volta Lake and its scattered beautiful islands providing good sightseeing activities. There are grottos (Blues of Urs Grotto at Kpando Aziave and Lady of Lourdes Grotto at Kpando Agbenohoe), the Wli Waterfalls, and a Monkey Sanctuary.

Start dates are the first and third Monday of every month. Arrival and pick-up at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, on Sunday prior to start dates.

Food and accommodation

Accommodation during voluntary work depends on your project. Most volunteers will stay with a host family in a single room. Usually at least one family member speaks English. If you work in an orphanage you might stay at the orphanage. You will get 3 meals a day throughout the program.

Don’t expect luxury.

Orphanages
The project aims to provide an opportunity for needy children and orphans to live and learn under one roof until they are adopted or integrated in the community or placed with family members, who can take better care of them. Due to extreme poverty, neglect and abuse, many children in Ghana are forced to leave their homes to live on the streets or forced into child labor and trafficking. The society also looks down upon them and mostly live under bad conditions. Volunteer's role in an orphanage depends on the need of the home as well as the skills and interests of the volunteer. However, volunteers will be involved in the following tasks:

• Develop creative activities such as dance, arts, music, etc.
• Clean, cook and serve food.
• Organize physical and sports activities.
• Assist the staff in counseling the children.
• Supervising day-to-day activities of the children at the orphanage (e.g., sweeping, bathing, washing, feeding in the morning afternoon and evening.)
• Assisting in keeping the children's rooms clean, planning extracurricular activities, physical education, music and culture, indoor and outdoor games, morning and evening studies, organizing beach and farm trips, excursions, etc.
• Helping prepare teaching and learning materials for the pre-school.
  
  Volunteers must have love and patience for children and be very creative.
  Your task will be:
  
  
• Wake children in the morning and be sure they bathe.
• Help with breakfast before sending them off to school.
• Help with homework.
• Help to rehabilitate the physically disabled people and reintegrate them back to their families.
• Provide counseling services to street children.

Volta Home
This home is a small privately run orphanage, situated
in Ve Dzeme, the farming district in the Volta region.38 children live on a small farm owned and managed by Pastor and Mrs. Annabi. The Annabi family has shared their home and very limited resources with orphaned or homeless children for more than 20 years.

Volta Home is a special place because volunteers can use their skills to teach the children about any vocation of their choice. Volunteers who are interested in arts and crafts are most welcome. There is a small school attached to the orphanage and attended by almost 200 pupils. The area is surrounded by natural forest and is 20 minutes drive from Togo.

The day begins early at Volta Home with everyone quickly doing their chores before breakfast. School begins at 8.30 and finishes at 3.30 but daily routines are very inconsistent.
The older children are busy again after school with chores at the home and the farm. There are just 2 women to do all the washing, dressing the little ones, shopping and cooking for 38 children. There are no farmhands to help Pastor Annabi tend the crops and the animals, so he must rely on the older children. This means very little playtime during the week, but the experience of working together for their home and farm.
You can help with:

• Childcare.
• Teaching school subjects.
• Teaching health and hygiene.
• Helping to build self-esteem and confidence.
  

AIDS orphanage
In Kpando there is an orphanage for children with AIDS, currently caring for 19 children, from one to fifteen years of age. There are eight girls and eleven boys, seven of whom are HIV positive. The home provides a good base and the staff closely monitors the children’s health and physical and mental development.

The orphanage furthermore sponsors over 30 children in the surrounding communities. The amount of support depends on each child’s needs. The children receive funding for school, food and medical care. Many children come and spend holidays or weekends at the home.

Short time rehabilitation is offered to severely ill children who are referred by the medical staff at Margaret Marquart Hospital. See also volunteer possibilities under Hospitals.
The home also offers HIV/AIDS and hygiene education to local communities and schools.
Volunteer tasks can be:

• Tutoring and playing with the children.
• Visiting and tutoring sponsored children.
• Teaching and tutoring in local schools.
• Assisting the doctors and nurses at the local hospital or clinic.
• Health education, where volunteers work together with some of the older children in the home to spread knowledge both in English and in their local languages.
• Working in the community on health education or on other community development projects.

Teaching English
The demand for English is growing rapidly in developing countries, and Ghana is no exception. English is the gateway to good jobs and the younger generation is eager to learn to speak good English.

Although Ghana is an English speaking country, many school children cannot communicate in English. This is why there is a great need to recruit and place volunteers in communities that lack teachers who are up to the task.The project seeks to stimulate school children’s interest and curiosity so they will want to study and speak proper English and at the same time offer our foreign volunteers a unique opportunity to learn and experience the Ghanaian culture. Volunteers can also teach music, math and arts. Volunteers are encouraged to bring teaching resources from home.

Volunteers are placed in rural and urban communities where they will teach alone and/or assist the few teachers available. The project is based on the syllabus of the Ghana Education Service and this will be made available to all volunteers after an orientation.
Volunteers DO NOT need to be qualified or experienced teachers.

Your teaching will be spread over about 10-16 hours per week, to children ranging from 5-15 years old. Although English is the official language, a multitude of African tribal languages are spoken, such as Ewe, Twi and Ga. Your help is very much appreciated and schools will usually embrace the volunteers wholeheartedly.

Before you leave, you will be provided with a mountain of information on just about everything to do with Ghana and your placement, including a Teaching Guide to help you to structure your lessons.
Our Ghanaian country coordinator and his team will look after you well. You will get plenty of advice about the do's and don’ts of Ghanaian culture, what to do and where to go.

Teaching placements are not available during school holidays, so if you plan to participate in a teaching placement, please take the school term dates into account when planning the timing of your project.

Dates for the school terms (semesters) are given below.
1st Term approx. mid September to just before Christmas
2nd Term approx early January to beginning of April
3rd Term Beginning of May to late July

Requirements
There are no specific qualifications, but you should have a good knowledge of the subject you want to teach. Self-reliance, independence and initiative are highly appreciated and a sense of humor when the electricity fails or buses don't turn up will help you to make the most of this wonderful opportunity!

Teaching at a local School (Located at Ho and Ziavi)
This project helps the primary and junior secondary class children between the age of 5-10 and 11-16 to learn English and also get education on math and science. Volunteers will be provided teaching resources to aid their work at the school. Usually you will teach about 18 hours of conversational English lessons per week.

You will also need to take time to prepare your lessons and correct your students work. Many volunteers choose to help out in other areas too, helping students with extra-curricular activities like sports, drama or music lessons for example.

The volunteer teaching opportunities are available in Primary and Secondary schools in the Volta Region of Ghana. Arrangement can be made for you to teach in a pre-school if that is your preference.
Volunteers must be able to speak English or have at least High School Diploma.

Hospitals
Volunteers with nursing skills and education can choose to work at the Margaret Marquart Hospital or St. Patrick’s Health Clinic, depending on their qualifications.
Volunteers are supervised and work closely with their Ghanaian colleagues at both placements. Volunteer placements are open to volunteers who are still in medical school, as well as certified medical personnel.

Margaret Marquart Hospital is the largest hospital in Kpando and is used as a primary care facility for not only the town of Kpando but many of the surrounding villages as well.

Marquart hospital is staffed by trained nurses and doctors and it handles both primary care and surgery. “Marquart”, as it is called by the locals, has 5 departments that always need volunteers to come make a difference: eye clinic, children’s ward, laboratory department, surgical department, medical department, pharmaceutical department and counseling department.

St. Patrick's is the second largest hospital in Kpando and also services the region, providing primary care as well as surgical care. This hospital provides medical services to people from the fishing communities along the Volta Lake. There is a small maternity ward, outpatient department, medical and surgical ward and an eye clinic is under construction.

The level of medical qualification of the volunteer plays a key part in determining what duties the volunteer can assist with in the hospital.

Community aid is based in Adidome, North Tongu District, Volta Region of Ghana. Our objective is to work with men, women and children to help them identify and resolve their own problems.

This placement gives volunteers from all over the world the opportunity to participate in community development projects, gain insights about rural communities and be part of the process of change.

Our volunteer programs focuses on the following areas: Health Education and Health Care, Education, HIV/AIDS and TB awareness, Support and Counseling for abused children, Computer literacy, teaching in rural schools, Child care and development, Day care school. Accommodation is available with a fully equipped kitchen for those who wish to do their own cooking.

School Painting and Construction Program
We are looking for volunteers to paint and renovate some of the supported local schools located at Ziavi and Ho. Volunteers will engage in construction activities such as digging, mixing sand and cement, carrying bricks, sand, fetching water and painting school buildings. They will be led and work together with local skilled people who will be providing free labor for the improvement of their communities.

Some of the most important work that needs to be done in developing communities is setting up basic infrastructure. Helping communities through building lays a foundation that will allow locals to continue with your efforts even after your volunteer work abroad has ended. Volunteers will also draw educative objects on school walls.
Volunteers must be strong and healthy.

Computer and Internet Training
We have an I.T Center which is located at Ho in the Volta Region of Ghana. The training facility currently has about twenty-one computers including desktop and laptops. Volunteers are needed to help teach very basic computer programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, MS PowerPoint and internet training.

Volunteers taking part in our computer literacy project are required to spend some of their time making sure that the local teachers know how to use computers. If not they share their own knowledge with them and in this way the project can sustain itself when there are no volunteers around. Volunteers teach a variety of practical computer skills ranging from how to turn a computer on and off, to explaining software such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint and demonstrating how to use the Internet for research and communication.

Other practical work includes helping students during activities, as well as creating learning materials, worksheets and a student database system.

Program fees in Euro

For longer stays please contact info@exis.org

Included in the fee

• Airport pick-up.
• Food and accommodation from the first program day, three meals a day.
• Accommodation in volunteer house, local host family, or at work place.
• Pre-departure handbook about Ghana.
• 40 USD sponsor amount.
• Support from local coordinator during your entire program.

Not included in the fee

• Visa fee approx. 120 USD.
• Airfare.
• Insurance and vaccinations.
• Pocket money.
• Laundry and bottled water.
• Daily transport between accommodation and volunteer project, if necessary.

Enrolment form Ghana
Enrolment form CLICK HERE.

Please add a letter of motivation in English in which you explain why you wish to work as a volunteer and mention relevant experience. Include a picture. Upon receipt of your enrolment form EXIS will send confirmation, invoice and pre-departure handbook.

Before you leave

It is a big challenge to live and work in a poor country. It demands courage and the ability to adapt. It is emotionally demanding to work with underprivileged people. It can be overwhelming, especially at first, to have to adjust to completely new conditions and communicate in a foreign language. Things are not as you are used to, the climate, the food, the atmosphere – everything is different.  
During your work you will be faced with a harsh social reality and experience things a tourist would never see.
Do not expect a planned daily schedule waiting for you at your work place. If you have decided to work with children, you should already know how to entertain children – with crafts, sports, games and more. Use your imagination and be creative.
To take part in the voluntary work program, maturity, flexibility, independence and the desire to do social work are necessary. Your stay is an experience you will never forget.

Arrival
When you arrive in Ghana, a local staff members will be waiting for you at the airport. He/she will be holding a sign with your name on it. Please do not forget to email your detailed flight itinerary to info@exis.org. (date, time and flight number)