Spending your vacation as a volunteer abroad in Ghana is a great way to take something positive from your holiday. Whether you are on a gap year, are considering a vacation with a difference, or are simply traveling the world and want to do something worthwhile, as a volunteer in Ghana you will always be welcome.
There are several ways in which you may help Ghanaians as a volunteer, and many look upon this form of help as a way of learning about the culture of a country while doing something useful. It is a vacation with a difference, and a volunteer in Ghana can get just as much from it as they give. Here are some forms of work that a volunteer abroad in Ghana is likely to carry out:
1. Teaching English
A large proportion of Ghanaians are illiterate. Not because they are unable to learn but because they have no schools and no teachers. If you are a teacher or if you are considering teaching as a career, why not spend your vacation or gap year as a volunteer abroad in Ghana, teaching English or working with English teachers?
You do not need any qualifications, just a good knowledge of English. The children here are desperate to learn, and it is a very rewarding and satisfying way of spending your free time in Ghana. In return you will learn many different skills: social, planning and leadership skills and a great deal about the cultural side of the country.
You will also get a great deal of satisfaction from helping these children who want to learn, and will return home with more confidence in yourself and a very valuable addition to your CV. Those that have worked as a volunteer abroad in Ghana have found the experience to be unforgettable and priceless in their personal development.
2. Orphanage Work
No volunteer in Ghana could have a more fulfilling job than working in an orphanage. You will mainly be involved with offering the children love, care and attention. The orphanage children adore the visits made by volunteers.
In addition to caring for them you can teach the children English and can become involved in sports, dancing and art. You will get just as much out of the experience as the children. Ghana has many street children who have left their villages and townships for the lure of the big cities such as Accra, but when they get there they learn a harsh lesson about the realities of life. Volunteers in Ghana can help the children to develop properly and achieve their full potential.
You may also be involved in preparing meals and working with the regular staff in offering counseling to the more traumatized children. No volunteer in Ghana ever goes home without a sense of humility, but also of satisfaction, after working for and with these children.
3. Environment and Nature Volunteer Work
The depletion of natural resources in Ghana is costing the country a great deal of money annually. This includes deforestation and loss of wildlife resources and fishing grounds. Not only that but rainfall is rapidly reducing leading not only to severe water shortages but also to loss of habitat and wildlife.
By working on projects designed to reduce the effects of these factors that are having a considerable effect on Ghana’s GDP, you will be contributing to the future of the entire nation and all of its inhabitants – not just human. This does not just involve tree planting, but students can spend their research time volunteering in Ghana carrying out their research for their thesis or helping out with the official research currently underway.
4. Teaching Sports
The Ghanaian soccer team reached the quarter finals of the World Cup in South Africa, the Black Stars doing better than England, Italy or France, showing that given the right training the people of this country are capable and dedicated to working for their own success.
By teaching sports of many different kinds, and helping coach and train athletes and players in sports of all disciplines, you will be offering hope to youngsters that would otherwise be without it. The joy on the faces of ordinary people in streets of Accra when Ghana beat the USA should be enough to persuade you that teaching and coaching in sporting activities is a very worthwhile project for a volunteer in Ghana.
You will gain a sense of achievement, but more that: you will understand the meaning of humility and the pride and respect that Ghanaians have for their country. You will learn of a great people and a great nation, and they will respect and trust you in turn. Your efforts will go unrewarded financially, but not in terms of thanks, trust and respect and you will make friendships that will last a lifetime.
By becoming a volunteer Ghana will thank you, and any volunteer abroad in Ghana knows that everything you do will be sustainable. You will therefore know that you are leaving behind a lasting legacy of your work. How many can say that after their vacation?