My Volunteer Experience in Ghana

In April 2016, I went to Ghana with a charity called Thrive Africa, which works to improve children's education and women's empowerment across Ghana!

I went with one of my school friends, called Danni, who had also coincidentally signed up to the same volunteering dates as me! Prior to us going, we managed to raise £750 each (which was the volunteering fee required for 2 weeks at the time) with the help of our school, which allowed us to do fundraising events, as well as our family and friends. Then before we could even process what we were getting ourselves into, we found ourselves on a 5 hour plane journey from London to Accra, exactly 4 years ago today!

Little did I know then that I was about to undergo one of the most humbling and eye-opening experiences of my life!

Throughout the 2 weeks I spent volunteering with Thrive Africa, I worked with a group of other volunteers building libraries in local schools within the Ashanti Region of Ghana. We renovated unused rooms in the schools to create a vibrant learning environment, where in each room, we painted the walls with bright colours and built bookshelves which we filled up to the brink with donated books. In each of the rooms we renovated, we also painted a cute, little quote to make the library a space that was that little bit more positive, inviting and inspiring.

I remember the first day we drove up to our first school, and I was mesmerised by the nature surrounding me, with plants I never thought could be so green, and soils so red! I was in awe at how different everything was around me, from the nature to the architecture of the houses, roads and schools. But most of all, I will never forget how happy the school kids were! When we arrived at the schools, we would automatically be surrounded by the most joyful school kids I have ever seen. They were so inquisitive, and wanted to hang out with us, help us build their libraries, and dance and play with us! The excited looks on their faces when they saw us bringing out all the books made me realise how much the gift of learning and literacy means to them, as it is the power of education which can open up a whole realm of opportunities for them in later years.

In a lot of ways, this experience woke me up. These school kids had hardly any of the luxuries we get in the western world, yet they were the happiest kids I had ever met in my life! It made me realise how privileged my life was in the UK and just how much I was taking my education for granted. This is why, ever since, I have tried to live each moment of my life with an attitude of gratefulness!

Every day when we finished building the libraries, we went back to Kumasi, where all the volunteers and staff were staying, and did fun social activities together, like playing werewolves, and learning the local language. Now it's been four years, and I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember many words or which local language we studied (as there are several, such as Ga, Akan, Ewe and Twi), but one thing that stuck with me was that each person is also given a name based on the day they were born. Automatically, I played a scenario in my head where I would yell "Saturday!", trying to get my friend's attention on the street who was born on that day. But imagine if, coincidentally, everyone else on that street, in that moment in time, was also born on a Saturday. How awkward would it be if suddenly everyone paused, and in perfect synchronicity, slowly turned around to look at me: a complete stranger who somehow knows their birthday. I'm not too sure why I think like this, but anyway... we also ate together (although as a vegan, I pretty much just lived off fruit, rice and beans).

The weekends were about exploring more of Ghana...

The first weekend we went to Botswame Lake and stayed at the Lake Point Guest House, which had these cute hexagonal huts big enough for two people. We were completely surrounded by lush green grass and trees, with the most stunning view of the lake, that sent a sense of tranquillity through me. Whilst the view and location was stunning, the reason I remember this weekend so much was because of a bunch of teenagers and younger kids I met that were playing in the lake. They were so friendly and welcoming! At first I was a bit shy to integrate with them, but then, before I knew it, we found ourselves splashing around and playing ball in the lake together. I genuinely couldn't stop smiling the entire time!

The last weekend, we drove down to Cape Coast, and on the way we stopped at Kakum National Park. We went up high into the leaves of the trees and hesitantly walked along the Canopy Walkway that was situated 27m above the ground. Apparently, walking below us on the forest floor were elephants, primates and even leopards!

When we got to Cape Coast, we stayed in a hostel situated directly on the beach. As much as I love the sea, the extremely cold ocean water combined with the massive waves smashing so powerfully against the sand meant I didn't have the courage to swim in it. I just settled for dipping my feet into the water and wandering around the city, exploring the markets. I ended up buying myself a masterpiece from an artist called Chicken, which painted the face of an elephant in blue and golden tones that I still adore to this day. One thing that I will never forget about the hostel were the showers which had no ceiling. I distinctly remember showering underneath the night sky, and looking up at the silhouette of palm tree leaves above me which swayed against a background of shimmering stars. Although, I also remember looking up at the coconuts and wishing that one wasn't going to fall on my head! Another thing that I remember so vividly was the lively music scene in Cape Coast. There was music being played everywhere which projected a contagious energy that made you want to dance the whole night!

Importantly, this experience made me aware of how beautiful volunteering is because not only does it allow volunteers to engage in authentic activities that positively impact communities, but it also allows them to enhance their international understanding and gain a cross-cultural education. However, I think that I can't write this blog post without shining a light to the potential drawbacks of these volunteering schemes. For example, I only stayed in Ghana for 2 weeks and I wish I could have stayed for so much longer, because I found that it was not really long enough to create long-lasting intercultural relationships, especially being so young. Also, there is often an overriding sense of self-benefit in volunteer tourism as opposed to mutual-benefits. By this I mean, that some people volunteer to gain high levels of personal gratification, such as self-discovery or to fulfil a desire to travel to new places. Whilst there is nothing necessarily wrong about wanting this, these egocentric motivations however may mean that the community you are there to help does not actually benefit fully, because more attention will ultimately be given to the volunteers rather than the community. This made me realise the importance of volunteering with altruistic motivations.

I also learnt throughout this process that volunteering in developing countries is not about introducing western ways to them, but needs to be based upon bottom-up, community-led approaches, which enables an equal and collaborative partnership with the volunteers and the local communities.

Sending out love,

NJB