Village Volunteers: My Indescribable Ghanaian Experience

My trip to Ghana cannot be described in words. After being very nervous, anxious, and excited all at once, I had no idea what to expect. Right away I felt welcomed when Gunadiish, the in-country coordinator picked me up from the airport.

He was very friendly and turned out to be a very useful guide as well as a good friend. The village I stayed in, Have, was amazing! The children’s smile and laughter alone would have made the trip worth coming for. Every person in the village was more than willingly to help and assist me and there I made many friends, some I hope will be life long friends. I always felt that my well being was a major concern to them and that they made sure I was always comfortable. I worked at EDYM village,

which is a sustainable farm. I loved it! It was by far the hardest work I have ever done. It was a lot of physical labor but I learned a great deal about the earth, agriculture, farming, and life. It was so peaceful; and though extremely tiring, when the work was finished I felt a great sense of accomplishment and pride in the work I had done. I was also very fortunate to have the amazing people to work with that I did. Besides being hard working and genuinely kind hearted, they were very funny and always made me laugh. Everyone reached out to me. Taught me about their in

teresting culture, the traditions, and even some of their local language, called E#E. I was also fortunate enough to attend a festival. The food was very different but I enjoyed it very much and though I always had to ask again and again what each kind was called, everyone was happy to tell me it and about how it was prepared.

I went on 3 excursions and visited some places in my region. First, I visited Central region. This was one of my favorites. There you get to walk across a canopy very high in the air and look over a tropical rain forest. It is absolutely breathtaking. Next we went to Elmina and Cape Coast slave castles. I learned so much information on the tours, and the guides were terrific. You get to tour every room and part of the castles, which are located right on the beach coast. My next trip was to the Northern region. The trip from Accra, where every trip usually starts from, is very long but if you can handle a long bus ride it is worth it. We stayed at mole National Park and went on a Safari. I saw wild Bore and Baboons at our hotel as well as Elephants bathing in a near-by pond of water. On the Safari I saw antelope, birds, and a heard of Elephants. Next we went to a near-by village that was home to a 600 year old Mosque. The Mosque was very interesting and near it on a wall is an ancient calendar. My next rip was to the Brong Ahafo region. Here I went to a monkey sanctuary, Kintampo waterfalls, and a slave markets. In my region, Volta region, I went with my village coordinator and saw another monkey sanctuary. In this one the monkeys came right up to me and grabbed a banana out of my hand. I also went to the highest Human habitat. Here, we drove up a mountain to a village located high in the mountains and took a slight hike up to look out to all the mountains around. After that we went to the highest waterfall in West Africa. It was unbelievable. There is a 30minute walk through the rain forest to get there and when you do the waterfall is amazing and there is a pool to swim in at the bottom of it.

My trip to Ghana was incredible! I love it. The people are warm and friendly and every staff member was very helpful and a lot of fun to work with. I encourage everyone who comes here to really reach out to the people in their village and they will connect back. I also encourage everyone to ask or research about some interesting places to o in the region your staying in, especially if your staying in the Volta region. There is really a lot to see there. Everyone was great, and I am so thankful for this wonderful opportunity. My village coordinator, Paul made sure I was comfortable and organized many things for me to take part in. He also introduced my work here to me and helped me understand it. The in-country coordinator, Gunadiish is also great. We traveled together many times and he constantly educated me on the culture and customs here. He was also extremely warm and friendly and me, him, and a few other volunteers were constantly engaging in some many interesting and stimulating conversations about everything. All the trips were great, the people are wonderful, I enjoyed my work tremendously, but nothing compared to the laughter of the children, beautiful landscape, and warm smiles that are everywhere you look. Thank you.