Teaching children's experiences in Ghana

Arrived in Ghana's capital Accra ...

I get off the plane. Humid heat greets me, paired with a smell that I have never smelled before. It will stay in my pocket for months after my three month stay in Accra and will always remind me of my wonderful time here...

When I have my two suitcases after about an hour, I make my way towards the exit. An employee from "Rainbow Garden Village" is supposed to wait for me there and pick me up. As I walk down the long hallway, as one of the few with white skin, people keep holding my sleeve. "Taxi?" – "Eh, Madame! You need a taxi?" – "No, thanks," I just murmur and look at the crowd of people standing at the exit and talking wildly. Finally someone in a yellow t-shirt is standing in front of me - the promised employee of the organization. Together we drive to my new home.

My warm WG on time

After some back and forth I'm in the apartment where I'm going to live from now on. The other two volunteers didn't know about my arrival, but they were very nice to me straight away and warmly welcomed me as their new roommate. They tell me about their outward journey and their first days in Ghana. Tell me how best to take a shower so the bathroom doesn't get completely flooded. And report that, although it doesn't look like it at first, the three of us live in a luxury apartment compared to the situation of other volunteers. The water rarely fails here, and there are only three of us sharing the room instead of six.

Less is more - the simple life has opened my eyes!

Water and power failure or not: My time in Ghana was incredible. I was given an unbelievable amount of experiences, experiences, information, new people, ways of life and attitudes. Together with other really kind volunteers, I traveled almost every weekend and got to know the different facets of the country. And who would have thought that it is often much more relaxed to travel with a backpack that only contains the essentials, and that you drive through the country more openly and attentively if you have no water, no electricity, no clean clothes and no mirror ? The view for the superficial is getting worse, and eyes and heart are opened for what is important at the moment: the breathtaking landscape in Ghana. The locals, who, although they appear destitute from our western point of view, are rich in love, joie de vivre and hope. And so much more.

My volunteer work at a Ghanaian school

And then of course there were the children at the school where I did my voluntary service. Every day they would run up to me as soon as they saw me in the schoolyard. "Auntie Anna! Auntie Anna!" they screamed enthusiastically and immediately wanted to play with me. In class they were often loud and sometimes exhausting. But basically they were just heartbreakingly cute. I can always see them hugging me at lunchtime and not wanting to let me go home at all, or how enthusiastic they are when someone suggests a new educational game like arithmetic arithmetic.

You can't fundamentally change the lives of children in three months. But you can give them little pleasures every day by taking them seriously, listening to them carefully, helping them study, or playing and laughing with them during the break. Because the laughter and hugs of these children are so valuable that they outweigh every power and water failure.

Conclusion to my great and instructive time in Ghana

All in all, my stay in West Africa was a great, instructive and horizon-broadening time for me. If you are looking for a completely different kind of adventure, are open-hearted and willing to give up some material things and the standard of living that we often consider normal for a certain period of time, a volunteer assignment in Ghana is definitely worth considering .

Teaching Children's Experience in Ghana by Anne S, 16.09.2015