Ghana

I honestly did not know what I was expecting before I arrived, but the noise, colours and shouts of the market certainly exceeded anything I could have imagined. My host family lived in the centre of Cape Coast, just above Kotokoraba Market, the main shopping area where you could find pretty much anything. Having said that, one of the main aspects of Ghanaian life that I miss is being able to buy anything you could ever want out of a Tro window! You sit there in your seat and you can buy your weekly food shop, a new watch and kit yourself out in a whole new outfit from the sellers who carry all their goods on their heads and you don’t have to move a muscle! Now that is laid back living for you!

My main placement was in Central Regional Hospital near Abura and it was here that I spent most of my time. Once again I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect and I arrived to find what looked like a fairly modern hospital from the outside, but when I went onto the wards and really opened my eyes, it was then that I realised how wrong I was. I guess realistically this was what I had expected, and in an awful way, it actually meant that I could gain even more from my time in the hospital. I spent two weeks on each ward of the hospital and my daily tasks varied from taking patients for x-rays, offering support to a mother giving birth, taking patients vital signs as they arrived in A&E and assisting Doctors on their daily Surgical Ward Rounds.

Other than the hospital I visited a local Leprosy Camp each morning and along with a few other medical volunteers, we cleaned and re-dressed all of the inmates’ wounds. I have to say that this was one of the most rewarding experiences of my time in Ghana, as you really did feel like you were making a difference to these men and women and their faces clearly showed the appreciation.

I could honestly go on all day about my experiences in Ghana, but I just want to finish by saying that it isn’t all about your placement. Almost every weekend I travelled to other areas of Ghana with other volunteers, and I even made it over the border to Togo for my 19th birthday! The placement was challenging, my host family were friendly and supportive and the country is beautiful, if not slightly crazy! It was a once in a lifetime experience and I loved every moment of it.

Projects Abroad support you every step of the way and are on hand 24/7 in destination to resolve any issues you may have, however small! I am also completely happy with the price that I paid, as you pay for experiences that you will never forget and friendships that you will never lose. If only for the sake of an enhanced C.V I would thoroughly recommend anyone to get involved in the experience of a life time. You pay for your Accommodation, Food and your Placement and I honestly say that they were all good value for money, with Projects Abroad there to deal with any issues and act as your safety net.

IFRE is a great volunteer program. My favorite aspect is that I know where my money is going! It is a non-profit organization, so my money goes directly back to the placement (hospital) in which I worked and back to the host family whom I lived with. I traveled to Ghana, Africa and it is also a place I recommend. The people are warm and friendly and the country is so rich with history and culture.

The only thing that they could use some adjustments on is security and structure. Sometimes it is difficult to get in touch with someone from the organization, and there is not really a set structure in the way things go. If they could instill a set and strict structure, than the security issue would quickly be cleared up!

Overall, IFRE is a great company to travel with. The placements are life-changing to work at, and the host families are incredible. If they could make the small adjustments I recommended, I believe they would be a perfect company to travel with!

My experience with Global Crossroad was awesome!! My 16 year old daughter and I went to Ghana for a three week volunteer project and it really changed both of our lives. The work that we did was significant and the people that we worked with were absolutely wonderful. We received excellent support and guidance from our coordinator in Kasoa, Richard Quaye. He helped to make this such a great experience for a number of reasons: 1. He is a compassionate are caring person who understands how to relate to people 2. He knows the program, the people who run the programs and gives guidance in a way that everyone gains from 3. We learned so much about the culture of Ghana, food, language and customs, from Richard. He was at our beck and call 24 hours a day and has the most wonderful attitude about life and helping others. Our trip was wonderful because of how he helped guide us the entire time.

The accommodations were fine. We had running water and electricity about 75% of the time, but that is not anything that Global Crossroad can control. The hostel was comfortable and the food was fine.

The people of Ghana are really extraordinary. Their caring and kindness on every level made this trip so special for us. I worked in a maternity clinic in Kudria and the workers there, the director, midwives and nurses, and the patients were all so open to my help. It was the best experience of my life. While I went there as a counselor, there were obvious roadblocks to not speaking the language. So instead of counseling, most of the time I was helping in any way I could. The workers taught me how to do everything from measuring a pregnant women's belly to looking at slides in the lab trying to determine sickle cell. I learned so much from everyone here. We helped to deliver babies, we helped with ultrasound diagnostics, blood pressure and temperature, and anything we asked to do. I jumped in and wanted to learn how to do everything and they accommodated me.

My daughter worked at Royal Seed Orphanage and School and absolutely loved everything. Some days she worked in the infant room, holding and playing with the babies, changing diapers and feeding. Some days she worked in the toddler room playing with the kids. One day she helped take a few of the orphans to a clinic to get shots and meds. She also shipped 60 soccer balls to Ghana and Richard, our coordinator, and Franklin, the country coordinator, helped to organize a soccer tournament in Kasoa. It was the highlight of our trip. There were four different school soccer teams competing. All the students from the competing teams were at the soccer field, cheering their team on. The whole community came out for the tournament, and all our housemate volunteers were there as well. It was such a significant day for everyone.

Again, our trip was extraordinary. It was hard work, often tough emotionally. Working in healthcare and with young children, there is a lot of sickness. Malaria runs rampant there. You are dealing with HIV, sickle cell, typhoid besides colds, flu and pneumonia. Getting around can be time consuming because of traffic, especially on market days. But the humanity in the hearts of the Ghanian people is what fed me the entire time. The Ghanian people are what will bring me back to Africa.

Warm welcoming at the airport, useful and serious orientation, checking on us every week and even more if needed, systematic help in case of problems (extension of our visa), flexibilty to enable us to make the trip we wanted to, respect and great care of us as volunteers, friendly and skilled cook and staff, nice accomodations, trust...what else could be asked for?
Ghana IVHQ is a reliable,professional team of hardworking, flexible and sincere people.

They enabled us to live an amazing experience in complete safety for a reasonable amount of money. It has to be said here that they provided us with(at least) the same services as very expensive organizations we encountered.
We highly recommand IVHQ to volunteers who want to discover authentic Ghana.

As soon as I arrived in Ghana I was greeted by a staff member, very clearly marked as a Projects Abroad staffer, as well as, a few other volunteers who arrived on the same plane. Projects Abroad also provided me with plenty of contact information of staff members, just in case anything were to go wrong, a few weeks prior. This staff support continued throughout the 2 month trip. I was also very pleased to have weekly staff interactions during Tuesday night Quiz nights and during my outreach programs.

I honestly could not have asked for a better accommodation. I stayed with Molly Yankey for my two month placement. She is the kindest and sweetest Host Mother in all of Cape Coast! She took care of me and my seven other roommates like we were all her daughters. She cooked to our preferences and always made sure we were well fed. Even having a roommate who was a vegetarian, she met her needs to the best of her abilities. I am so thankful for my placement at Miss Molly's because it also meant living with Esi and George, as well. They are like family to me now and I stay in contact with them, even a year later.

The conditions were great, especially for being in a third world country. The running water would often not work, but that was only due to overall Cape Coast city problems. However, Molly always made sure to have water stored on hand so all 8 of the volunteers and the three family members could take showers and use water as need be.

My project was with the Central Regional Hospital in Cape Coast and I worked as a Physiotherapist. I was able to work with my own patients, diagnose, and rehab with my own plan. Definitely an experience that I would not have been able to have in the united states without being certified. I was treated respectfully and always have plenty to do.

Overall, I had an amazing experience with my placement and on top of that, an extraordinary time traveling all around the country of Ghana during the weekends. The price for the program was a bit lofty, but with how well the two months went and how well everything was taken care of, did I mention I contracted Malaria and the staff took me to the hospital and checked up on me for days after??, I am perfectly satisfied with how much I paid. I know I could not have had an equal experience going through a different program.

my work was at an orphanage in rural area. It was awesome. The house we lived in was really nice, with big rooms, running water, and electricity.Spending time with the kids reminds me of the true meaning of life.
And besides airport picking up, anytime you need help, one call can bring one of the staff of the orphanage here.
I love it and miss Africa soooo much

I looked online before going with Ikando and I wish that I had listened to the few reviews I read (that Ikando seemed to unsupportive and gaining a lot from volunteers' payments, with a less obvious gain for host placements).
I agree with another post in that my host placement was fine, I had no issues there.
HOWEVER when I was living in the Ikando house, I saw two other volunteers arrive for placements only for them to be told by the host placement that the placement no longer existed. To expand on this, both organisations had told Ikando to update their website as they no longer accepted placements from them (due to reasons such as Ikando not paying the small donation they are supposed to pay, for example). That means that Ikando have wittingly taken money from prospective volunteers when they know that the placement they are paying for no longer exist. That is not ethical or ANYTHING.
The support for these people seemed to be minimal- Ikando management seem to take a "hands off" approach and leave it for the direct house support staff to deal with (which is not Quarshie's job)!
In terms of the accomodation, it was OK but certainly not great.
The support from in-house staff was again OK.

I chose this program initially because it was much cheaper than most programs I had found. I also had a friend that traveled through IFRE but volunteered in South Africa and recommended it to me. I chose to do the medical mission to Ghana for a time of 6 weeks. Over this time, I found that Ghanaians are typically very friendly, kind, and helpful. I loved the hostel placement as I was able to meet volunteers from all over the world. IFRE was a good program because we had a lot of freedom. We were allowed to travel on the weekends, walk around Kasoa, and get to and from our placements on our own. I felt very safe doing so. Even though I had signed up for the medical mission, IFRE did a good job accommodating my wish to try volunteering in an orphanage and teaching in a school for a day. I was also allowed to visit a Leprosy camp and go into Accra and shadow doctors in the Fevers Unit. Overall, I was happy with my volunteer experience in Ghana through IFRE.

Rustic provided a great range of volunteering opportunities in Ghana. We were based in Kasoa, oustide of Accra, and were able to volunteer in several rural clinics near Kasoa, in local orphanages, going to nearby villages to do "outreach" where we would provide basic medical care to the village, and we were able to volunteer in the hospital in Accra. I can´t imagine another program being able to provide such a range of volunteer opportunities at such a reasonable cost. Accommodations were adequate and as would be expected for Ghana, no a/c but fans in every room. We encountered a few issues, but Franklin, the Ghana coordinator, was very quick to help us resolve the problems and would do all that he could to ensure that we had the best experience possible in Ghana. Overall, I think that Rustic provided a great program for the money.

Volunteered on the orphanage program and agricultural program together. Great programs and highly recommend combining the two. Got a good variety of physical work plus working with children. Take clothes you do not mind getting dirty. Met some great people both volunteers and locals and hope to return some day.