Media Centre for Volunteer in Ghana

Wendy Thomas

I recently spent 8 weeks as a teaching volunteer in Ecuador and cannot vouch more highly what a worthwhile experience it was, (whilst there, I cancelled a subsequent trip to allow me to extend my stay as I knew there was no way I could leave when originally planned!)

I had previously done a fair amount of travelling but for some time had felt that something was ‘missing’ and I was only ever skimming the surface. Despite consciously making an effort to stay in local accommodation, eat in local restaurants, etc, I felt that I never really got to know the people. I also strongly felt that the advantages of my being there were also skewed too much in my favour – essentially taking more than I gave back. Feelings like this I guess were behind my decision to put my name forward for GVI’s volunteer programme in Ecuador.

I selected GVI as I felt that the focus of the organisation is first and foremost on the projects they support, rather than the volunteer. They are a very professionally-run company and certainly look after the volunteers really well, but you feel very much that you are there to support their work, rather than the trip primarily being about you and making your travel more meaningful – a subtle difference maybe, but an ethos which to me felt the right way round.

The particular project I worked on provides volunteers to schools in three indigenous communities. Ordinarily volunteers work alongside the local teachers, although as I was there during the summer months - when GVI takes on full responsibility for running the ‘summer school’ programme – this meant that I and my fellow volunteers undertook a much broader role. In addition to teaching, GVI takes on essential maintenance (painting the schools) and we also looked after the nutrition of the children - cooking dinner to ensure they were fed a healthy and balanced diet. Weekly lesson plans differed to the normal routine, allowing us to factor in activities which they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to do, such as reading stories, creative writing, art and music.

The volunteer programme is really important. Ordinarily there is 1 teacher for 29 children at the school where I worked. This might not sound bad until you remember that the children span the age range of 6-12 and therefore obviously have very different needs. Any learning difficulties such as dyslexia are also not picked up and addressed and so any additional support, attention and importantly encouragement (they all suffer from a lack of confidence) that you can give the children, is clearly enormously beneficial.

Working in any indigenous community, it’s obviously really important that your presence doesn’t detrimentally impact their culture, particularly where, materialistically, the people don’t have very much. GVI has a very responsible attitude and provides a lot of guidance to volunteers. Whilst supporting the schools with the supply of much needed supplies, it focuses very much on sustainability - buying goods and services from local businesses and promoting a culture where the children are taught to look after and respect resources.

From my own point of view, I found the experience truly amazing. It’s like anything though - the more you put in, the more you get out. You have to be prepared to work hard - it’s not a holiday - but the children are totally worth all your efforts. Whilst I went out there with the intention of teaching the kids, I felt that they also taught me a lot. My time at the school affected me far more than I could ever have imagined - so much so that I am now hoping to return in 2007 to help with the co-ordination of the project.