Media Centre for Volunteer in Ghana

Michelle

The field experience was amazing; I would highly recommend it to anyone, as long as they are prepared to work hard. This is not a holiday but with a bit of work in terms of preparing and thinking about lessons the rewards make it all worth it. It was fantastic to see children make progress even in the short time I was there. Being part of this community, both in school and in Otavalo gave me a sense of perspective about the way I live my life and how there's such a lot to be positive about. The environment was simply stunning and the school was very simply resourced but seeing how the teacher taught with such limited resources and the children played on the side of a mountain was incredibly refreshing and thought provoking. For me the most positive aspect of the GVI experience was being able to build meaningful relationships with the teacher, the parents and the children in the school. It didn't feel like I had come in as a westerner to solve all the problems but they saw how they could benefit from the volunteers and they had ownership of what went on in their school. There was a great sense of partnership and community that I know I am going to struggle to find as I head back to teaching in Australia.