VOLUNTEER IN GHANA!
Are you an educator looking for a life-changing volunteer experience this summer? Are you a college student looking to boost your resume while gaining valuable hands-on experience? Do you have a big heart with a special talent to offer the world? Consider spending part of your summer teaching with us in Africa!
- A valid passport/visa (Don’t worry – we will help you get this!)
- Protective vaccines
- A round trip plane ticket to Ghana
- $400.00 fee (This is tax-deductable/ we will help you raise it!)
- An adventurous spirit
All short-term international volunteer programs have a program fee which covers the expenses of operating the program. Below is an excerpt from a book on international volunteering that helps to explain the necessity of a fee.
from HOW TO LIVE YOUR DREAM OF VOLUNTEERING OVERSEAS
by Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, and Zahara Heckscher
published by Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2002
Prospective volunteers are surprised to learn that many programs charge their volunteers a fee to participate. At first, this can seem ridiculous — Why should you pay money to work for free? Aren't you already forgoing income you could be making? Here are a few things to keep in mind while trying to understand why the vast majority of programs charge international volunteers a fee:
- The local organizations and projects with which you volunteer overseas have limited resources and are seldom able to subsidize your trip or cover the costs of hosting you. (These costs include housing, feeding and transporting you, among numerous other things.) If they did have the financial resources to pay an international volunteer, it would almost certainly be more beneficial and cost-effective to hire a local person instead, someone who already knows the language and culture and is likely to stick around.
- Identifying appropriate host organizations overseas and working with them is time-consuming, takes resources, and requires an experienced and professional staff.
- The process of preparing, training, transporting, housing, feeding, and supervising volunteers is not cheap. Additional services such as health care, re-entry assistance, travel medical insurance, and more, all add to the expenses of a program.
- The costs of recruiting volunteers, producing literature, answering the phones, sending mailings, developing a website, and interviewing potential volunteers are significant.
- An information-filled packet to answer all of your questions (cultural differences you will need to be aware of, sight-seeing opportunities in Ghana, suggestions on what to bring, etc.)
- Assistance in fundraising for your trip
- Assistance in how to go about filing for your passport/visa and acquiring all recommended vaccines
- A contact person within 100 miles of your location available at all times for support while in Ghana
- A caring local host family in Ghana
- At least 2 prepared meals a day
