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“An eye-opening experience”

written by on 26/08/2014

Before entering Ghana to do the music programme, the trip advisers I communicated with were excellent, replying within a short time of sending my emails, and always doing their best to find the correct information in response.

However, I have realized some of the information given did not match up with what I experienced there, and although nothing was majorly different, there were a few things that were different to what I was told, and I therefore felt a bit mislead.

The music programme took place in a large church at which a small number of orphans and the music volunteers were meant to travel to each day. However it was not clear what time we should leave for the church, and we were simply left to do what we liked with the children, in one big hall. The surroundings and environment (lots of noise all at once) were not ideal but could be used, and the children simply came to learn if they liked and left when they wanted, so I could not teach consistently and make a great deal of improvement with them.

I expected to be doing a lot more lessons, and for the whole thing to be a lot more organised and teaching based.

HOWEVER, this was not a major concern, and although I felt I had been mislead in the teaching aspect of the volunteering, my time in the orphanage was amazing. I loved spending time with the kids, giving them videos to watch and build relationships with them, especially the older ones. Being part of the family there felt great, and to be able to help out with washing and sweeping and other things made my stay there feel more productive.

The staff there were amazing, such lovely people to be with, and I hope Agape Volunteers can help them more in the future. The orphanage set up by the main guy was an amazing and inspirational thing to have done,and I know the children will grow up to be so grateful of him and his wife.

Overall, I had an amazing time, and Agape Volunteers successfully gave me an insightful and eye-opening experience of Ghana, and Africa.