GVI Ghana 2021 - What an Experience

What an experience! In October of this year, I spent six weeks in Kokrobite with GVI Ghana. It was genuinely six of the best weeks of my life. Matt, Zen and all the staff on base are so welcoming. It's literally as if they are welcoming you into their family. You have everything you need on base; great food, facilities, resources for school and projects etc. It makes it so much easier to get the most out of every day. I was an international development intern, which meant I got to attend cool events like YouthConnekt Africa Summit '21 and meetings with GVI Ghana's key local partners. These meetings allowed important community stakeholders to voice their opinions and identify what the most pressing community needs were. It also helped us to draw up projects to address these needs. If I could have changed one thing about my experience, I would have liked to do more of this kind of work. Regardless of what programme you are doing, everyone gives a hand out in the local schools at one point or another. The thing is once you do it once, you want to go back every single day. The kids absolutely idolise the volunteers. It is impossible not to smile from ear to ear when you work with them. I have zero teaching experience but with the support of the other volunteers you learn pretty quickly. If you are not comfortable taking a class by yourself which I wasn't for a little while, you can do one to one learning support with kids who may need it more than others. The kids are so hungry to learn and you can see the happiness it brings them when they learn something new. The evenings and weekends also provided a great opportunity to bond with other volunteers. Between sunrises, sunsets, surf days and weekend trips you share some pretty wholesome experiences together and you will make friends for life. To anyone thinking of going to Ghana, the advice I would give is go for as long as you possibly can. I was there for six weeks and I would have stayed for six months if I could!