The Best Month of my Life

My month in Ghana with Projects Abroad was anything but ordinary; it was, in simplest terms, a fantastic month which changed my life. But of course, as I left my home in New York and headed to JFK airport, I was more nervous than ever before. The butterflies in my stomach disappeared, however, when I met the Projects Abroad staff member, surrounded by 7 other high school volunteers, who was waiting for me at the gate. After quite a long flight, we emerged from the Ghanaian airport to find two more smiling staff members waiting for us. They helped us load the car, and then drove us to our final destination: Cape Coast. Upon arriving at our home stay, they dropped us off, to unpack for the month ahead. After about an hour, another staff member came and gave us a quick orientation. Over the course of the weekend, we met many more staff members and the volunteers who would be staying with us for the amazing upcoming four weeks.

Throughout our time in Ghana, the Projects Abroad staff was always attentive and caring. Our group supervisor, Saeed, quickly became a friend, and we are all still in touch with him. He always helped if we had any questions or concerns, and he is the reason that we all felt so confident in our medical work. Two other staff members, Grant and Enoch, helped teach us how to take blood and blood pressure, and taught us a lot about malaria and cholera, information we later related to students in schools across the city. In our workshop sessions when we would study health issues in Ghana, they answered every question and made sure even I, who has never so much as taken a biology class, could follow along. On the weekends the staff made sure we had plenty to do, taking us to the beach and even the rain forest! We also had cultural events like bead making and drumming and dancing, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

At home, we were immediately welcomed in by our host family, and though we did not often speak with our host mother, two of our host brothers quickly befriended us. They watched TV and played video games with us, and they helped us do our laundry by hand, an endeavor which all of us were wary to complete on our own. We also went out to restaurants with our host brother, and he truly felt like part of the group.

Overall, there’s no other way to describe my time in Ghana except with a radiating smile and the simple fact that it truly was the best month of my life, and I encourage anyone and everyone to experience it for themselves.