Summer Volunteer Program in Ghana with 4 day tour 27th June 2011

The Summer Volunteer program in Ghana from Volunteering Solutions starts with an orientation and dinner. It covers informative session on the needs of local communities, language, currency, and how to be safe and streetwise in Ghana. As a part of the program, you will have the opportunity to see the highest mountain in Ghana, visit to the Monkey Sanctuary, and visit the biggest water fall in West Africa. Also visit to Ghanaian markets among others.
 
Program Details & Itinerary

Day 1 -27th June  2011 - Orientation and Welcome dinner for the volunteers with local partners. Arrival will be at Kotoka International Airport, Accra. You will be met by Volunteering Solutions Program Partners in Ghana.  You will then be transferred to your host for some rest. You will have opportunity to email or call friends and relatives to let them know you have arrived safely.  Depending on the time of arrival, volunteers will spend the night in a gust house and then the next day will leave to the project location.

Day 2  - Culture Program & Orientation with language. Volunteering Solutions Program Partners will give you important information about many things including safety, malaria, Ghana food, shopping, clothing, cultural restrictions, money etc. Orientation Manuals will be distributed and a review of other material such as maps etc done. Information and profiles of the home-stay hosts will be introduced in this meeting.

In addition, you will be introduced to the profile of local communities where you will work. Issues such as eradication of poverty, combating HIV/AIDS, skills deficiency, business and economic development will be discussed. You will also be introduced to basic local Ghanaian phrases.

Day 3 – Culture program visit to the Highest Mountain in Ghana with stop over at the Monkey Sanctuary. After breakfast, volunteers will be taken on a tour to the highest mountain in Ghana and making a stop over at one of the historic monkey sanctuaries. Tafi Atome, a small village with about 850 inhabitants, surrounded by an indigenous tropical forest with very high floral concentration. The forest is home to about 300 of the endangered True Mona Monkeys. From the time when the ancestors arrived about 200 years ago, they have protected the monkeys which they believed to be messengers to the gods. In the late 1980s, however, the villagers lost their reverence for the animals due to an erosion of traditional beliefs by Christianity. In order to prove that they no longer feared the monkeys, they started to destroy the forest in search for firewood and farmland, and even killed many of the animals.

Day 4  –  In the Morning volunteers will visit the local community to see  how religion is being practiced. There will be visit to churches in the community as well.
 
There will be an interaction with the community members and the volunteers.

During the evening the volunteers will be taking part in learning sessions with regards to the social activities in the village. These include drumming, cooking and language lessons. In the evenings, the villagers offer an entertainment programme for the guests to watch and participate. Among others, there are options which include drumming and dancing with the whole village, or listening to a storyteller who narrates old animal fables around a bonfire.

Day 5 -  Volunteering at Project Site for 2 weeks

On day 5, volunteers will be taken to the project site – . You will be met and greeted local community members both skilled and unskilled. You will receive some orientation as well as details about the building project.

Volunteers Duties at the site include:
Volunteers will be involve in doing both skilled and unskilled work such as digging, mixing sand and cement, carrying rocks, sand and bricks, fetching water, and painting the school buildings. They will work together with local skilled people who will be providing free labour for the improvement of their communities. The volunteers will be working in hand with the local community members.

» Teaching the school going children and helping them to do their homework after school.
» Keeping the children busy and organizing educational and recreational activities for them (games, art, music, etc.)
» Helping with and monitoring the cleanliness of the children.
» Teaching the children common courtesies, moral education etc.

Last 2 days – Visit to the Biggest water fall in Ghana  & Farewell dinner.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to visit the Biggest water fall in Ghana . Volunteers will also be shown  market and other places where they can purchase souvenirs and other special gifts. Wli is by far the most popular tourist attraction in eastern Ghana. Wli Fall is the highest waterfall in West Africa, though specifications of its real height vary considerably with estimates ranging from 20m to as much as 400m. The Fall actually consists of two separate waterfalls, one easily accessible Lower Fall and a more difficult to reach Upper Fall.

Wli Falls is located in the Agumatsa Wildlife Sanctuary which covers an area of 35 km2. To reach the waterfall, visitors walk on a footpath through a thick, semi-deciduous forest, fording two rivers a total of nine times. 220 bird species and 400 butterfly species as well some monkeys and antelopes reportedly inhabit the Sanctuary. Some trees around the footpath have been marked with intention of creating a nature education trail. At the waterfall, thousands of straw-coloured fruit bats nest on the adjacent cliffs. At the foot of the waterfall, there is large pool that invites visitors to swim in.

Program Fee

For 3 weeks program :  $855 per person

Please note: An application fee of $200/£125 is charged over and above the program fee.

The cost includes:

» Meeting and pickup at Accra airport
» All transfers with private or public transport for:
a) Introductory week
b) Local sightseeing programs
c) All excursions included in the programs
d) Local transport to project premises

»Donations to support project working on
»Accommodation provided on sharing basis during the program
»All meals - during the introductory week and working
»Information for independent excursions during the weekends

What's NOT Included ?
» All momument entry fee during tour
» Entry Fee to National Park
» Drinks during tour
» Airfare
» Visa and Visa extension fee
» Airport drop, airport taxes and local transportation
» Any personal expenses (You would need around $40 per week for your personal expenses)