Volunteering / Internships
Light for Children Volunteers will be placed in the Ashanti-region in child centered organizations. The Ashanti-region is known for migrant teenagers and has one of the highest HIV prevalence rate in Ghana.
1. Working at an Orphanage
Location: Aboase, Mampong & Kumasi
Aboase Orphanage
This is a school and orphanage set up by an Islamic man; hence a majority of the orphans are of muslim faith. The orphanage is brand new and is located just half out of Kumasi.
Mampong Baby Orphanage
This orphanage is situated in Mampong which is about 1 and 1/2 hours out
of Kumasi. The volunteers at Mampong will live in Nsuta which is just down the road.
Missionaries of Charity
This orphanage based in Kumasi looks after disabled Babies, Toddlers and Teens.
Typical work:
- Feeding the children
- Accompanying the children to school
- Arrange the children's beds
- Organize games and activates for the children
2. Working at school for mentally handicapped children
Location: Kumasi
Typical work:
- Playing games with the children
- Teach the children numerical
- Help the kitchen with preparing food
- Organize excursions with the children
3. Working in the children's ward at a hospital - run by the Seventh day Adventist Church
Location: Asaman (1 hour drive from Kumasi)
Typical work:
- Orderly work
- Any work assigned by the hospital authorities
4. Working in the children's ward at St. Joseph Catholic Hospital
Location: Pramso (30 min drive from Kumasi)
Typical work:
- Orderly work
- Any work assigned by the hospital authorities
5. Working at a school for the deaf
Location: Jamasi (45 minutes drive from Kumasi)
Typical work:
- Teach the children sign language
- Play games / interact
- Arrange excursions/road trips
- Work as teaching assistant
6. Teaching at a Junior Secondary School (J.S.S.)
Location: Kumasi-area and Mampong (size of village based on volunteer's request)
Typical work:
- Teaching English math and science
- Organizing excursions/road trips
- Playing games/interact
- Teach the children European songs (example: In the jungle, awwwiimbaweee)
7. Working for the Light for Children-Ghana Project
Location: Kumasi
Note: Based on the volunteers experience and request we can arrange a combination of work with the NGO's project and one of the other external projects.
Typical work:
- Weekly visits to the 'HIV positive children/children orphaned by AIDS' that are a part of the program
- Work actively together with local volunteer in the NGO to determine how best each child can get assistance-from the organization
- Write reports on the children's progress to their ‘adopters' in Europe and US
- Spend time in the afternoon to help the children with school studies
- Join the children on their visits to the HIV clinic where they pick up their ART (Anti-retroviral therapy, it stops HIV from spreading in the body)
- Participate in HIV/AIDS prevention meetings at schools and institutions
- Work at one of the HIV clinics in Kumasi (filing, counting drugs, interacting etc)
- Participate in different HIV/AIDS related committee/NGO meetings
- Join local volunteers when they travel and visit different Support group meetings for 'people living with HIV/AIDS' (PLWHAs)
8. Internship programmes
Light for Children - Ghana designs internship programmes that are tailor-made for your individual goals. Fields to build from include:
• Radio, TV and news paper Journalism
• Nurses and Doctors
• Women and Youth empowerment
• Law
• HIV AIDS education
• Drumming and Dancing (African studies)
• Architectural
• Sports coaching
• Language and Cultural Studies
• Forest Conservation
Please contact us today to arrange the details of your possible internship.
Host Family and home stay
Your home stay is likely to be the highlight of your visit to Ghana. There is no better way to learn first hand about life in Ghana than by living among the local people and participating in their lives through helping with chores, cooking and other activities, and being treated as a member of the family. The friendships made while living with a family can last a lifetime.
You will be part of the host family, sharing their food and living as they live. Most Ghanaians live in small, simple houses; living conditions may be very basic, with outdoor plumbing the rule. Learning to adapt is part of the pleasure of living in a foreign land, and these will be the memories that will stay with you.
Additional things previous volunteers would have taken and things they found particularly useful:
Materials for making posters and displays for schools: information on how HIV affects patients, as well as details about modes of transmission and how to avoid contracting the virus; pen drive for storing work done on computer in internet cafe: items suitable for use as small prizes to be given to school pupils who submit excellent work related to HIV presentations.
Living Conditions
Ghanaian houses are simple. You will find a separate sleeping room and sometimes a separate living room. Especially in the villages the kitchen as well as the toilet may be separated from the main house. The toilet will usually not be a water closet but a local pit toilet. Often there is no tap, but a water pump, rain water and water from streams which you will have to use for washing and laundry. However, many host families now have electricity and running water.
Normally, you will get a simple room with a bed. Sometimes it is possible that you will have to share your room with a host brother or sister or another volunteer, although 90% of the time you will be furnished a separate room. We recommend bringing a mosquito net.
Be prepared to take baths from buckets. You should take the opportunity to bathe whenever water is provided. Ghanaians are very particular about bathing, especially for women who are expected to wash twice a day. Most of the time you will find your arrangements more than adequate, but occasionally you may be inconvenienced.
Food and accommodation
LiFoC will arrange accommodation (with host families) and food for volunteers. Placements will be within 10-20 miles of communication, transport and medical facilities.
Imported foods are very expensive, so you will eat local produce most of the time. Ghanaian cuisine consists of rice, vegetable stews, maize porridge, and occasional meats. Food is provided twice a day: a light breakfast in the morning (coffee/tea and bread), and an evening meal such as fufu (manioc roots pounded and cooked and formed in a thick paste), kenkey (fermented dough made from maize) or banku (a stiff porridge made from maize) served with rice and fruits/vegetables.
On special occasions you will get meat (chicken, cow or goat) with rice. Even though Ghana is considered a very poor country, there will be enough food for you and the whole family. Additionally, you could buy fruits or cookies and share them with your family.
Daily life
Ghanaian families are quite large. There may be grandparents, parents and children living under one roof and sharing the daily activities. As part of this community you should be open and try to help and involve yourself in tasks carried out “at home”. Your hosts will be interested in showing you their way of life. You could learn how to cook, to milk the cow or to work in the field (planting rice and vegetables). Additionally, you could support them by doing the dishes and cleaning your room. Sometimes you might just watch TV or play cards with the whole family.
Younger family members are especially interested in learning more about your family and culture so don't forget to bring some pictures and tell them something about your life. Perhaps you may even get the chance to cook and show how food is prepared in your country.
Most of the families have experience with volunteers and will give you all the necessary advice and support you need to feel comfortable. Some family members will speak English. In case you have any problems or you are not sure how to behave or what to do, feel free to ask them. Additionally, LiFoC staff will visit you from time to time. You can address any problems to the office in Kumasi by telephone or E-mail.
Costs (including host family money but not food)
One month
$400 (covers expenses for one kid for a year)
Example of cost breakdown: $250 for sponsorship, $150-hostfamily, $50 admistration and $75 (deposit) for airport pick-up.
Two months
$600 (covers expenses for one HIV positive kid for a year)
Three months
$1000 (covers expenses for two HIV positive kids for a year)
Recommended duration: 3 months
Requirements
Minimum age for a volunteer is 18 years.
English language skills are required.
The program fee includes the following:
- Airport pickup
- One night in Accra at a hostel
- Bus Transport (STC) to Kumasi
(In Kumasi people will have the ability to change money, buy phone card and to un-lock their phones)
(The Co-Ordinator will help the volunteers to arrange their VISA extensions, 1 month cost around 11 usd)
Program Co-ordinator
Mike Owusu Gyimah
Starting Dates
Our programs will start on the following dates:
2012
1st of February
1st of March
1st of April
1st of May
1st of June
1st of July
1st of August
1st of September
1st of October
1st of November
1st of December
Questions and Sign-up
Please contact Light for Children Project Coordinator Mike Owusu at lightforchildren@yahoo.com for any questions and for more information on how to sign up for the program!