One of the most rewarding and memorable trips I’ve ever taken was my volunteer trip to Ghana for 3 weeks. I applied to a volunteer program (United Planet) through my university and ended up interviewing to get placed in Chile or Ghana. I was a little scared of going to Ghana because I had no clue what to expect! I put my first choice down for Chile because it seemed like the safer choice. I’ll be honest…I was a little afraid of going to Africa! However, when they told me I was going to Ghana something inside of me switched and I got an overwhelming feeling of excitement. I was going to conquer a silly fear and experience a third world country and love it.
It ended up being one of the best experiences of my entire life. I explored a large part of Ghana and ended up building a kindergarden school volunteering in Sokode, Ghana a tiny tiny village outside of Ho, Ghana. The chief of the village even greeted us with a welcome ceremony and let us stay in his brother’s concrete house.
I got my hair braided (took 8 hours!), met all of the locals and did a homestay, learned to make banku, touched a wild crocodile, carried dirt and water in a bucket on my head and babies on my back, fed monkeys, partied with the locals and learned to make palm wine. It was like nothing I’ve ever done before and I was fascinated every single second.
I’ll post more on Ghana later, but here are some of my favorite pictures from Sokode, Ghana.
Must have been a great experience! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ric! It was pretty great. I need to update these old posts about it! 🙂
So glad I read this! You rock! Ghana is a place I’ve been curious about visiting and/or volunteering in. Also, 8 hours for braids? Did it hurt? Haha!
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