Volunteer activity leaders in Ghana

When you have a special talent and enthusiasm for a subject it rubs off on the children. Afternoon, after-school workshops are the ideal medium for volunteers to share their passion with students. Typically, a volunteer will choose an age group with our in-country and liaison managers and propose a two or three week programme. This plan is relayed to the Headmaster and the Year Teachers. They will ask you to visit the school and explain what your after-school clubs are all about and what the children need to bring with them, or wear (school uniform, no uniform, sports clothes etc) and what time to attend each day. These clubs are your chance to be yourself; to give the students something they are not normally exposed to and make a difference to their lives, even over a short period of time.

Your infectious personality and engaging instruction style will captivate the kids. You will open their imaginations to new ideas, new skills, new thoughts which they will respond to and give you a wonderful, and rewarding teaching or coaching experience.

You can spend your weekends as you wish – either relaxing on the beach, or taking trips to other parts of the country. We would certainly recommend a few days / weeks either side of your project to explore the country properly. Nature has been generous to Ghana and National parks, such as the rainforest of Kakum and Ankasa or the broad savannah of Mole, are havens for indigenous flora and fauna. Tropical landscapes of coastal plains with dramatic backdrops of forested hills, cascading waterfalls and bird sanctuaries characterize this country. The dense rainforests are interrupted occasionally by cocoa farms and bustling villages, towns and cities. The afternoon sessions you run will be tailored to the needs of the school, this will depend on the duration of your stay, your skills, background and areas of interest. Your work will differ each day and will range from simply playing with the kids, to teaching reading and writing, to coordinating a school trip. You will also be expected to plan your afternoon lessons each day, you may be able to prepare for this before you go by speaking to local primary or secondary school teachers once you have received your teacher’s brief that will outline the school’s needs. Be prepared for anything!

The aim of the afternoon sessions is to cover the shortfall in the education programme the children currently receive. By following a particular topic or subject area suggested by the school’s Parent Teacher Association, you will engage the children in vital education issues. These could be reading, sports, drama, music and in some cases addressing issues such as health, personal hygiene and HIV/AIDS awareness.

The first thing is to decide what you are good at and what kind of things you would like to do with the pupils. Find out if it is feasible; are there the resources that you need or you can easily buy locally? Are there any other volunteers who want to do the same thing? Can we compile an even better programme with more of us running the workshops? Once the basics have been agreed with the managers and teaching staff, prepare your posters and presentation for your school talk.

The rest is easy, it's all down to your love of your subject area and passion to engage the kids. Most volunteers do their group planning in the evenings and decide what materials they need for the following day or week's programme. The mornings are then frantic preparing for the day and week ahead; shopping for resources, making props and preparing lesson or coaching plans.

Art and Crafts: Robyn was a natural arts, dance and crafts magnet! The kids loved her, she was warm and friendly and gave the kids a fabulous time with her varied arts, dance and crafts workshops.

Her itinerary included making jewellery; bracelets and necklaces from shiny, coloured paper and straws! Funny faces made from plastic plates, wool and paint. Individual weaving designs from plastic plates, with the wool laced across to make a little loom, then the rest was down to each child's techni-colour weaving magic! Multi-coloured wool catch balls, if the children made one they played catch, if they made more they sewed them together to make their own furry friends – of any shapes and sizes! These workshops were aimed at Primary 2, 3 and 4 children.

Music and Dance: The dance workshops were for all ages. The JSS girls were asked to teach Lisa their traditional dances and Lisa taught the girls some Australian moves! Lisa made musical instruments for the kids; shakers made from plastic cups with pebbles, rattles made from sticks with nailed bottle tops, wood tones from wood on wood and kitchen drums using utensils! The dance extravaganza was awesome with all the demonstrations sending everyone into fits of laughter and giggles, with every part of the body moving, swaying and jiggling! The beat was provided by the JSS boys who wouldn't miss the action for anything and loved all their new instruments!

Drama: Gabby wanted to share her love of drama with the Primary and JSS students. She held afternoon workshops teaching the kids the art of improvisation and character development by preparing a wide range of drama games and activities. In addition to verbal improvisation, mime and movement skills she introduced the students to role plays where they could put their facial expressions and exaggeration practices into good and convincing use!

Primary Inter-House Football Tournament with Cheerleaders: Amanda was exuberant and trained the Primary School House Teams – Aubrey, Moses, Bennewaa and Nanna – in Cheerleading. She organised an amazing Primary Inter-House Football Tournament for all the children and teachers. She wrote individual House Team Cheerleading Raps, choreographed individual Cheerleading dances and trained each team until they were step perfect! Each team had their team banner and all the teachers and kids rallied and screamed for their team to be winners.

It was a fantastic event, enjoyed by all. Nothing was left to chance, there were oranges at half time, participation certificates for every child and a school prize for the winning team.