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GYC3096 - Orphanage projects Country: Ghana Cost: £1095.00 Cost Includes: The price includes accommodation, food and pickup from airport but does not include flight, insurance, kit or visas     Duration: 1 months Company Rep Nearby: All the time 0845 344 7627 or

 

	This placement would suit... People who want to help out overworked staff and spend time brightening the lives of the children. Working in an orphanage is probably one of the toughest and most rewarding things that you can do. The orphanages we work with are well run but staff are often busy and have little time to interact with the children. Your job will be to simply spend time with the children and pay them some attention. This will involve playing games, sports and helping the children develop interests. You might start an art club, get the children interested in nature, put on a play or simply run around chasing a ball. Some of the orphanages we work in are for children whose parents have died of AIDS or AIDS related illness, many have simply been abandoned by parents and relatives. Your daily duties will really depend on which orphanage you work with. Most orphanages have mixtures of ages from new born babies up to children who are 13-14 years old, but some specialise in older or younger children. If working with younger children you daily tasks will be to help bath, clothe and feed the children, putting them down for naps but most importantly spending time playing with the children and keeping them entertained. This is perhaps the most vital role as this is really something that the staff don't have time to do. The older children go to school during the day so if working with this group your day will be broken in to two sections. In the morning you will be helping the children get up, washed, dressed, fed and ready for school. The children come home about 2pm so then you will be helping with homework and again spending time with the kids. At this time it would be great if you could take the kids down to the beach or on other trips. If you're interested in music or drama, why not get the children involved in a play. If you’re into sports why not start a team! Kindness and compassion are necessary prerequisites for all of these projects. Note all projects working with children require a background check.This is an extra cost of about £10 but we will make the necessary arrangements. Parking tickets, speeding fines, and some criminal convictions will not prevent you from joining us; we simply check if you have any prior convictions relating to harming children. Accommodation During your time with us in Ghana, you will be staying in hostel type accommodation on the outskirts of Takoradi. This will be in a house that we have rented from the local people. Whether you are teaching, on the journalism placement or working in hospitals, all the volunteers stay together in the same accommodation which means that you are never far away from someone to socialise with in the evenings or travel with at weekends. Usually, four people will share a room. The standard of the accommodation will basic and not be what you are used to at home so please don’t expect all mod cons, but it will be clean and tidy. The house has running water and electricity, but please be aware that the water is delivered and stored in a tank above the house so there may be times when it runs out, and the electricity supply is unreliable and may often fail. Ghana's electricity mostly comes from a massive hydro-electric plant at Lake Volta. It is not unheard of for the electricity company to simply cut supply when water levels in the lake are too low! Even though there is running water, there will be no hot running water. Most houses in Ghana don't have hot running water - although some may have small boilers for washing dishes. When temperatures rarely drop below 25 degrees, even at night, you will find that a cold shower in the morning is just what you need! There will be someone there to look after the house and they will cook your meals, which means that if you can't quite get used to Ghanaian food then they can cook something similar to what you are used to at home. Takoradi is centrally located for all our projects in Ghana. Travelling around this fairly small city is easy whether you are teaching or on a medical project, your placement will be easy to reach by tro-tro (small mini bus) or even by walking. Very occasionally, we place volunteers with local families. This is usually during off-peak times when only a handful of volunteers are with us in Ghana. If this is the case we will send you full details of your family accommodation before your departure. Our staff will be on hand during office hours if you have any general queries and only a phone call away outside office hours if there’s something much more urgent. Weekends The cost of the programme in Ghana includes drumming lessons. Music is an integral part of Ghanaian culture so learning a bit about music in Ghana will give you more of an insight into the Ghanaian way of life. Weekends are free and, depending on how many volunteers are overseas with you, you are based in the same accommodation which means that you can easily go travelling at weekends. Our location in Ghana means that you are close to some of the Ghana's most popular attractions. Kakum national park, home to our conservation projects in Ghana is a short drive away. The forest reserve at Kakum is famous for its canopy walkway. Those with a good head for heights can literally walk through the canopy of the rainforest thanks to a walkway that spans the tops of the trees. Those without a head for heights can wander the numerous trails that run through the forest, some that have been renovated by Global Volunteer Projects conservation volunteers. Also within easy reach is the coast. Great if you just want to chill out and relax by the beach and watch the fishermen land their day’s trawl. The coast is also home to the colonial forts, many of the forts were used during the sinister trade of slaves from Ghana and it's well worth taking the tour around them to learn a bit more about Ghana's colonial past. Further afield, you can visit the vibrant capital city Accra or fishing villages along the coast. Time it right and you might be lucky enough to visit one of the villages during their annual festivals. Further north, you can journey to the capital of the Ashanti Empire at Kumasi, visiting the huge market for souvenirs to take home. It's this market where you're likely to find the best deals on Ghana's famous Kente cloth as well as numerous hand carved crafts. Those with a bit more time on their hands can journey further north to Lake Volta or the game reserve in Mole. 0845 344 7627 Joining Global Volunteer Projects is as much about learning as it is about giving. Our programmes are designed to incorporate learning the local language and something about the local culture. All our programmes include, where applicable, basic language courses as well as 'culture' courses. This may be drumming in Ghana, yoga in India or learning Swahili in Tanzania. We also offer a wide range of projects, teaching, conservation and orphanage work for those keen to get involved as well as medicine and journalism placements for those looking to gain that all important work experience.