EIL Intercultural Learning

Katie Doyle, from Co. Wexford,  is just back from Ghana where she volunteered for 6 weeks. She just wrote to share her experience with us.

I spent six weeks volunteering in Ghana. It was the time of my life. A lot happened during this short time. Only I and a few others will only ever truely understand what this experience entailed and what we went through.

The six weeks started off with a five-day orientation in the capital, Accra. It was during this time where I met eleven other volunteers from all over the world. I made some great friends from this week. We had drumming and dancing workshops, cooking lessons and general volunteer lessons during this time which would aid us in our whole experience.

I then went to the village where I would be staying for the duration of my time in Africa. This was where I experienced major culture shock. I remember thinking to myself what had I gotten myself in for. I really didn’t know how I was going to last the next few weeks. The food was different, the facilities were not as good as home and the heat was intense at first.

I worked in a primary school in the morning and then in the orphanage beside it in the afternoons. The school day started at eight in the morning. For me, this wasn’t a problem because I usually woke up at half five due to the cockrels and the Muslim call to prayer over a speaker outside my window. I would walk twenty minutes to school and stay there until lunchtime. I would then walk back for lunch and return to an orphanage in the afternoon. I taught Maths and English to a kindergarten class. There were twenty eight children aged from five to seven years old. There was also a Ghanaian teacher in the classroom which was needed as the children can be a little hyper at times. Due to the language barrier, the Ghanaian teacher would translate something I was teaching if the children did not understand. I really enjoyed the teaching, even if it was a little frustrating at times. One of the problems I saw was that there was no special help for children who are dyslexic or have language disorders. There were just not the resources to help these children. It was sometimes sad to think about the futures of these children, but they are all doing the best they can out of what they have.

I would go to the orphanage beside the school in the afternoons and help out or just hang out with the children. There are seventeen orphans, only four of which actually have no parents. The rest of the children were taken to the children’s home after their parents couldn’t afford to feed and educate them. The seventeen of them are all like a big family, the older ones look after the younger ones. They are always so happy to see the volunteers, they are very used to them at this stage. The orphanage was basic but not as poor as others that I saw around the country. The orphans all attended the school I taught in.

At the weekends I would travel with other volunteers, usually the ones I met on my orientation. These weekends were a nice break from the week spent working. It didn’t cost much to travel and it was lovely to see the culture and history of Ghana.

I stayed with a host family in their home. The house was basic, it had electricity but no running water. There was no real toilet, it was basically a pit in the ground. To wash yourself, you use two buckets and pour the cold water over yourself. The food was very different to what I am used to and it took me quite some time to get used to it. The whole experience humbled me somewhat and I feel very lucky for my life in Ireland.

My family consisted of six children and a grandmother. They were such nice people, very welcoming. At times I got on better with my family than I did with the volunteers in my area. I truely think of them as my own family, just in another country. I still keep in contact with them, through phone and email. I hope to go back and visit them in the near future.

I have made life-long friends, both from Ghana and from all around the world. It was one of the best experiences of my life that I believe you need to go and do yourself to ever begin to understand what it is like.