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Program Description
Development and Social Change in Ghana
Description
Development and Social Change in Ghana provides students with an academic and practical introduction to the realities of international development efforts. While working with Amizade's Ghanaian site director and community contacts, you'll also have the opportunity to learn about the last half century of successful and failed efforts to promote positive social change and development. The region is bursting with contemporary and historical lessons relating to oppression, development, and human rights. You'll visit the first European Castle in The Tropics, Elmina Castle, as well as other disturbing sites essential to the Transatlantic Slave trade. Youll learn from the museum and park honoring Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president and an influential leader in Pan-Africanism. Throughout your experience in Ghana, you'll have opportunities to listen to and learn from local people, community-based development organizations, and essential on-site experience and observation.
Highlights
Help complete construction of a public library outside the capital city of Accra, additional opportunities may include tutoring local school children.
Stay in Hostels, Guest Houses, Homestays with families, or in a home provided for the Amizade group.
Travel includes travel to Accra, Ghanaian Beaches, Cape Coast Castle, Elmina Castle, walking on rope bridges through a Rainforest Canopy, meetings with NGOs, local leaders, and development institutions, and much more.
Ratings and Reviews
9 of 24 people found this review helpful
Amazing Experience!
This program was awesome! Amizade did a wonderful job creating a busy and exciting volunteer experience. Our group had a guide (Francis) who was with us at all times to ensure we got where we needed to be. We worked very hard, and had many opportunities to take in the local culture as well. We took trips to the beach, to the slave castles in Elmina and on the Cape Coast, and toured a cocoa plantation. We also had the chance to visit an orphanage and bring the children there small gifts. It was a humbling and eye opening experience. I felt very safe while in Ghana, and the staff at Amizade made sure everything was executed very smoothly. We were fortunate to stay in a newly constructed hotel that had running water, electricity and even air-conditioning!
The community in Jukwa is extremely open and friendly, and the people who live there love to share what they have. We were presented to the village chief, who welcomed us to his community. He made us feel right at home, and was grateful for our help in creating the new library in Jukwa. The chief was very concerned with our well-being, even taking time out of his busy day to stop by our hotel when he found out one of our participants was very ill with a stomach bug. He made sure to let her know that he would help her in any way he could, should she need it. We felt included and welcomed in the community, and it made the experience that much more incredible.
I would go back to Ghana in a second if given the chance. Its a beautiful country with beautiful people, and it was without a doubt one of the best experiences of my life!!