Rachel, a junior in high school from Arlington, Virginia, volunteered in Ghana in the summer of 2008:

Volunteering in Kpando, Ghana this summer is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. My two friends and I had signed up to volunteer at an orphanage, but a few days into our stay the school down the road asked if we could help teach. We all love working with children, but were nonetheless nervous to be teaching, as we had never had any formal training.

Teaching at the school, however, ended up making our trip even more meaningful. While most of the children at the orphanage were at school, we were able to be useful in a school as well. I had the youngest class, the preschoolers, and they were absolutely adorable! I was introduced to the class as “Sister Rachel,” although I quickly became “Sista Rachie” to the kids. I taught them songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and we played “London Bridge is Falling Down.” The kids even taught me some Ewe, the local language spoken in Kpando.

After school, we would have lunch and then head over to the orphanage. There, we played many games with the youngest children, their favorite being the one where each of my friends picked one of them up and we chased each other in circles. We also helped tutor the older children, played many games of soccer, and read them stories.

When I returned home from my trip, I decided to start a school supplies drive for the school children. While teaching, the classrooms were basically barren except for desks and a blackboard. The preschoolers didn’t have any crayons (and what would preschool be without crayons?), and older children also lacked necessary supplies such as spiral notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, etc.