Sarah Platt from Florida volunteered with us this summer at an orphanage in Ghana. She took the time to send us her feedback recently:

Did we do enough to prepare you for your experience?
Yes, you definitely had everything covered! I had everything I needed, and if anything I was a bit too prepared. It was wonderful.

How was your host family / accommodations?
I really liked the room I had at my host family’s house. We were free to come and go as we pleased which was great. I felt like I slightly inconvienced my host family a little bit, just because they would lock the door of the house and I wouldn’t want to bother them to get in. But when they went to sleep, they would lock the door, and they went to sleep quite early. But besides that, we always had dinner and it was always really great. One other though, we usually had to ask for lunch. I suppose that’s because we weren’t always at home for lunch time. But when we were home for lunch time, they didn’t make us anything without asking, and often times I felt awkward asking.

How was your volunteer work?
I really enjoyed it! It was so great. The kids were so wonderful. Going to the school was also amazing, frustrating, but rewarding. It was everything it should of been!

How was your local Coordinator?
He was there when we needed him. He was extremely busy…but if we really needed him, he was there for us.

Did you have any illnesses or injuries?
I got a sore throat, but I’m sure that wasn’t Ghana related. I probably caught it from a relative right before I left. There were some days that I just felt really weak. I think it was a combination of the heat and the types of food we were eating. My stomach wasn’t very used to that, so that also caused some suffering.

What was the best part of the experience?
Developing bonds with the kids and having a feeling of purpose was the best part. I got so connected to the kids. They were the sweetest and I actually cried when I had to leave. Also, meeting other individuals (volunteers) that shared the same outlook on life was amazing. Learning about the culture, too, really impacted me. It’s so amazing how they live and it was actually hard to adjust back to American culture.

What was the worst part of the experience?
I was homesick at the very beginning. The culture shock was really something true. It’s very intense and overwhelming. At the beginning of my trip, before I got to Kpando, I just felt like I was all alone in this country far away from anything I was even famillar with. That was quite scary. But once I settled in, and got into a scheldule, I absolutely loved it there!

Any other comments?
This trip changed my life. I realized that there’s a big world out there and I want to get to see more of it. I really appreciate things a lot more now. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.