Compared to so many people around the world, I live a pretty comfortable life: I’ve got food and water, a place to stay, I went to school, and I can afford clothes. The only reason I have all that is because I was lucky enough to be born in Belgium and not in a developing country.
So doing volunteer work felt like a natural choice, I wanted to help people who, just because they were born somewhere else, don’t get the same opportunities I do.
I was also super curious to see what everyday life is really like in a completely different culture.

I taught at the Judah Mahama Vocational Centre in Tamale, a city in northern Ghana. The centre supports girls aged 12 to 22 who, for different reasons, can no longer live with their families. Judah Mahama sits out on the quiet countryside around Tamale. There’s a dorm with beds, a food storage room, a washing area, an open-air cooking space, a classroom, a sewing workshop, a prayer room, and fields around the buildings where crops are grown.
Each morning, volunteers teach the girls English, maths, health education, crafts, sport, and a local Ghanaian woman teaches them how to make their own clothes.

Because I teach Dutch and French to the same age group in Belgium, the core of what I did in Ghana was not that different from my day-to-day job. But the conditions were so unlike anything at home that the whole experience became something truly special. The project relies completely on donations, so the teaching materials and infrastructure are very basic. What is taken for granted in Europe is still a distant dream in Ghana. There are no matching textbooks or workbooks for every student, and no pencil cases full of supplies. In the classroom there is no computer or projector, only a chalkboard painted straight onto the wall. The girls sit at two picnic tables, but not everyone fits, so some have to sit on the ground during lessons.

The classroom situation was confronting at times. Some girls could barely read, write or count, while teens in Europe already know so much more. But at the same time it gave me heaps of energy to teach them, and the whole experience was incredibly rewarding. Every morning when we arrived at Judah Mahama we would hear a cheerful “Good morning, Miss!” and even though I only taught there for four weeks, I saw real progress in so many of them.

After working in Africa, I now realise more than ever how easily we stress in Europe about the smallest things. We should honestly be grateful for everything we are given and learn to worry less when things do not go exactly the way we want. Taking life as it comes is important, even when a hen and her chicks suddenly wander into your classroom.

With Volunteer Worldwide you get the chance to do volunteer work with great support and plenty of room for your own input.

~ Caroline Robberechts ~

Age: 28
Secondary School Teacher