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Your "Taste of Volunteering" Project

You have three inspiring areas where you can make a difference:
1. Teaching
Help teach in a primary or secondary school tutoring in English, math, or any other subject agreed to ahead of time. Most classrooms have too many students and your assistance is highly appreciated. If you have a special talent don't be shy, the children are always eager to discover new things, such as playing an instrument, singing, sports skills, etc.

2. Working in an Orphanage
These orphanages work not only to house and feed children but also to offer the empowering benefits of education and healthcare. Your main responsibility at any of the orphanages is to spend time with the children and give them the attention and love they need. You will organize games and activities for the children and can help teach in the schools associated with the orphanage. Working in an orphanage requires motivation, energy, patience, and resourcefulness. Of great benefit would be if you could help to develop creative programs such as art, music, dance, and sports.

Additional help on day trips, sanitation, cooking, and administration may be needed. The helpers are generally overrun, with a mere 6 staff members trying to look after 55 children, in one of the orphanages. Your help, time and attention will offer relief to staff and some fun variety for the children.

3. Healthcare
If you are medically qualified, you can support the local healthcare providers to record attendance, offer first aid, basic healthcare, record patients' history, temperatures, perform examinations, provide pre-natal care, assist in deliveries, offer education to clinic attendants and community groups. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to become familiar with the challenges and health issues of developing countries.

Bobiri Forest Reserve
Bobiri Forest Reserve with its lush greenery and mystifying atmosphere is one of the most beautiful reserves in West Africa. It harbours giant ancient tree species such as milicia and entandrophragma species. It is home to over 400 species of rare and exotic butterflies.

Craft Villages
Adanwmase’s is awash with history and culture; visit the Chief’s palace, the traditional healer’s shrine, Adanwomase's first house, cocoa farms and a forest shrine. Feel the rhythm of Mother Africa as you watch a drumming and dancing troop and get caught up in the fascinating verbal histories during a story telling.

Adanwmase’s claim to fame comes from the traditional and complex Kente textile production. This beautiful cloth is widely considered to be a cultural symbol and source of pride, both for Ghanaians and the African Diaspora. The fabric is worn and used by Ashanti royals, in worship, and for birth, marriage, and death ceremonies.

Kente Cloth continues to chronicle local history and knowledge. Designs have specific names and meanings that reflect cultural values and historical events. This is a great place for you to get some hands on experience under the tutelage of a master weaver.

The nearby town of Ahwiaa is the centre for the fertility doll and woodcarvings manufacture. Here they like their bargaining, so enjoy some fun banter as you haggle down the price of your gifts and mementoes.

The village of  Ntonso holds a very special cultural position for the production of the traditional funeral attire called Adinkra. It is very touching that this clothing should be named after the word that also means farewell. Wooden stamps in the shape of Adinkra symbols are dipped in black die from tree bark and carefully stamped on strips of fabric.

As the centre for pottery production, Pankrono presents another potential shopping opportunity if you are after cooking pots and coolers.

Ejisu Besease Shrine
The Ejisu Besease Shrine is one of the most popular shrines in Ghana and it serves to provide spiritual support to the people in the Ashanti region. It is here that Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Ejisu, consulted the spirits before leading the attack on the British fort in Kumasi in 1900. This sacred shrine is still in active use today.

Kumasi Fort and The Armed Forces Museum
A red brick fortress, opposite the Central Post Office marks the former site of the palace of the Ashanti kings, which was sacked and destroyed in 1896, when Kumasi was burned to the ground.

Shortly thereafter, stones from the palace walls were used to construct Fort George, Ghana’s only inland fort. Today this fort serves as a military museum with exhibits from the Ashanti wars, the two World Wars, the Congo crisis of the early 1960s, and Ghana’s post-independence military history.

Manhyia Palace the official residence of the Ashanti monarch is a special place. The Palace has a courtyard and a courtroom where matters dealing with the constitution and customs are deliberated upon by the traditional council. These courtyard meetings are open to the public and give a great insight into traditional African democracy, which is still very much alive.

If your visit coincides with "Akwasidea", which is celebrated every forty days, then you will see the Asantehene who is the King of Ashanti. If it is Thursday or Monday you will see the King and his chiefs deliberating on issues concerning the Ashanti Kingdom.

River Pra and Slave Market
Captives on their way to the coast for shipment were given their last bath in the River Pra (Slave River) prior to leaving the shores of Africa. These souls had marched hundreds of kilometres to the coast on an arduous, dangerous, demeaning journey. Their fate was sealed when they crossed the River Pra that separates the forest zone and coastal zone.. The slave ships were just a short distance away. The captives were given a bit of rest at Assin Manso. Here they were sorted according to age and sex. Then they were sold at the slave market.

At the Assin Manso Slave market site you will find the graves of two enslaved Africans, one from Jamaica and the other from New York, whose remains were brought here.

Kakum National Park and Assin Attandanso Resource Reserve
Explore the conservation area, which covers 360 square kilometres and walk along the same paths that forest elephants, leopards, and genets have journeyed upon. Seek out crowned eagles and great blue turacos. Immerse yourself in this moist verdant forest and learn about local medicinal plants, traditions, and customs.

For a closer inspection there is a canopy walkway suspended approximately 27 metres off the ground. It’s not for the faint hearted, but well worth the view!

Cape Coast Beaches and Castles
Set on the pristine beaches of the Ghana coast you will discover some of the chapters in its history.

Elmina Castle (Saint George’s) is a World Heritage Monument and the oldest European building outside Europe. The Portuguese built it in 1482, ten years after the first Europeans landed in Sub-Saharan Africa at Elmina. It is said that Christopher Columbus spent 3 weeks in Elmina Castle before proceeding to discover the New World.

The castle was originally established as a trading post for goods bartered for gold and gems. In the 16th century, when the demand for slaves in the Americas became clear, the storerooms were converted into dungeons to house slaves waiting for transport.

The ownership of Saint George’s (Elmina) Castle changed hands several times, and it was eventually ceded to the British in 1872. Even though slavery had been abolished, the British continued to trade in slaves, and they used Cape Coast Castle as their ‘warehouse’ for the captives.

Cape Coast Castle began as a wooden Swedish Fort built in the mid-17th century. Over the next hundred years, it was fortified and expanded into a beautiful castle. Sadly this exterior conceals a sinister past with dungeons of stone still scarred by the desperate etchings of those imprisoned within them.

Spend a moment at the Door of No Return and it’s inscription: "In everlasting memory of the anguish of our ancestors. May those who died rest in peace. May those who return find their roots. May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. We, the living, vow to uphold this."

Though, it isn’t all doom and gloom, as you learn about the slave trade and the scale of the resultant diasporas, be inspired by modern leaders Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King who looked adversity in the eye and chose to make a difference.

Accra’s Coffin Makers
The construction of coffins is not often high up on the list of tourist attractions but of Accra's skilled craftsmen have carved out a special niche. These remarkable constructions come in all sorts shapes, including limousines, bibles, fish, and canoes.

Watch a TV news clip about the launch of Hands Up Holidays

A mini-documentary about a Hands Up Holiday in Fiji

View an introduction to what Hands Up Holidays is all about.