Research insights in to overseas volunteering

A new 3-minute video from globalsl.org summarising research insights on good and bad community impacts of international volunteering has been released. I’ts good to see a body of research is being developed to help inform people how to volunteer ethically and assist the people they want to help. International Volunteering from Kindea Labs on Vimeo.

You know you’ve been living in Tamale, Ghana for almost two years when…

Originally posted on Steph in Ghana: Tales from a Development Volunteer:
You no longer find it strange to see a wide screened TV / fridge / live goat / dead goat / bicycle / a whole family / a bare saw/spade/hammer or tightly strapped bible being carried on a motorbike You are perfectly comfortable talking…

Want to help the children of Nepal? Don’t fuel the orphanage industry

We’ve all seen the terrible images and stories coming out of Nepal over the past two weeks. You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved and want to offer your help in any possible way. The British public has already donated millions of pounds and I’m sure this total will continue to […]

Win a childcare experience. Really?

I received an email today. At first glance I thought it was an April Fools. Been thinking about taking part in a GVI childcare programme recently? Well, today could be your lucky day! To raise funds for the GVI Charitable Trust, we’ve partnered up with PrizeAid and StudentUniverse to provide one lucky donor with a free 2-week place […]

Volunteering with children: A game of double standards?

Let me ask you. How many times have you logged onto Facebook and been greeted with a newly-updated profile picture of one of your friends, volunteer-smile intact, affectionately cuddling a small, rather grubby-looking child, from an unknown African nation? Once? Twice? Too many times to recall?

What’s it like to be a woman in Ghana?

Originally posted on Steph in Ghana: Tales from a Development Volunteer:
Now, when I say ‘Ghanaian woman’, what do you think of? For the next three posts, I’d like to introduce you to some women I’ve met here. Firstly, Mirabelle: Who are you, what do you do and how do you know Stephanie? It’s 2014. I’m Mirabelle…

Responsible volunteering at the World Travel Market

On 7th November I was invited to speak at the World Travel Market on the topic of overseas volunteering and how the sector can improve in this area. My speech focused on best practice when involving young (16-24 year olds) volunteers. You can view the slides and watch a recording of all the speeches and […]

God’s Time is the Best – shopping in Ghana

Britain was described by Napoleon as “a nation of shopkeepers”, but in 2013 I would say that this title is much more appropriate to Ghana. “Hustle” is a daily part of life for many Ghanaians and wherever your tro-tro (bus) stops there is always a number of people looking to sell water, food, footballs and […]

My Ghanaian summer

A few photos to show what I got up to during the summer of 2013. Best enjoyed listening to the song below:

Church at St Cecilia’s

On Sunday the whole KickStart Ghana Summer School team were invited to meet the community of the church that is connected to the school. We were all really honoured to be invited (even if 7am was a little early…) and were asked to introduce ourselves to the 300 people at the service. The Father also […]

Summer school, football coaching and a haircut

Apologies for the delay in the latest blog post, but since I last wrote seven new volunteers have arrived and five of those have left. They’ve been completing a large variety of work. Chris Minch has settled in well to the role of Assistant Volunteer Coordinator. His time has been taken up by airport pickups, […]

A busy two weeks

Two weeks already? Ghana has a fantastic way of making time go incredibly slow and fast at the same time. When you are waiting for a tro-tro (mini bus) to fill up, knocking back unwanted offers of meat on a stick, in the mid-day heat and humidity, it feels like the seconds are minutes and the minutes […]