Kwahu Tafo Village Project (UVO)

Introduction

Welcome to Kwahu Tafo, a small village about 4 hours drive north of Accra, the capitol of Ghana. Here the majority of the community are subsistence farmers, and like many such communities in Ghana, very poor. This poverty often forces children to drop out of school, moving them out onto the streets and exposing them to various problems including AIDS, child labor, and lack of education, continuing the poverty cycle.

We have seen this trend here in Kwahu Tafo, and have decided to make a change by forming the UVO (Ultimate Voluntary Organisation) in 2007.

We currently run 4 projects:

The UVO Primary School teaches underprivileged children for free, and provides them all with a lunch-time meal. You, the volunteer, can teach the children any subject from Maths to English, as well as tutor our older children at night-time classes. At the moment we have three classes made up of UVO children in primary 3, 4 and 5 with about 5 children in each class. We hope to expand to older grades, and to open the school to other children in the community in the future.

The Culture Centre caters for approximately 60 children, also sponsored to attend school during the day, who meet each afternoon to learn traditional Ghanaian dancing and drumming. The volunteer also teach the kids dances, songs, plays and poetry from your home country.

The Football Academy has an U12, U14, and an U17 squad. The children are housed and fed in our hostel here in Tafo. They are sponsored to attend school during the day and meet for training each afternoon, where the volunteer assists the coaches and train with the children.

The Health Program provides all our children with health insurance, and the volunteer can also educate them on a variety of health issues. Additionally, we are networking with local clinics so that you can work directly in these institutions.

Director

The on-site director of Kwahu Tafo Village Football Academy is Eric Djane. He is a professional teacher and a social worker. Eric supports the project with his time, money, and expertise. He has been working with the project for the past three years , his commitment for the project causing him to move from his personal apartment to stay with the boys at their hostel.

Eric enjoys reading and telling jokes. He is also skilled in African music, dance, and drumming. His interactions with other volunteers has given him extensive knowledge about volunteers and as such knows how to handle their enquiries and problems.

Volunteer Coordinator: Rory Peters

Kwahu Tafo: UVO

*Read more about Ghana and visa requirements here

*Read more about this project at thier own website.

Activities you will be involved in:

There are three major areas in which volunteers can offer their services:

• teaching at local area schools during the day in addition to teaching after-school-classes in basic mathematics, English, and science.

• coaching soccer after school activity.

• assisting the local soccer instructors to provide counselling to help the children to resist drugs and other social vices, and educating the children on how to avoid HIV and AIDS infection.

Volunteers can decide to do any or all of the above activities. Before coming, if you can collect footballs, jerseys, and soccer boots to support us, it will be greatly appreciated.

Volunteers during their free time can also learn the local Ghanaian music (Drumming and Dancing) if interested. You can also play soccer with the local teams, visit historic sites, climb the Bruku rock (the tallest volcanic plug in Africa) and go canoeing on the Volta Lake, which is the largest man-made lake in the world.

Accommodation & food costs:

Volunteers live together in a beautiful compound with several separate rooms. There is electricity and running water available. If you are a couple please let your volunteer coordinator, know in advance so the necessary arrangements can be made.

Both Ghanaian and Western style food are prepared for volunteers including a variety of vegetables and fruits.

Volunteer Vacancies

4 volunteers at any one time. Below is our booking calendar, which is updated in real time: