Sarah Volunteer Abroad in Volta Region Ghana
Thank you for ABV volunteer Sarah Fisher who spent 5 weeks in Ghana (Dec/Jan 2012).
During her program she planned, created and completed a beautiful mural at the orphanage (with the help of the community) . Sarah says, “The mural project involved over fifty participants which included all the children in the Home joined, the Home staff, Teachers, Volunteers and local children of the village. We began by having the people pose doing their favorite activity (example: Swimming, reading, dancing) Then I traced their figure onto the wall (with the students posing against the wall). The mural is the color scheme of the Ghana flag and the figures are all monochromatic paintings. The people who participated, posed and painted their own personal design on their figure. Afterwords we incorporated patterns of Kente cloth in the background. On one side of the building is a Kente loom with the cloth spiraling out of it, and the cloth wraps around the entire school. Kente cloth is a famous textile unique to Ghana”.
Personal Paragraph:
*The children in the Volta region was amazing. Volunteering at the Home was a life-changing experience. My horizons have broadened substantially and I have developed my ability to take initiatives to achieve my goals. During my volunteer experience, I organized health lessons regarding personal hygiene, as well as lessons about AIDS and other diseases, with a goal of helping children to learn how to protect and to take care of themselves. Reading stories each day with the children helped to boost their literacy skills. Alongside of the mural project, I taught science and art classes in the school. Currently I am studying art education in America and my long-term goal is to create sustainable art education programs in developing countries. This experience was another affirmation of my love for art and bringing it into the lives of children everywhere. While there were many challenges, I am so glad that I came to volunteer at Home. I learned so much through the experience and through teaching children. From teaching the children health, art and science lessons to reading them story books every night, the children developed confidence in their literacy skills which no one could ever take away. The mural is a work of art that could not be taken down to be sold and that would last a long time. Pastor’s rather positive comment on the mural was that “any day someone is feeling sad, when they walk by and see your mural, they will feel happy again. The mural is beautiful and beauty lasts forever.”
http://feedback.abroaderview.org/2012/02/21/sarah-volunteer-abroad-in-volta-region-ghana/
