Work Like You Don’t Need the Money: Volunteering in Ghana

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Work Like You Don’t Need the Money: Volunteering in Ghana

Ghana is full of volunteers. Some come from other countries, mostly large packs of girls fresh out of high school looking for a meaningful travel experience before starting University. They fill the orphanages in the mornings and fill the internet cafes and swimming pool in the afternoon. These volunteers are completely unpaid, some even pay thousands of dollars to come here for a few weeks or months.

Others, like me, are filling volunteer positions through development agencies in our countries. We flood NGO offices in the daytime and drinking spots at night. The living allowancess we take home, while pitiful by western standards, is sometimes double or triple what our co-workers earn
We all have experience or education in the field we are working in and when we come here we are looked to as experts. It doesn’t matter that the medical conditions here are far different from what a health science student studies in Toronto, or that we don’t speak the local language when our main job is to work with villagers, or that the newsrooms here are completely different from what we worked in back home. We stay anywhere from four months to a year, we do what we can - but at the end of the day we realize that we are gaining much more out of our experience than what we are contributing to our workplace.

But the vast majority of volunteers I have met here are Ghanaians. They dedicate large sums of time to an organization without receiving any payment whatsoever. I have been a ‘volunteer’ media trainer for almost eight months now. But while my organization provides me with an allowance for living expenses each month from my organization, some of my co-workers on attachment have not earned a cent. Not only are they not earning anything, but it costs them money every day for transportation to and from work and to eat. One guy at the radio station volunteered for three years before he saw any kind of salary.

So why do people go to work for months, even years, on end without getting paid?

Master Paul is a teacher who volunteers at a vocational training school for girls. After he finishes his regular classes at the school he comes to the centre in the afternoon to teach the girl basic literacy and numeracy skills. He comes five days a week, rain or shine, and doesn’t expect anything for his time. His wife recently gave birth to a baby boy - so he could definitely use a little extra money, but he just realized that the centre was in need of a teacher and saw how he could help.

But while Paul earns some money at his teaching job, others who are volunteering have no other source of income. Some people volunteer so that they may gain experience that will help them later in life. When my co-worker speaks about the three years he spent working at the station unpaid - he considers it a wise decision. He says the knowledge and experience he gained are now starting to pay off. Even though he hasn’t gone to tertiary school yet - he feels his journalism skills are on par with those who have.

About nine Ghanaians volunteer at a free medical clinic on the outskirts of town. Some are studying to become Catholic priests and are expected to do good works, others are interested in nursing and want to gain experience, and still others are between school semesters or jobs. Volunteering gives them something to do - a reason to get out of the house.

These full-time volunteers are often young, motivated, and educated people. At home you would be hard pressed to find a recent high school grad volunteering full time with no source of income. Her parents would expect her to either go to school, get a job, or both. The difference is at home jobs are easy to come by. They might not be glamorous, but it seems like the service and sales industries are constantly recruiting new staff.
Jobs that pay (a decent wage) are few and far between for many young people in Tamale. As a result, many people occupy their time with volunteer work and attachments to companies with the hope of one day getting employment.

It’s interesting to be in a workplace with people who are motivated by things other than money. No one is looking at the clock banking their overtime - overtime doesn’t exist. When you aren’t getting paid you have to want to be there. It embodies the expression ‘work like you don’t need the money’. The difference is that most people really do need the money.

I only hope I can take this ethic back to Canada with me. That I can and will fully appreciate the work I am doing, be grateful for what I am learning and the experience I am gaining, and treasure the relationships I form through work.

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