A lot of young people, but also older ones, want to experience life under totally different conditions like in Black Africa. They want to sacrifice themselves but they want to learn from Africans as well. We are supporting this wish, because it enriches both sides and is an important contribution to international understanding
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Contact person is Edith de Vos, baobabchildren@yahoo.com, or "Freunde der Erziehungskunst” in Karlsruhe. The minimum time for a voluntary service is six months, for young people who have just completed their school education nine to twelve months. For experts, like carpenters, designers etc we make exceptions.

Our volunteers live in families as their "sons" or "daughters". From the guests we expect to take part in the family life and even to take over smaller tasks in the families. We also have two guest houses in our Youth Training Centre, where 30 of our children live at our hostel. Some of our volunteers live at our Centre and take care of the hostel children or have other duties.

At the moment, the volunteers pay 80 GC every month. They get food in their families or at the Centre, for everything else they care on their own. We take a fee of 200 Euros before they start their trip. After arriving each volunteer gets an orientation week, but afterwards there are always people at the site, to which they can turn with questions and problems.

If you are interested to come and help us, you send an informal application to Edith de Vos, baobabchildren@yahoo.com, and you will hear from her, if there is any chance for you to come. We need people with special qualifications dependent on who is already coming, so please don’t be disappointed if we can’t give you a positive answer. Many people want to come to our project as they like the concept, but we only can take a few at a time, as we want you to experience Africa and we want the Ghanaians to do the work. Through our project we are providing working places in a very poor area without jobs- volunteers should not take jobs from Ghanaians.

Volunteers should be in a stable health condition, as the tropical climate asks a strong immune system. Visitors can only be received in agreement with the managing staff, leisure time and holidays have to be agreed on. Requirements are: the willingness to work in a foreign culture, to open up to unknown practices, to live without any luxury, to withstand difficult situations, to develop initiative and to be ready for new experiences. Constant telephone calls to or from the home country, parcels and visits from abroad should be extremely limited, since the volunteers indeed come to enter into African culture and leave their former life at home. Volunteers should bring something what they are able to give and be prepared to learn from the people of Ghana. Under these conditions their stay can be fruitful for both sides.