Sarah C. Kollmann 2015 – 2016
My work as a volunteer in the Baobab Children Foundation has been divided into two working areas, the Baobab House in Cape Coast and the Baobab Center in Kissi/Kwahinkrom.
At the Baobab House, we were volunteers for the store and for the five guest rooms. We always worked in a 6-hour shift at the store – in the first time it was three days a week; In the last nine months I’ve been in the store every 14 days for a week. Here I had to clean, take inventory every morning and evening, pick up new products, refill products at the store, develop new labels and presentation possibilities, conduct accounting, receive room reservations, welcome guests, show them their room and realize new ideas and projects to develop the house. In addition, we were volunteers in the monthly meeting of employees for the minutes writing.
At the Baobab Center I was when I was not in the store. At first the second half of the week, later for 14 days. Except for the last week of each month, my daily work in the center was the following:
During the week I was at the batik workshop between 8:00 and 12:00 in the morning. There I learned the tye and dye and wax batik. Besides the actual batik, this included preparations, such as fire making and wax melting, the cutting of new foam stamps, the correct mixing of the colours, learning which colours can be combined as well as which color and pattern combinations look best.
In the afternoon between 1 pm and 4 pm, I assisted at the sewing workshop everywhere where I was needed: trimming and sewing orders, I showed the beginners how to use the machine, how to sew with Hand and needle, I was available for problems and questions and discussed colour- and patterncombinations with them. I also introduced some new pocket designs where I coordinated the entire manufacturing process and instructed the students how to sew the bag.
In addition to the regular sewing in the afternoon, I was also in the morning between 8 am and 10am in the sewing workshop when “Workshopweek” was going on. This was always the last week of each month.
Approximately between 4 pm and 5 pm, we did physiotherapy exercises with some of the students with disabilities. We did breathing exercises with three students, exercises for mobilization of joints, strengthening and stabilisation exercises or massages. Later, this was no longer my working area, but was taken over by a trained physiotherapist.
In the evenings of the working days between 6:30 pm and 8pm we organized evening classes.
This means that two out of the four classes were supervised in homework and learning by the volunteers. In addition we did sketches and games with the students to practice oral English.
