As an avid traveller, it is my dream to be able to visit all the countries in the world at some point in my life. I have visited North America, South America, Asia, and Europe, all in the past couple years too, which leaves Africa, Antarctica and Australia as the continents I have yet to explore. ** Last October marked my 5th anniversary with my company, and I decided that it was time to take a break. I would have loved to take a longer break, but taking everything such as budgets and my other involvements into consideration, I decided to go for 5~6 weeks of break.

Volunteering Abroad

A few years ago, I came across a volunteer abroad organization at a booth at some event. It did interest me, but I thought 1~2 weeks would be too short for volunteering so I never gave it a serious thought. Then when I decided to take a longer break, volunteering abroad immediately popped into my head. I started researching different organizations, and based on the size and reviews of the organizations, projects and dates offered, and the fees involved, I decided go with IVHQ (International Volunteer HQ).

I love volunteering, not because I’m a selfless, warm-hearted individual who just likes helping, but because I also get a lot out of it, sometimes even more than those I am helping. Of course, there are plenty of volunteering opportunities where I am, as is the case anywhere. However, I do think you get a much different experience out of volunteering abroad as opposed to volunteering locally. Lately I’ve been realizing how big this world is compared to what I know. Despite having lived in 4 different countries (each for at least 5 years), the world I’ve seen and experienced is just a minuscule part of the actual world. Even in this era where you can get so much information through the media, what you see on the news and on the Internet may not be the whole picture. I am now determined to go and experience the other parts of the world I do not know about, and I believe that volunteering abroad would help me do that, to broaden my view.

Volunteering in Ghana

When I decided on the organization, the next step was to decide on the location. There are projects in many different countries in Africa, but I had to choose one. This might sound silly to some, but here is my story of why I decided to go to Ghana. There is a chocolate brand called Ghana Chocolate in Korea, manufactured by Lotte. I’ve liked this chocolate since my childhood, and have jokingly said multiple times that I will go to Ghana some day to eat real Ghana chocolates. So when I was looking into which country to go to, I thought, ‘well, why don’t I actually go to Ghana?’ They also had a sports teaching program which interested me, giving me another reason to go to Ghana.

Safari Camping Trip

Having heard only good things about safari trips in Africa from friends, it has been in my bucket list for a while to go on a safari camping trip. I also love adventures, and enjoy being in less-than-convenient environment, so this kind of trip seemed just perfect for me. After looking at many different tour groups, I decided to do the trip that goes from Johannesburg, South Africa, through Botswana, ending in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

**: A random thought. I just noticed how all of the continents except Europe start and end with an ‘a’. Being curious, I tried searching for it (and of course a lot of people asked the same question already), but it seems like it was just a coincidence.