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About Wisdom Academy...For Volunteers
General Questions 1. How did you hear about the GWF Volunteer Program? Wisdom Academy was the host school for one of GWF's Directors upon their first visit to Ghana. 2. Why do you want to participate in the GWF Volunteer Program? To advertise the school and to get volunteers who will bring with them their own experiences and new methods of teaching from abroad. 3. How many volunteers can you host at one time? Four 4. Have you hosted volunteers in the past? If so, how many? Can GWF contact them? Yes, around 25. 5. How will you be able to transport volunteers to and from the airport? Wisdom school bus, private vehicle, or taxi if other options are unavailable. Housing and Living 6. Will you be able to provide/obtain housing for volunteers? Yes 7. Please give a brief description of the volunteer housing. Volunteers will stay in rented rooms from homes in the area and will contain a bed, electricity (lights), fan, table and a chair and a bath/toilet on the premises. 8. What kind of community will the volunteers live in? (i.e. rural, suburb, small/large town, city, etc.) Kitase, a small town, roughly 3,000 residents. 9. Volunteer housing must have a fan, bed, pillow and sheets, and mosquito netted windows, and a flushable toilet (running water is not necessary). Besides these amenities what else can you offer? A writing table, chair, and water container will be available in the rooms. 10. Will the volunteers have their own room? Are there options for volunteers to share a room? Volunteers will have their own room unless they choose to share a room with another volunteer. 11. Do you have running water at your volunteer housing? If not, what is the main water source? No running water—water will come from wells in the area or rain when it is available. 12. What type of setting is your volunteer housing located in? Please give a brief description of your town/village and the surrounding areas. Volunteer housing will be located in Kitase, a small town, but close to the large town of Aburi. It is about an hour drive from the capital, Accra . Most amenities may be found in town and transportation to and from is readily available. 13. Volunteers must be provided three meals a day. How will you do this? Where will they take their meals? All meals will be prepared by the proprietor or his family at his house. This is also where volunteers are expected to take their meals. 14. Will laundry be done for volunteers? If so, by whom? Cost? Laundry will be done for volunteers by the proprietor's family or his neighbors, with the only costs coming from the purchase of soap. 15. How far away is the closest internet café? Five kilometers in Aburi. About the School 16. Please provide all contact information for your school including location. PO Box 150 Aburi-Kitase Eastern Region , Ghana /Tel: (0233) 0244-016550 17. Is your school public or private? Private 18. Is your school and volunteer housing located in the same area? Yes If not:
19. What type of setting is your school located in? Please give a brief description of your town/village and the surrounding areas. (If housing and school are located in the same area, you may omit this question.) N/A 20. How many students does your school have? 360 21. Which levels does your school contain? How many students are in each class? Nursery to JSS-2 (8 th grade) as of Fall 2007. 22. Do the students pay tuition to attend school? If so, how much? Yes. $26-31 per term (3 terms in a year) 23. Is your school registered within the school district? Yes 24. Does your school receive money/materials from government assistance or from any other organizations or institutions? No, except for occasional donations from volunteers. 25. What subjects are taught at your school? Math, English (Lower Primary-Phonics), Science, Religious and Moral Education, Environmental Studies, Twi (JSS-Pre-Tech, Pre-Voc) 26. Does your school use a curriculum? No (it is currently unavailable to the school). 27. Do you offer any extra-curricular clubs/activities? If so, what? Please give a brief description of each club or activity. The following are clubs that have been available to the school in the past and may or may not be currently running. Volunteers are encouraged to help facilitate any club or program that interests them as these activities often fall stagnant when volunteers are unavailable. Friday's activity day affords a good time to arrange for these clubs to meet. Ask the proprietor or a GWF representative for more details of these or what past volunteers have done to get involved. • Wisdom Football Club • Female Empowerment Club • Computer Club • Cultural Club • HIV/AIDS Awareness Club • *Reading Club (Yet to be established at the time of this writing, but is something that the proprietor is very interested in.) 28. When are your school's breaks? Generally, the breaks coincide with the public schools (except Wisdom Academy 's breaks are often shorter than the public schools) as follows: mid-December—early January, early/mid-April—early May, mid-August—early September. 29. What are school hours? 8:00AM – 3:00PM 30. How many teachers do you have? Are they all trained teachers? On average, between 9-10 teachers, currently, no teachers are trained, though the school is hoping to obtain trained teachers in the future. 31. Does your school practice caning? Occasionally—more of a teacher's policy than a school policy. Volunteer Duties and Other Activities 33. What levels and subjects will be taught by volunteers? Volunteers are usually expected to teach Upper Primary and JSS, however if they would like to teach a class other than these, the school can usually accommodate (volunteers should talk to the proprietor about these details ahead of time). Volunteers are usually expected to teach English, Math, and Science (and occasionally Environmental Studies), however, again, if a volunteer would like to teach another subject (i.e. French), this can usually be arranged. At times, when teachers are absent, it is expected that volunteers take the responsibility for an entire classroom's subjects (assistance will be given for subjects that may be unfamiliar to the teacher.) 34. Besides teaching, what responsibilities and duties will be expected of a volunteer (i.e. running of extra-curricular activities, tutoring, etc.)? Volunteers are expected to participate in general supervision when they are in the school, as well as extra classes/tutoring occasionally when needed. 35. In what other ways can volunteers help at the school besides teaching? (i.e. school beautification, field trips, construction improvements, fundraising, administration work, etc.) The more ideas you can give us, the better. Volunteers are encouraged to get involved with helping out with administrative (organizational) duties for the school, extra-curricular programs and activities, current school projects, tutoring, current construction projects, fundraising, etc. Any ideas the volunteers have for helping out the school are welcomed. 36. How many hours each day will volunteers be teaching or in the school? How many days a week? Depending on the interest of the volunteer as well as the subjects they have been assigned to teach, as well as whether they will be responsible one entire class or a few classes, volunteers can expect to work between 3-6 hours a day, five days a week (less on Fridays, which are activity days). 37. Will volunteers be permitted/encouraged to travel? Can they miss school days? If so, when must they tell about their travel plans (i.e. Before arriving, one week in advance)? Volunteers may miss school days when given prior notice to the proprietor and make the necessary arrangements (preparing lessons). When missing school days, one week notice should be made in advance, however, when traveling on weekends, notice the day before is fine. Volunteers should let the proprietor know where they will be traveling to as well as the duration of their travel so he can make appropriate arrangements. It is considerate to call and notify the proprietor if plans change. GWF Comments: As the inspiration behind GWF, Wisdom obviously holds a special place in our organization's plans. The school's reputation continues to grow and therefore so to does the school's population. A lack of structure (e.g. curriculum, lesson plans, etc...) has been the only negative (to some), but this is far outweighed by the many positives - good location, great school, lively children, and more. About Kitase: This small rural village is located in the Akuapem Hills just north of Accra. Although it is relatively close to the city (you can see the city lights at night) the scenery and pace seem miles away from any hustle and bustle. *Last updated: August 2007 For further questions and inquiries regarding our volunteer schools, please contact info@ghanawisdom.org
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