This year has so far been a challenge to so many people, especially those less privileged. In Ghana, the number of confirmed cases is relatively low. You can follow the development of Corona cases in Ghana on the website of the Ghana Health Service:

https://ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/

Effects on Ghana

The measurements taken by the government were crucial for the health of Ghanaians, but also brought other obstacles. For example, the prices for food have increased. Because of the border closure, there was a lack of tourism, that caused a loss of jobs like hotel staff, border staff and flight attendants, to name a few. Furthermore, the schools were closed which means most teachers are also not being payed.

Volunteer project

However, for us as an NGO in Ghana, the pandemic also had other negative impacts. Our only volunteer, Theresa, had to leave us from one day to another. We understand that it is best for her own safety, but it was very sad to see her go 2 months before she was supposed to leave.

This also meant for our organisation, that our financial means from the Weltwärts volunteer program were cut, and now we have to find another solution to pay the yearly registration fees for organisations in Ghana, and cover other expenses. Also, the host family, the cook and the mentor now lost their jobs for an indefinite period of time. We hope for the sake of the organisation and all those who are financially dependent on the work, that the Weltwärts program can be pursued quickly and with adequate safety measurements.

Theatre rehearsals

Furthermore, we are not able to pursue our theatre rehearsals until further notice. We had a great start in the beginning of March, and many nice rehearsals practicing basic theatre skills and we were getting to know our new members. We wanted to start rehearsing our new play, but now, that we don’t have the chance to meet in person, we are forced to continue practise acting skills. Therefore, we give exercises in our Whatsapp group and everyone sends a short video or picture, then the rest of the group will give a feedback. Those who don’t have a smartphone can partner with a member who has one.

We hope and pray that the world will overcome this virus as quickly as possible, and we can go back to normal. If you want to help WAYEOK to overcome this crisis, you can help us either financially by making a donation or help us find volunteers, who can come to Ghana as soon as possible.

Please contact us directly if you want to make a donation.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in becoming a volunteer, you can find all informations and links here:

https://wayeok-ghana.org/volunteering/

You can already submit your application!