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Personal story of two volunteers in Atsiekpoe

Below, you'll find a personal account of two Dutch volunteers in the villages of Atsiekpoe and Vume.

Annemarie van Alphen & Irene Poortinga

Teaching in Atsiekpoe-Vume

Annemarie and Irene where the first two volunteers in Atsiekpoe-Vume. They volunteered in the village from Februari until May 2007 as teachers and set up a village/school library.

" Meeting the real Africa starts in de canoe to Vume and Atsiekpoe. Everybody in the canoe was asking if we were afraid of the water. No we were not afraid of the water, more nervous about how people would respond to our appearance. We were the first two white people who were going to live in the village. There was nothing to be worried about, we received a warm welcome. People carried our luggage on their head to our house, everybody greeted us with 'Woez' and people were smiling. Children were running after us screaming 'yevu, yevu!'.

It is a lovely place to live. Living with the sun. The villages are not really developed and are isolated from the 'civilized world'. (no electricity, mud houses, cooking on a fire etc.) Still the villages are rich in what they have. You don't need electricity, because there is a breeze from the river and water is close by. We thought it was wonderful to walk outside and see the goats and chickens walking freely. The people live from natural resources like fish and cassava. Making baskets out of plants and eating mangoes when it is the mango season.

On Sundays you see everybody in their beautiful traditional clothes going to church. Although the villages are little, they have five churches! God plays an important role in these communities.

Although the people were very friendly we noticed that it would become hard to communicate, because most of the people couldn't speak English very well. Because of the communication problem it was hard to start our project. When we came, we had a lot of ideas, but it is difficult to start your plans when there is no structure and you don't know who to talk to. So we ' froze' our ideas for a while and started teaching, because there was and still is a lack of teachers in the school. We taught social studies and English for almost three months. By the time we knew which people to talk to, we opened a school library. Although the library is little, the students enjoy what they have. And that is also our feeling about the villages, they are small but they are rich in what they have.

We loved living there and we hope that you will enjoy the people and the nature as much as we did.

Yevu, woez! "

Annemarie van Alphen & Irene Poortinga, the Netherlands.

“ From the first moment I felt welcome and safe with Apollo in, for me, a totally strange country. Apollo showed me Accra, brought me to Aveyime where he stayed as long as I needed to feel comfortable. His brother Abraham cared for me and he became a very good friend.

My time in Ghana was unbelievable special, I'll never forget any 'small small' thing that I saw, smelled, tasted etc. The experience at the primary school was, of course, very impressive and sometimes difficult but I had a lot of nice and warm people around me who helped me. Because of Apollo and a lot of his friends my last traineeship became a big success! ”

Yolande 'Yo' Kouwets,
Holland. sankofa
“ When our daughter Yolande decided to go to Ghana for a three month's traineeship, we were a bit reserved. She would travel on her own and her stay was organized by a man called Apollo Panou who was to accompany her in a way. What kind of man would he be?

Well, we can reassure all parents who's son or daughter intends to travel to Ghana, and more in general everybody who wants to visit Ghana or surrounding countries in West Africa: contact Apollo and his travel agency. Our daugther was very well taken care of. Apollo arranged and organised all that was necessary, he was very helpful, flexible, reliable and a perfect guide. She stayed in the house of the brother and father of Apollo in the countryside. His brother Abraham was a real friend to my daughter and made her feel at home. Whenever some problem raised, she could rely on Apollo and Abraham. She had a wonderful time, in which - also with the help from Apollo - she learned a lot about Africa, Ghana, the people, the nature and the culture. She had a wonderful and valuable time she will never forget.

Apollo is not just someone who organises trip's etc. in a perfect manner and to your liking, he is also like a friend who wants you to meet Ghana and it's people. To make a long story short: as far as we had the opportunity to experience ourselves, everything that is said on this website about Apollo - by himself and by those who met him - is true. ”

Inge and Arnaud Kouwets,
The Netherlands.