Follow the jump links to learn more about Ghana:
Lifestyle and Family Living
Teen Life
Dress and Appearance
Diet and Meals
Educational System
Geography and Climate
Population
Language
Government
Religion
Spending Money
Safety and Support
Fun FactsLifestyle and Family Living
Ghanaians have been greatly influenced by European civilization, but the country is striving to maintain and promote its uniquely African culture.
Family structure varies from one ethnic group to another. Some ethnic groups have a matriarchal family organization in which inheritance is passed down through the wife’s family rather than through the husband’s. In these ethnic groups, the chief responsibilities for the family fall on the women. Other ethnic groups have male-dominated family structures.
Ghanaians all share a deep respect for elderly members of the family, and elders exercise a great deal of influence on family decisions. Ghanaians normally disregard their individual desires and ambitions for the sake of the family unit.
The style of living can differ a lot from the city to small towns or villages. You will see different types of housing: elegant colonial houses with wide verandas surrounded by gardens, middle-range houses, bungalows, block of flats, but also poor shanty towns, made of sticks, palm fronds, sheets of iron, mud, and anything owners could find.
Markets in Ghana are alive, big and busy. You can get most things there from oranges, tomatoes, and beans, to haircuts. Market women sit under huge straw hats with babies strapped to their backs and skillfully balance loaded baskets on their heads, as if defying gravity.
At night, music is everywhere in local outdoor restaurants and nightclubs. Communities come alive in the colorful annual festivals, serving to purify ancestral “stools” (sacred piece of furniture), cleanse communities of evil, venerate ancestors and supplicate the deities for prosperity and unity.
Ghanaian host families, like all AFS host families worldwide, are volunteers and are not paid. They open their homes to students in order to share their community and culture as well as to enrich their own family lives.Teen Life
Teenagers in Ghana are very much influenced both by their traditions, which are very much alive in the country, and by western culture, through TV, movies, music and the Internet. They spend lot of time outdoors, swimming and playing soccer while dreaming of becoming international stars. They enjoy playing games such as oware (a board game) or draft (a card game). They like dancing, listening to music and playing musical instruments
After school and on weekends, teenagers are expected to help at home with siblings, cooking, light work or washing and participating in a very social family life that includes extended family members or the whole community.Dress and Appearance
Guests in Ghana gain reciprocal respect when they present themselves in tidy and well-ironed clothes. It is important to respect the people’s concern for modesty and neatness in Ghana.
Clothing should be lightweight and conservative. Despite the warm climate, it is not appropriate to wear very short shorts or to expose much skin. Bring wash-and-wear clothes, preferably made of cotton or another light material, T-shirts, blouses, knee length shorts and long pants, comfortable walking shoes, sneakers, a swimsuit, sunscreen and a towel.
You should bring one nice outfit for dressier occasions: a shirt and tie with slacks for men, a blouse and slacks or a skirt for women.Diet and Meals
Ghanaian families enjoy eating together. The diet consists mainly of yams, cassava, maize, plantains and rice. Fish is also common. Ghanaians enjoy hot and spicy foods. Tropical fruit and vegetables supplement the diet.
The mainstays of Ghanaian cuisine are thick sauces, usually eaten with potatoes or rice. Fufu, the much-loved staple for most of West Africa, is a mashed ball made of cassava, yam, or plantain that has been cooked and pounded.
Other types of dishes usually served are kenkey – traditionally prepared by boiling balls of mixed portions of fermented cooked maize meal and raw maize dough wrapped in corn husks; banku – fermented corn/cassava dough, cooked in hot water into a smooth whitish paste; or gari – made from fresh cassava that is grated after which the excess liquid is squeezed out. The remaining cassava is then fried over an open fire, on a broad metal pan. The resulting product is crisp, crunchy, stored easily and can be eaten with stew or soup and fish. In secondary schools, it is sometimes soaked with water, milk and sugar.
Streets and markets are filled with vendors of fresh food. A popular dessert is fried plantains seasoned with chili pepper and ginger that goes well with a refreshing drink made of corn called askenkee.
Ghana’s most famous product is cocoa. It is one of the country’s major exports and is used to make chocolate and cocoa butter. Educational System
This program combines school life with cultural exploration and some community projects. Core subjects in Ghanaian secondary schools include English, Ghanaian languages, mathematics, agricultural and environmental studies, life skills, physical education, science and arts.
You will be placed in the next-to-last or last year of high school. There will be vacations in December and at festival times.
All schools require students to wear a school uniform. The number of students per class is usually 45-55. A regular class takes 45 minutes for a single session or hour and a half for a double class.
While it may be possible to obtain academic credit for the coursework you successfully complete abroad, AFS cannot guarantee this. Please discuss your plans with your school before you go abroad.
Geography and Climate
The Republic of Ghana lies in the tropics on the Guinea Coast of West Africa and is about the size of the United Kingdom. Ghana has 336 miles of coastline in the south and a few mountains and hills. Dense rainforest gives way to savanna and grassland in the north.
The weather in Ghana is generally sunny, and temperatures average 30°C/80°F. May and June are months of tropical rain. The Harmattan winds off the Sahara Desert reach Ghana during December and January, bringing hot days, cool nights, and very low humidity.
Population
The population is 23 million. Accra is the capital of Ghana with almost 2 million people. The major ethnic groups in Ghana include the Akan 49.1%, Mole-Dagbane 16.5%, Ewe 12.7% and Ga-Dangme 8%.
Language
English is the official language of Ghana, reflecting years of British colonization. The local languages are rich in proverbs, the use of which is taken to be a sign of wisdom. Euphemisms are very common, especially about events connected with death.
Several tribal languages are spoken widely including Akan (written Kwi), Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, Twi, Fante, Hausa, Dagbani, and Nzema and Ga.
Government
Ghana is a republic and practices parliamentary democracy. The Ghanaian flag was designed by Mrs. Theodosia Okoh, a Ghanaian, to replace the flag of the United Kingdom following independence in 1957 and consists of the colors red, gold and green in horizontal stripes with a five-pointed star in the center of the gold stripe. Red represents the blood of those who died in the country’s struggle for independence; gold represents the mineral wealth of the country; green symbolizes the country’s rich forest; and the black star stands for the lodestar or inspiration of African freedom.
Religion
Many of the major religions of the world are practiced in this country. About 68% of Ghanaians belong to a Christian denomination. The rest adhere to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism or one of various indigenous religions.
Spending Money
The cedi is the official currency in Ghana.
Your program and country information packet (provided in the months prior to your departure) will give you an idea of how much spending money is appropriate and whether you should arrive with any amount of the local currency in hand.
Host families pay only for ordinary family events in which you are expected to participate. When you do such things as shopping for yourself or going out with friends, the expenses are your responsibility. Depending on the cost of living in your host country, we recommend you budget about $100-$300 per month.
Remember: never travel with large amounts of cash. Instead, bring travelers checks or follow the advice in the country and program information packet. Another option for obtaining money while overseas is to use a debit card linked to a checking account back home (but try not to use a debit card for daily purchases since there are ATM and currency exchange fees). Or, you can transfer money using wiring services such as Western Union.
You and your parents should determine a budget and preferred money transfer plan before you depart so that you are not caught without spending money while abroad.
Be conscientious of your spending since conspicuous consumption may not be viewed favorably and spending more than your peers and family may create a distance between you and them.
Safety and Support
AFS has the utmost concern for the welfare, safety, and security of our participants. We’ve been exchanging participants throughout the world for 60 years—that’s six decades of history and experience in international education with an exemplary record of safety, security, and service.
AFS maintains a network of experienced staff and trained volunteers who provide support in each country. In the event of an emergency, 24-hour assistance is available to students, their parents, and the host families. Furthermore, your AFS tuition includes comprehensive medical insurance coverage to ensure that medical care is available to our participants anywhere in the world and at all times.
While we have the above support structures in place, we also encourage you to take responsibility for your own safety and we give you the guidance to do so. Many of the AFS orientation activities, both at home and abroad, are intended to give you the tools to stay safe. We also provide country-specific safety tips to each participant prior to departure.
Learn more about the AFS safety and support network.
Fun Facts
- Cadbury, one of Britain’s largest chocolate-makers, imports 90% of its cocoa from Ghana.
- Ghana’s capital city of Accra boasts about 500 Internet cafés, roughly six times as many as London has.
- Kofi is the Fanti tribe’s name for a male child born on a Friday.
- Togo imports as much as 75% of its electricity from Ghana.
- On Sunday, August 4, 1974, Ghanaian traffic began driving on the right side of the road.
- Lake Volta, the biggest man-made lake, is in Ghana.
