Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog updates per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received late in the evening or overnight will be posted the following day.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 6
Welcome to the GLA Ghana – Children of Africa blog.
Program is officially underway! The group arrived at home base in Krobo to song and dance as we were greeted by local staff. We spent today settling in to our home for the next two weeks and starting to explore the community.
The kids we are going to be working with are so cute. We visited them at school today and were instantly surrounded as the children ran to meet us. They can’t wait to get to learn more about the United States from us and teach us about their culture.
We are all so excited to be here. Many of us have never been in a community like this, and we are already learning so much. The food is great, the smiles are big, the vibes are good, and we are already coming together as a group.
A few students aren’t here yet (Oscar, Nick, and Bassam are arriving tonight, and Liliana will get here tomorrow), so they aren’t featured in the group picture below. We will provide an updated group photo when the entire group is here.
Starting the day after tomorrow, students will start to write the blog to give you updates about our adventures. Blogs should come in every couple of days.
We can’t wait to spend the next two weeks here in Ghana, and I’m sure you are all excited to hear all about it.
Cheers,
GLA Ghana 2026
BLOG POST FOR JULY 8
Today we visited both school options for volunteer work and chose which would be a best fit for us. One is a private school. It is more organized than the public option. 9 helpful GLA students will start service there tomorrow. The free public option will have 18 students doing service there which will consist of teaching and painting.
After lunch we all took a trip to the park and played with all the kids playing volleyball, red light green light, and many other fun games! The kids are the best. Just being around them and seeing how excited they are helps give us energy. We are so happy that we decided to come on this incredible trip.
Ending the night, we talked about the rules and expectations for everyone in GLA to help keep the environment happy, fun, and safe! Everyone is having so much fun, and we can’t wait to tell you about it all when we get back home.
Clara, Elyse, and Farrah
BLOG POST FOR JULY 9
This morning during the GLA children of africa program we kicked off our morning with a delicious breakfast by the incredible cooking staff. We then headed off to our service sites which included painting and teaching at the local schools. During service we worked with a variety of different grades and taught them new games.
After an exciting few hours at the schools, we got some time to chill out and have another delicious meal for lunch. From there we broke off into groups to sort out our lesson plans for the next day. We are excited to teach our lesson plans.
Once lesson planning wrapped up, we met with our mentor groups to reflect on our core values and discuss how we demonstrate them in our daily lives. Later, we headed to one of our favorite places—the local park—where we spent the evening playing with the children. We walked back to home base in the rain, and had a a great dinner. To end the night we had an awesome bonfire while reflecting on another meaningful day of service. We sang and danced at the bonfire and can’t wait to see what tomorrow will look like.
Ellie, Nora, and Layla
BLOG POST FOR JULY 10
Today we began our day with breakfast at 8am with rice water, french toast, and traditional Ghanaian eggs. Then we separately began our journey to our respective service sites at 9am. At Edmon private school we split into our service groups and started with fun games in each class. Many of the games included heads up seven up, poison dart frog, and red light greenlight. Then we dove into the educating, we used our lesson plans that we made yesterday to ensure that the kids had a fun time reviewing different topics. For example in Grade 5 we made up games to review different types of animals (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects.) After that we spent a good time outside playing with the kids before we began our journey home. We ended up getting caught in the rain an experienced quite the downpour! At this time, another group of us continued our service at Asitey public school and park. Yesterday, we prepped the building by scraping the flaking paint off, and today we sanded the walls and began to paint. After that, everyone separated into their teaching groups and taught various lessons in different classes. Then, we all came back together and ate lunch, which was peanut butter soup, sticky rice and watermelon. Once we finished, we went outside to continue our corn washing with our small groups. Then we separated again and walked to our host families with our mentors and learned a song, numbers, animals, and days of the week in Krobo. Once that was over, we walked to Asitey park to bond and play with the kids for about an hour and a half. We then walked back to homebase where we had dinner, which was boiled Irish potatoes with egg and corned beef stew and a side of oranges. We all talked and played games until the naming ceremony began.
After wrapping up service with a wet end for the Edmond group, we broke into our host family groups and continued to wash and clean our corn. We put it through two more washing and bug picking cycles before leaving it to dry in the sun. We then made our way to our host family’s houses and continued learning more Krobo. Eliot taught my group the numbers 1-10, some common animals like goats and cows, and also some objects we might encounter in daily life like trees, water, and roads. We also kept practicing our song in preparation for church on Sunday. We then headed to the park for games like volleyball, soccer, and football. As always we loved every moment of it and luckily were able to capture some of our memories in photos.
To finish our day we had a naming ceremony where all of us students and staff were reborn with Krobo names related to our birth order compared to our siblings. What this means is depending on what gender we are and how many siblings are older or younger determines our new Krobo names. We first dressed up in our bedsheets and were painted with white clay and watched a presentation from Henry about the culture behind Krobo and the deep history. We sang and danced and eventually received our names as well as beads that symbolize this special day.
Marcela, Oscar, Stella
BLOG POST FOR JULY 11
We kicked off the morning with a hearty breakfast to fuel up for our hour-and-a-half ride to the site. The travel time flew by, filled with great music and conversations. Upon arrival, we tackled the steep, rocky hike up to the Ancient Cave. While the trail was hilly and challenging at points, our team pushed through to reach the beautiful cave summit. The entire hike was an incredible learning experience, showcasing Ghana’s rich history through its natural rock formations and stunning views.
After the first part of the hike and the delicious lunch, we made our way down 250 steps to a beautiful waterfall. There were two tall peaks and we walked around and took pictures under them. We met many locals and had lots of fun cooling off from our walk. After, we made our way back up the stairs and headed to home base. The bus ride was super fun. We listened to music and had a great time singing along and talking to each other. Once we returned, we had some chill time before heading to the park to play with the kids. We did volleyball, soccer, some yoga and gymnastics.
The night was eventful and exciting. We started it off with chow circle, which we do every night to name the new mentor of the day. The new mentors were Joe, Lili, and Sydney, because all of them did an exceptional job connecting, involving, and engaging during the day. Right after we finished chow circle, we ate dinner which was Ghanaian noodles and fried chicken. We then split into mentor groups and played charades with a twist. Each person that went had to act out an action written down on a piece of paper, but the action couldn’t be ordinary; it had to be an action of John’s choosing, which got super fun later in the rounds when the points became worth more. A bit later in the night, I watched Norway vs. England, which ended in a 2-1 victory for England. It wasn’t the result that most of us wanted, but watching the game was the perfect way to wrap up such a great day with everyone.
Erin, Nick, Kylie
BLOG POST FOR JULY 12
The Ghana Children of Africa program began their first Sunday morning with a delicious breakfast prepared by the local kitchen staff. Before heading out for the day’s activities, the group gathered their laundry for the long-awaited laundry day, where the wonderful staff kindly washed everyone’s clothes.
Shortly afterward, the group ventured to a local church for a meaningful cultural immersion experience. The service was filled with uplifting live music, inspiring prayers, and a warm welcoming community.
Students had the opportunity to sing a local song for the congregation and individually share their Krobo names. During the visit, each student also received a personalized cloth featuring both their English and Krobo names as a thoughtful gift from the reverend.
Around noon, the group returned to homebase to enjoy another delicious meal prepared by the kitchen staff.
Following lunch, students had time to relax and socialize before participating in a local batik-making workshop. The group was split into mentor groups, where each student selected a stamped pattern and used hot wax to create their unique design. To continue the productive yet relaxing afternoon, students also completed their lesson planning for Monday’s service, preparing engaging activities and lessons for the local children.
To wrap up the day, everyone enjoyed another outstanding dinner prepared by the incredible local staff before spending the evening relaxing, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company. It was a wonderful day filled with cultural experiences, creativity, and meaningful connections that the group will remember for years to come.
Josephine, Liliana, Sydney
BLOG POST FOR JULY 14
Ghana blog 14th July
This Morning at Home base at our usual 8 am breakfast time we enjoyed a lovely buffet full of cocoa puffs, doughnuts, and fried eggs. The fruit of the morning was watermelon! With Mango or mango and pineapple juice! We then split into our two service groups going to the two different schools, the edmon school group played games like imposter while they waited till 10 am to head down, since the school was finishing up their exams. After the GLA students arrived they read curriculum books and played games like red light green light, musical chairs and more with the kids! While the Asitey group finished up painting the school red, blue, and tan they practiced with the students nouns, verbs, addition and subtraction. We then said goodbye to the students ending our service time and heading back to home base. It was Overall a calm nice start to a Tuesday morning!
Card games are a huge hit here. Every individual has played some overly competitive card game this trip whether it be Uno, BS, Rummy, or Spit. So, per usual everyone’s down time today before lunch was spent either napping around home base or slapping cards down. When 1 o’clock rolled around the group got to enjoy a delicious dish of “Red Red” (bean stew), white rice, fried plantains, and pineapple. Lunch was eaten enthusiastically while us students shared and listened to story’s with each other about our lives! After lunch we started to work on our group dance! We spent today working on choreographing the smaller breakout groups within the dance. After an hour of working on the dance we set out to our host family’s to learn new words in Krobo. Local children taught us how to say a few vegetables and phrases. After learning new words we finished the session by taking a test on the words we learned last session.
This afternoon, we went to Asitey Park, where we spent time playing with all of the kids. We played soccer, tag, and other games, and it was great to see everyone having fun together. It was an easy way to connect with the kids, and they had so much energy that they kept us moving the entire time. After leaving the park, we had dinner consisting of fries, chicken, and salad. It was a nice chance to relax, eat together, and talk about the day’s activities before the evening program. Later that night, we attended a Ghanaian cultural dance performance. We got to watch traditional dances accompanied by live drumming and then were invited to participate ourselves. It was a fun experience to learn some of the dances firsthand and gain a better appreciation for Ghanaian culture and traditions.
Lilah, Lucy, Regina
BLOG POST FOR JULY 15
Ghana Blog 15th July
Today, the group started the day with breakfast before heading off to the school. When we arrived, the students were busy finishing their exams. After that we spent time together playing games, practicing English, and working on some math activities. It was a great day learning with the kids. We said goodbye and then headed back to home base for lunch.
For lunch we had fufu, which everyone was very enthusiastic about. The group circled up and everyone got the chance to take a turn pounding the plantain to make the fufu! After lunch everyone was pretty tired so we took some time to chill and play games such as imposter, BS, and spit. Around 4 o’clock, the group headed out to the park to spend time with the kids. Some people played football while others played volleyball or got their hair braided and many more activities! The group got back to home base at around 6 o’clock for dinner at 6:15 which was a delicious stirfry spaghetti with kabobs.
After everyone ate their food we finished off dinner with chow circle. We first gave shoutouts to each other and then listened to the announcement for later on tonight and tomorrow’s schedule. The leaders of the day, Amiya, Lyra, and Janae, named the new leaders of the day for tomorrow and gave the group a quote to finish off dinner. Once chow circle ended we had the option to watch the World Cup Argentine vs. England Game or play games in the dining hall for our last activity. Lastly we finished off the day by buying snacks and drinks from the shop from nha nha ama.
Amaya, Lyra, Janae
