Ghana is one of the Western African countries located few hundred kilometers above equator. The country is situated between Togo and Cote d´Ivoire. Finally, the third neighboring state is Burkina Faso, which is north of Ghana. The waves of the Atlantic Ocean are coming to the south shore of Ghana.

Accra is the capital of Ghana. The population of the city is a couple of million and it is quickly getting higher and higher. The city is hugely wide-spread and the people throughout all parts of Accra live in various conditions. Most of them sell something on the street for living and are strongly religious. There is a big air pollution caused by cars and burning the waste.

There is a big difference in the landscape when going out of Accra. Amazing lonely beaches, when nobody is; gorgeous hills in Volta region (the east part of Ghana); preserved Mole national park full of elephants and antelopes...

Asangod Roofing Systems Ltd. Serious company manufacturing metal roofing sheets. Their customers are mainly in Accra but even around the city. The work in the company was really pleasant for me. All of the colleagues were acting in a familiar way indeed and I could learn a lot of new things not only in the field of work.

At first, I got a general overview about entire process of manufacturing and helped with the finance and administration. After two weeks, I started going to the field, talking with new customers and drawing the roof plans. When they showed me company´s "know-how" I could make the plan and calculate the price of the roof which was after given to the customer. I really enjoyed the working plan, which the company had prepared for me in advance.

I got 500GHC as a regular salary per month plus 20GHC daily (each working day) for food. Honestly saying, it would be sufficient only for food and needed stuff around. But I am not in Ghana (Africa) every Friday so I spent much more money for the trips either organized by IAESTE or even self-organized ones. There was also a smaller amount of money spent on tasting all local food and drinks.

There was a "good" level of English required in the O-form. Not all Ghanaian people are able to speak proper English, but there is normally not big problem in communication. It can only take some time to get used to their different accent.

There was a group of 8 trainees doing their IAESTE internship at the same time in Accra, and all of them were staying in one place together. Certainly, it was an advantage for us. Moreover, there was a woman named Beatris living in that house, she gave us the accommodation, food and care. The accommodation was for free, the food (dinner and breakfast) was charged - 15GHC daily.

The lady who hosts us picked me up at the airport and took me to her house, where I was staying during my internship. She is a mother of two IAESTE members, whose I have an opportunity to meet them and share some experience. Then, two other members took me the first day to the Company and introduced me to the directors. Finally, many IAESTE students from Kumasi were organizing a lot of weekend trips around whole Ghana and also were participating with us.

All of the foreign students coming for their summer internship via IAESTE to Accra were housing together. Obviously, we made a lot of activities and spent our free time together. It was enjoyable to come home every evening and to have many friends around. We have become "a big family".

Regarding sports, there were not so many opportunities to do such as healthy activities. Doing jogging on the street was not as pleasant as back in Czech, because of the air pollution caused by cars. There was also a basic gym two blocks from our house, but none of us did try it. Actually, playing beach volleyball and football was the activity number one during the weekends spending at the beach.

We got to know a lot of cultural things. Certainly, it is worthy to go to the service into the church. Then, there are a couple of cultural festivals during a summer and there are even more of them coming up in September and October.

I am a food lover, so I had to try all kind of food in Ghana. Especially street food. They sell a small cakes, eggs, oranges, sausages, fried fish, fresh fish, biscuits, vegetable, bananas, mango...
Mango, pineapple and papaya are really tasty in there. As a main course, they usually eat fish
(chicken, goat) and rice, or Banku, Fufu.. (google it up for getting pictures). Sometimes you can find beans with fried plantain and yam. The best way to explore is to try just everything.

Thanks to the internet in the mobile phone, I could communicate with my family via whats-app. I did not feel any need to connect with the Czech embassy.

Do not be afraid at all !

Good mood, mosquito spray, swimsuit, something to play during the evenings with others (cards, guitar, anything...), some small presents from your country, you can forget a fear back at home..

First of all, I obtained an invaluable experience to live a couple of months in western Africa and see all the differences in local lifestyle and culture. Certainly, I have also learned a lot of about buildings, housing and roofing in Ghana and much more about whole process of manufacturing in a company. Finally, thanks to other German-speaking trainees, I have enhanced my level of German language significantly.

I did not cooperate with Ghanaian IAESTE in a special way. I only met a lot of members when doing weekend trips. Moreover, every time I needed something, there was no problem to find somebody willing to help me.