For 10 years, Jan Shannon worked in public relations and fundraising for private nonprofits. She also spent many years as a writer, editor, and author. Now retired and living in New Jersey, Shannon volunteered with Global Volunteers for the first time in 2005 and was deployed to Mexico. In 2006, she spent three weeks in Ghana as an English teacher, also with Global Volunteers.
Shannon taught English in a primary school in the village of Akrade, just north of the equator and an hour-and-a-half drive from Accra, Ghana's capital. Shannon says that everyone in Ghana speaks at least one African tribal language at home, but that English is taught in school. By sixth grade, she said, students are supposed to be fluent in English.
Smart and energetic, the kids love to give the "substitute teacher" a hard time, but the children were attentive and curious when Shannon found a subject that really held their interest.
Though the people in Shannon's village were poor, she was impressed with what they had been able to do without all the things Westerners consider necessities, such as electricity and running water.
The most difficult part of the experience for Shannon was leaving. "I cried, along with my students, when my departure time arrived. I still miss my kids' joie de vivre, the dignity with which the adults conduct their lives, and the beauty of the village," she said.
But her students won't be abandoned. Every other month, Global Volunteers sends a new team to Akrade, and future volunteers will continue the work Shannon began.
Summing up her feelings, Shannon said, "The students will be the winners, because what they learn from us about the English language-and the world beyond their village and their country-will affect their futures. As for me, my life will never be the same. I learned so much more from them than I could ever give."
