WORK/PROJECT: Volunteers, which will comprise local and foreign, will team up with the local inhabitants to complete work on the construction of a sixteen-seater (16) public toilet facility, which was started during the summer of the 2009 workcamping season for the community. Some major works have already been done by volunteers who participated in the project previously.

Currently, aspects of the work at hand include plastering, flooring, roofing and fixing of doors, windows and other utility services such as plumbing, electricity etc. The responsibilities of volunteers, in collaboration with the local people will include mixing of mortar and concrete, plastering of walls and roofing. Clearing of project site and carting of building materials from one end to another will also be part of the task. Volunteers will be encouraged to try their hands on the laying of blocks as part of their learning experience, as they will be instructed by local master artisans attached to the project. 

Depending on progress of work, volunteers may be requested to undertake other additional tasks in the community in close consultation with authorities of the camp as they deem fit and beneficial to the people.

ACCOMODATION: Volunteers will be lodging in a very descent accommodation provided by the chief. They will sleep on mattresses on cemented floors, and for this reason, warm sleeping bags would be required. Food ingredients will be provided and volunteers will be expected to share in the preparation and cooking of the meals among other duties.

LOCATION: Tafi-Atome is a small farming community of about 3,000 natives to be found within forest zone of the Hohoe district of the Volta Region. This community is very famous for its tourist attraction endowments. It is one of few communities in Ghana which is densely populated with monkeys. Over two thousand of the mona species of monkeys are abundant in this part of the country. The community has an ecological conservation policy and measurable strategies in a bid to sustain the growth of the mammals’ population.

Tafi-Atome, with no qualms, is playing a leading role in promoting tourism in Ghana and generating foreign earnings into the national economy through the high patronage of the sanctuary by foreign visitors from across the world. The primates usually go into hibernation during the winter and become difficult for visitors or tourists to have a glimpse at them; but in the summer, they are common spectacle.

It is the belief of the indigenes that the primates are gods and as such, believed to be sacred by their ancestors. It is forbidden or outlawed for human beings to kill or cause harm to any of these mammals. The animals live closely with the people even in their homes; in fact, the mammals have been living with the people for so many years ago from their ancestral home of Assin in the Central region where the people migrated from.  It is an indisputable truth that, this is one of the best places for observation of monkeys in an African forest. Nature lovers often spend days on end in the community or the forest to appreciate the natural world. Tafi is the traditional name of the catchment area within which Atome is located, hence Tafi pre-fix the community-Tafi-Atome. Atome is the paramount town of other three communities that make up the entire traditional area which jointly produces a population of about 10,000 inhabitants, whilst the population of Tafi-Atome has been estimated at 2,000 people. The distance to the district capital, Hohoe is approximately 18 kilometers.       

LANGUAGE: English will be the official language in the camp; high proficiency will not be a requirement.

PARTICIPATION FEE: All prospective volunteers on this and other projects will be required to pay participation fee of 250 Euros per project and 150 Euros for any additional project.

SPECIAL  REMARKS: Basic facilities such as public telephone, post office, internet services and forex bureau which may serve the daily needs of  volunteers are not available in the community. However, all these facilities can be accessed at the district capital, Hohoe which is about 45 minutes’ drive from the project community. Public and private buses as well as taxis are available to shuttle volunteers between the campsite and other surrounding villages and towns. Excursion to tourist attraction places in the region, such as the renowned Volta Lake (the biggest man-made in the world), Wli water fall (the tallest natural water fall in Africa) will be arranged by the camp officials.