David looks back on his 60th birthday volunteering week in Ghana
When I hit 60, I didn't want a party. I wanted to do something that would actually matter.
So instead of celebrating at home, I flew to Ghana and spent a week volunteering with a charity called Village by Village getting my hands dirty, sitting in open-air classrooms, and meeting some of the warmest, most resilient people I have ever encountered anywhere in the world.
This is what I found there, and why I think you should know about it.
The Charity
Village by Village was founded by an old school friend of mine and has, over the years, evolved into something beautifully self-sustaining: it is now predominantly run by Ghanaians in Ghana. That is not an accident, it is central to the charity's entire philosophy.
The approach is simple and powerful. Before a single brick is laid, the charity asks the village what they need, and what they can contribute. There is no imposition, no outside organisation deciding what is best for communities they don't understand. The result is genuine local ownership, stronger outcomes, and projects that endure long after the volunteers have gone home.
The work focuses on two areas: education and healthcare. In the remote villages of Ghana that the government's budget cannot reach, Village by Village builds schools and medical centres from the ground up and then keeps them supported.
What a Volunteer Week Actually Looks Like
I'll be honest: I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a genuinely physical, genuinely meaningful week that I will never forget.
Most mornings began on a building site, mixing cement alongside professional local builders, plastering walls, shifting materials. I wore a bright pink polo shirt bearing the logo of my company, It's Clean, which helped fund the trip, and I got absolutely filthy in it. There is something grounding about hard physical labour in service of something real.
There were also two young men — just finished their A-levels — who were wrapping up three months of volunteering. In that time they had helped build playgrounds and medical facilities with their own hands. Their energy, their commitment, and what they had achieved at their age was genuinely extraordinary.
The Classrooms
Some of the schools Village by Village has built are well-established now, bright, painted, equipped with water tanks and proper facilities. Others are newer, more basic. One open-air classroom I visited was a simple structure of bare breeze blocks and a corrugated iron roof.
The headteacher mentioned, completely without drama, that he had killed two snakes that morning before allowing the children inside. One was a black mamba. The other was a python. This, he explained, was not unusual.
I thought about that for a long time afterwards. These teachers are doing a heroic job in conditions most of us cannot imagine. And the children — in their red-and-white checked uniforms, laughing and jostling for position in front of the camera — were utterly joyful.
We also worked with children in classrooms using basic tablet technology. Watching them engage with educational apps, many of them for the first time, was a reminder of how vast the digital divide still is — and how transformative even basic access can be.
The Medical Centres
Village by Village has expanded significantly into healthcare in recent years. I visited one of their medical centres and was struck — quietly, and with some sadness — by the gap between what exists there and what we take for granted at home.
The delivery suite where babies are born was a small, blue-painted room. The sink where doctors and midwives wash their hands was hanging from the wall by a single bracket, the tap broken. The equipment on the table beside it was minimal but evidently cared for.
This is where mothers come to give birth. This is the best option available to them. And Village by Village built it, and continues to support it, because without it there would be nothing.
The People
I want to say something about the Ghanaians I met, because it matters.
I have lived in the Middle East. I have travelled widely. I do not say this lightly: I have never met a happier, more generous, more warm-spirited group of people in my life. There was laughter everywhere — from the woman cooking cassava outside the volunteer base, to the child perched on the bonnet of our Land Rover clutching a Gilbert rugby ball, to the builders who flexed their muscles for the camera at the end of a long day's work.
These communities live with almost nothing by the standards of the northern hemisphere. They have open-air classrooms, broken sinks, and headteachers who kill snakes before the school day begins. And yet there is a dignity, a generosity, and a joy to daily life that left me genuinely humbled.
Why I'm Writing This
I covered all of my own costs for this trip. I also raised additional funds through a JustGiving page, and was moved by the generosity of those who gave.
But I'm not writing this to talk about myself. I'm writing it because the world is full of charities doing vital work in places most of us will never visit, and it can feel overwhelming to know where to start.
My answer: start somewhere. Pick something that resonates with you personally. Don't wait for the perfect charity or the perfect moment. Just begin.
For me, that somewhere is Village by Village. I intend to stay involved with them for a long time to come. I would encourage anyone who has read this far to look them up — and if you feel moved to do so, to make a donation.
The people of these remote Ghanaian villages are not born with the same advantages that we are. They did not choose the circumstances into which they arrived. And they deserve better.
We have the means to help. The question is simply whether we will.
Find out more about Village by Village
