Travel To West Africa

lougholad

Hey all I'm due to travel to Ghana on the 30th of august for 5 weeks to help with a school build. Alot of people have been trying to talk me out of it due to the recent ebola out break. Just wanted to see what you guys thought.:D

Tabnabs

It would be worth reading what the Dept of Foreign Affairs recommends
https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/a-z-list-of-countries/ghana/

And in the UK
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ghana

lougholad

Thanks Tabnabs Ill have a read

unfortunatly the irish one has not been updated since november 2013. Why does this not surprise me haha

The british one dosnt give a recommendation just states that it has not entered ghana just yet.

killbillvol2

Your call at the end of the day. It's quite difficult to catch it by all accounts so that's good. It's lethal in about 60% of cases if you do catch it - not so good!

If it were me, I'd go, given that it hasn't reached Ghana and it's quite a long way from Ghana still. If it did reach Ghana I think I'd be looking at building sandcastles in Dollymount.

Either way I'd be keeping up to date with it.

lougholad

Sandcastles in dollymount haha brilliant Just dont want to let down all the people who have donated to me but i think if there is a case before i go i should rethink what i should do. Mabey hide out in galway for 5 weeks and uploads photos from google images

sarkozy

Phone up the nearest Irish consulate, or European Union embassy in Ghana and ask what the latest advice for citizens is. You may be alright, in all likelihood you will be, but you need to make an informed decision. One friend of mine, an aid worker, has recently been sent home from Sierra Leone by their employer due to the outbreak.

lougholad

its ravaging in sirrea leon unfortunatly I have a meeting at the embassy on monday to collect my visa they seem to think everything will be fine. my only worry is how quickly things can change within 5 weeks. but im sure they would just fly me straight out if it were to enter ghana.

thanks for the advice

sarkozy

I don't think the embassy would fly you out. You'd have to do that, so it would be worth checking your travel insurance to see whether evacuation is included in your policy.

lougholad

i didnt mean the embassy sorry ha. I meant the orginization im going with.

lougholad

well everyone im alive. no ebola or anything else thank god the Experience was incredible id go back in a heart beat.

id recommend it to anyone

sarkozy

Good to hear. You'd have been more likely to pick up a common disease (malaria, bilharzia, Hepatitis, etc.) get involved in an accident than ebola, but the outbreak increases risk.

Glad to hear you had a good time and I hope you learned a lot from your experience.

What organisation did you go with and what work did you do?

lougholad

USIT organised everything but it was through the student youth and travel organisation based in west Africa. Strangely enough Im 30 and not a student ha yeah it was incredible. hard work mainly laboring but fantastic to see somewhere so different to Ireland. I'll definitely be traveling the world like this in future