Free · Certificate included

Preparing for a Mission Trip to Ghana

Arrive as a guest of a church that sends its own missionaries out — and learn the courtesies that carry you.

Reviewed monthly · last reviewed October 2026

50 min Beginner 7 modules Pass 80%

EspañolFor: Short-term mission team members, youth group leaders, trip coordinators and first-time travelers

What you’ll learn

Explain who you are visiting — Ghana’s regions, its roughly eighty languages, and the Christian south and Muslim north
Greet, thank and apologise in Twi, and know why you are learning it when almost everyone speaks English
Use the right hand correctly, greet a group from the right, and address an elder or a chief without causing offence
Prepare your team for Cape Coast and Elmina as sites of atrocity, and debrief afterwards
Recognise the short-term practices that do harm in Ghana — orphanage visits above all — and choose the ones that help
Plan for malaria, the yellow fever certificate, water, heat, harmattan and road travel before you go

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Course outline

1
Arriving as a guest
Why a Ghana trip starts from "we are joining" rather than "we are bringing", and what preparation actually buys you.
6 min Quiz
2
Who you are visiting
Ghana’s regions, roughly eighty languages, a Christian south and a Muslim north, and chieftaincy as real authority.
7 min Quiz
3
English, Twi, and what language learning is for here
Why high English fluency changes the point of learning Twi, which language to actually learn, and the phrases worth memorising.
7 min Quiz Written + interactive
4
The right hand, the greeting, and the day you were born
The right-hand rule, greeting a group from the right, titles and chiefs, Akan day names, and the photography rules that protect everyone.
9 min Quiz Interactive
5
Cape Coast, Elmina and the weight your team is carrying
The slave forts as sites of atrocity rather than sightseeing, the Year of Return, and why one team can have two completely different days.
7 min Quiz Written + interactive
6
Do no harm
Orphanage voluntourism and Ghana’s care-reform policy, direct giving, displaced labour, and what actually helps.
8 min Quiz Interactive
7
Staying well, getting around, and before you fly
Malaria and the yellow fever certificate, water, heat and harmattan, road safety, and the team checklist most groups miss a step on.
8 min Quiz Written + interactive

Sources & further reading

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