I went to Accra, Ghana to do some volunteer teaching myself - I was not asked to pay anything, only to take care of my own food if I didn't like what was being served at the place i was staying.

Although this is a huge plus, that didn't prevent the organization from being a total and utter scam. When I arrived, the program director wasn't even around, and he was head of a group foster home/orphanage - they were all left unsupervised for weeks apparently. (that's CHILDREN IN NEED GHANA, or C.I.N.G)

It has turned out that through research they are finding he's been running this place and taking in foreign teaching volunteers and donors for 10 years, and this whole time it's been a scam.

While being there, I got the impression that it's big business in Ghana (getting a little something extra from foreign donours or volunteers), as it is in many other African countries. I'll tell you know that I checked out the HASP website and when translated to local currency, the money they were asking for consulting fee's alone was kinda ridiculous.

Ghana is amazing though, so if you do find something legitimate, go for it. I can recommend something in Accra - it's called the Street Childrens Academy - or something to that effect. It definately has some seriously fishy business going on (we checked it out as well, talked to some other foreign volunteers who were there) but in the end, it's purpose is to offer free education to street children which is still pretty great. It's very run down, and you'd have to watch yourself equally as carefully when negotiating the participation costs (like, really watch it) but after arriving there is so much needed that you might have the opportunity to make a real difference.

I'll stop there - but if you have more questions, you should e-mail me.