Medical and public health work experience for teens

You choose a track, a length of 2 to 12 weeks, and a start window in summer 2027. After you apply, we hold a video call about your goals, your experience, and anything your school requires, such as supervision hours or evaluations.

When you are accepted, your placement and your exact price are confirmed in writing. Before you travel, you complete our online orientation and safeguarding training, apply for your Ghana visa with our guidance, and get your yellow fever vaccination.

In Ghana, our team meets you at the airport in Accra and brings you to Mepe, where you meet your host family and see your placement before work begins. You serve on weekdays with a mentor beside you and a check-in every week. Weekends are for cultural trips and rest. When you finish, you receive a certificate of service with your hours and a reference letter.

Many interns start with our Ghana Solidarity Trip, July 21 to 31, 2027, and stay on to complete their placement.

Real work, from your second day, matched to your track and supervised by local staff and your mentor. Education interns teach and co-teach in the STEAM and ICT Lab at Dadome D.A. Basic School and in partner classrooms. Health interns run health education sessions at partner schools, always alongside licensed local professionals.

Food and enterprise interns work in school gardens and school meals programs and coach young founders. Rights, environment and energy interns support child protection work, solar projects for schools, and eco-clubs. Operations interns keep programs running: logistics, research, monitoring and evaluation, grants, fundraising, and storytelling.

The graduate-level Design and Technology Innovation internship works with the community on low-cost solutions, from problem finding through prototypes. Whatever your track, you will leave with finished work you can point to, not just hours you can count.

Your base is Mepe, a community in Ghana's Volta Region, and most placements sit in Mepe and nearby Dadome. The anchor site is Dadome D.A. Basic School, home to the STEAM and ICT Lab our foundation built with partners.

Depending on your track, you may also serve at partner schools and community programs nearby. Daily transport to and from your placement is arranged for you.

Weekend trips show you more of Ghana: the castles at Cape Coast and Elmina, the canopy walk at Kakum, markets and local celebrations. The community will know your name by the end of your first week.

Our Ghana team is on the ground in Mepe, led by our Ghana Country Director, and supports you around the clock for your whole stay, starting before you land. It is their community, and they know it well.

Every intern completes safeguarding training and signs our Child and Youth Safeguarding Code of Conduct before serving. Host families are vetted by our team, placements are supervised, and health-related work happens only alongside licensed local clinicians.

Travel and medical insurance is required for every intern. If you are ever unwell, our team will accompany you to care. Before you go, you and your family receive the team's direct contact details, so someone who knows you is always a call away.

You live with a vetted host family in Mepe, in a room of your own, and become part of the household for your stay. Living with a family is how interns learn the language basics, the customs, and the everyday life of the community they serve.

Three home-cooked meals a day are included, built on local dishes such as rice, stews, plantain, yam and fresh fruit, with clean drinking water always available. Tell us about dietary needs before you travel and we will plan them with your hosts.

Your stay includes the everyday essentials, including cleaning, so you can focus on your placement.

In some cases, yes. We welcome high school applicants, and a 17-year-old may travel without a parent or guardian once every step is complete: a video call with a parent or guardian, a consent form signed by each parent or legal guardian, a notarized travel permission letter, an emergency medical authorization, a named adult in the United States who can be reached at any hour, and travel and medical insurance that includes medical evacuation. Applicants under 17 travel with an adult.

Read our under-18 policy and our information for parents.

Health interns support health education and community projects in Mepe and Dadome. Typical activities include:

• Helping with handwashing, dental hygiene and nutrition workshops for students
• Supporting menstrual health education with our Girls' Health program
• Helping keep the Dadome village well and school sanitation projects running well

A placement may also include supervised time at our partner hospitals, where interns under 18 observe and help with non-clinical tasks. Our free health screenings are coming soon. We confirm which activities are right for your age and training on your video call.

Both. Most of your time is public health education and community projects. Through our partnerships with two hospitals in Ghana, a placement can also include supervised time at a hospital, alongside licensed Ghanaian doctors and nurses.

Interns only do what their training and license allow. For interns under 18, hospital time is observation and non-clinical help, never hands-on patient care. Hospitals set their own rules, and we follow them.

Internships run in person in Ghana in summer 2027, for 2 to 12 weeks. There are two ways to start:

• Cohort track: start on July 21, 2027, traveling with the Ghana Solidarity Trip group.
• Flexible start: choose a start date between June and August 2027 on the Apply page.

A 4-week internship costs $3,895 to $4,295 depending on your track. The Medical & Public Health track is $4,195. Flights, your Ghana visa fee and insurance are extra. Your exact dates and total are confirmed in writing at acceptance. See how it works.

Flights are not included in your fee. You fly to Kotoka International Airport in Accra. We offer chaperoned flights for a fee from some U.S. airports. If your airport is not on the list, we connect you with airline services that offer chaperoned or unaccompanied-minor support.

Our Ghana team is on standby 24/7 to track the travel of every under-18 intern and to meet them at the airport. A Team Lead or Program Director meets every under-18 intern inside the airport in Accra and brings them to Mepe, about two hours by road, and accompanies them during airport transfers, travel and program activities. Families also need a notarized travel permission letter, a passport, a visa and a yellow fever certificate. Our travel partners, Chase Travel and Amex Travel, each offer a 24/7 emergency phone number. Read booking flights and arrival procedures.

Yes. Our under-18 policy builds on our child safeguarding policy. In short:

• Interns under 18 live with a vetted host family, in a room matched by gender and, where possible, age.
• Every placement is supervised, and no adult is ever alone with a single child.
• A mentor checks in every week, and our Ghana team is on call 24/7.
• A Team Lead or Program Director accompanies interns under 18 during airport transfers, travel and program activities.
• Interns are home by dark, and weekend trips happen only with our staff.
• Health work stays within safe limits, with licensed local professionals.

Read how we keep you safe.

A typical weekday in Mepe:

• 6:30 AM Breakfast with your host family
• 7:30 AM Ride to your placement with our team
• 8:00 AM Morning at your placement, alongside local staff
• 12:30 PM Lunch, then the afternoon session
• 3:30 PM Placement ends: project notes, prep or a walk through Mepe
• 6:30 PM Dinner with your host family

Weekends are for cultural trips and rest, including Cape Coast, Elmina and the Kakum canopy walk. Your full weekly breakdown is in the Changemaker Portal, which you can access after you sign up and are accepted.