Volunteering at a major sporting event like the All African Games is no easy task, as Philip Asamoah, a volunteer at the games, recently shared with Sports 247.
Asamoah highlighted the challenges faced by volunteers, particularly in terms of accommodations.
“Some volunteers have different accommodations. Mostly they treat the international volunteers different than the Ghanaians. Because their accommodation is more modern than the Ghanaians. Where we sleep, sometimes there are mosquitoes and the washrooms, some don’t work,” Asamoah said.
Despite these challenges, Asamoah believes that the preferential treatment of international volunteers is justified, as visitors should be treated better. He said, “It was okay for the international volunteers to have the best of facilities.”
Asamoah is no stranger to volunteering at sporting events. He also volunteered for the Paralympics Games in Ghana in October last year. Comparing his experiences, he noted that the All African Games had a larger volunteer force, which presented its own set of challenges.
He said, “I had a better experience [at the Paralympics Games] because the volunteers were not as much as they are for the All African Games.”
Asamoah’s insights provide a valuable perspective on the often overlooked but crucial role of volunteers in making large-scale sporting events like the All African Games a success.
