When Pearl received a text message on December 15 inviting her to interview for a volunteer position at the Zaama Disco Concert, she saw it as an opportunity.
It was a chance to be part of one of the city’s most anticipated musical spectacles, headlined by the prolific artist Black Sherif and held at the Legon Sports Stadium.
She and other volunteers were promised transportation, three meals a day, event access, and a modest stipend.
What she received instead, according to a viral testimonial shared by the digital outlet ChaleNewsGh, was a harrowing 48-hour lesson in volunteer exploitation.
‘Racing Against Time’
For Pearl and the volunteers who had signed up, the trouble began in the early morning of Sunday.
Nearly 100 volunteers arrived at the stadium, despite the organizers’ failure to provide the promised ride-share codes. By 10:00 a.m., the cohort had doubled to 200.
The “briefing” they were given was less about logistics and more about physical endurance. Volunteers were sorted into teams and tasked with the heavy lifting of concert production: hauling massive metal trusses and shifting stage equipment.
“We were racing against time,” Pearl recounted in the thread, describing a scene of frantic preparation. But as the physical toll mounted, the promised support system seemingly vanished.
The breakfast, promised as tea, arrived as a meager serving of porridge sourced from a local vendor.
According to Pearly, lunch was nonexistent.
By mid-afternoon, organizers reportedly admitted they had budgeted only 10 Ghanaian cedis per volunteer for food—a sum that made finding a meal on a Sunday nearly impossible.
Luxury for Some, Thirst for Others
While volunteers toiled without food, cases of Beta Malt—a popular local energy drink—were brought in.
According to Pearl, the drinks were reserved for the organizers. When volunteers asked for refreshment, they were told there wasn’t enough to go around.
By 5:00 p.m., the situation turned from neglect to exclusion. As the concert began and the bass from the speakers started to thump, the very people who had built the stage were barred from seeing the show.
Accreditation tags, promised as a reward for volunteer work, were in short supply. Without them, security turned the volunteers away.
After 15 hours of unpaid labor, many were simply left out.
“Be Grateful for the Opportunity”
On Monday, volunteers received a text message summoning them back to the stadium for a 3:00 p.m. “meeting.”
Many arrived hoping for their promised payments. Instead, they were handed brooms and told to begin the post-concert cleanup.
After three more hours of sorting trash and packing gear, the compensation finally arrived: a single 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola for each person.
When Pearl and others demanded the payment they were originally promised, they were told they should be “grateful” for the opportunity to have been selected at all.
Response from Organisers
On Thursday, the organizers of Zaama Disco released a statement, thanking fans for attending the concert.
They also stated that they had listened to feedback and would improve.
The statement did not directly address issues with the volunteers.
For the hundreds of volunteers who spent their weekend hauling steel for a bottle of soda, the “Disco” was less a celebration of music and hardwork, and more a cautionary tale of volunteer exploitation.
This article was edited with AI and reviewed by human editors
