When we last left our noble heroine she was navigated the city of Accra, eager to toil peacefully at her new found tasks. But alas, an unforeseen obstacle was to rear its head, forcing our lady to abandon the quest until a future date....
In other words.....my work placement's office wasn't done being renovated on Monday like it was supposed to be and they had no other place to go so I had the week off. Not as exciting as it sounds. In fact, while I realize that these things will happen, in Ghana and elsewhere, I was more than a little tiffed. I only have 10 weeks at my work placement, so a second week off significantly cuts into my time here. The volunteer aspect of this program was also a huge pull for me, and a lot of my personal goals have had to do with working and learning at an NGO, using it not only as a means to learn more about gender issues the developing world, but also as a way of building up my own work experience and skills. So missing out on another week of that is a huge bummer. Or so it seemed....
I'm not a hugely spontaneous person - I like to plan and it really irks me when things don't follow the set plan, or there was no plan in the first place. I'm also very shy, and not hugely adventurous and am not really one for just picking up and going some place on my own with a) no plan and b) no one else to help me/commiserate should we meet with the inevitable disaster that will come out of not having a plan. So the fact that on Sunday night, upon hearing I was to have the week off from AFAWI, I decided to take off to Koforidua for the week and visit an NGO called Matthew 25, is still a little surprising to me. Not that this was a hugely risky plan or anything. One World has been involved with Matthew 25 in the past and it was in our resource binder as a potential place to visit and volunteer at for a couple of days, and Koforidua's only a 2 hour trotro from Accra. Still, one of my goals for work placement was to take initiative and to push myself beyond my boundaries. Even though this isn't what I had in mind, I still feel like in calling up Matthew 25 and packing my bags I did push myself out of my comfort zone and took control over what could have been a crappy situation. It would have been easy for me to bum around Accra for another week exploring, but instead I got to visit a super cool organization and meet super cool people. Hurray for personal growth!
Matthew 25 was started by, and is still run by, a priest called Father Bobby Benson. I called him on Monday to see if I could visit that week and volunteer and it just so happened that he was in Accra on business and could drive me back to Koforidua himself. Fate? Seems like it. Fr Benson is super cool, very friendly and hospitable and is really encouraging of our program and eager to teach me as much as possible. The organization provides support for people living with HIV/AIDS, focusing specifically on stigmatization. It's apparently quite common in Ghana for family members and friends to abandon those with HIV when they learn their status, making it difficult for those with HIV to find support networks. They also face a lot of discrimination in the work place, and some face difficulty finding employment. These reactions are often the result of associations between HIV contraction and immoral behaviour, and the disease can even be viewed as punishment of unethical acts such as homosexuality or pre-marital sex. There's also a lot of fear of contamination due to misconceptions of how HIV is transmitted. Matthew 25 helps fight these kinds of stigmas through counseling services, sustainable income generating projects and socialization meetings. These meetings in particular give those living with HIV a chance to socialize with others in a way they may not be able to in their own communities. It also provides an opportunity for those without HIV to take part, so that they may learn to see their peers more compassionately and with less fear. There are still a lot of obstacles, however. The house has several income generating activities for members, such as tie dying, palm oil production, charcoal production, soap making and even an ambulance and funeral service. Yet selling their products in the market is sometimes difficult, as there are many who will not buy them out of fear of contracting HIV themselves from these products.
Matthew 25 has other activities as well. They care for a number of vulnerable children, looking after food, shelter and school fees. They also have a youth club that hosts educational activities - which are also important to help stop stigmatization. They run an annual Christmas soup kitchen, which seems very similar to what we helped out with at Shekinah in that it provides both food and a positive Christmas celebration for those who may not have anywhere to go for the holidays.
Although, due to the time of year, there wasn't a lot for me to help out with this week, I still had a really great time. I did a bit of computer stuff and helped go through pictures for reports and newsletters. A lot of my time was spent reading the resources they had at the house, and learning about their work, as well as the situation of HIV/AIDS in Ghana. One of the things I found really interesting was the idea mentioned of HIV/AIDS as "other" - which reminded me of work I did in my fourth year Post-Colonial literature class at Guelph last year. It was another one of those moments where academic stuff and experiential stuff came together in my brain to kind of enhance each other. I also read some stuff about how HIV/AIDS is increasingly affecting women, due to social, biological and economic factors. And it was another moment of realizing how interconnected "development" is - something I've realized again and again, both at school and here in Ghana. It's daunting - but its also really inspiring to see great work being done like it is at Matthew 25. I think also being in a country that is so outgoing and socially oriented, I have a bit of a better appreciation for how big a deal stigmatization and abandonment are. Ghanaians are also very dependent on extended family networks for different kinds of support; which can help deal with gaps in things like social welfare systems. So again, being cut from that family network can be really devastating both emotionally and economically.
Finally I think it's worth mentioning that after talking to me about my program, and specifically our focus on cocoa farming, some of the staff took me on an excursion to the nearby Cocoa Research Institute for an excursion - totally unexpected!! It was really interesting though, to listen to the PR guy and to see some of the research projects going on there. It's run by the Government Cocoa Board, and does research on cocoa and other major agricultural crops. They research and develop different plant species, pesticides, fertilizers, production methods etc. They also focus on passing these scientific advances on to farmers, with the primary goal of increasing yields. This can be good for farmers - but also is good for the cocoa board since they buy the cocoa from farmers - who get 71% of the money from the sale of the cocoa on the world market. The rest is retained by the cocoa board to fund their work. I do think that the cocoa research institute does a lot of really important work as far as developing inputs, as well as high yielding, disease resistant cocoa plants. I've done enough courses in agricultural economics, I think, to have a balanced enough view of these kinds of institutes. I think that they can do a lot to help production, which can benefit farmers....but its only one part of the equation. If the social and economic systems are unfair, then technological solutions can only go so far. I know that my host father raved about his superior hybrid plants, and the difference fertilizers and pesticides have made (not organic...issue for another day). But I also know that its only one piece of the puzzle if my host father, and other cocoa farmers still don't get a fair price for their cocoa from chocolate companies.
All in all, it was a really educational few days for me. It was nice too to be out of Accra for a bit. Koforidua is beautiful and made me realize how much I miss trees and greenery. It was nice too to have an adventure by myself. I tend to be an observer and so I know I hang back if other people are talking, asking questions, discussing issues. And I like listening and thinking (and sometimes judging inside my head....). It was good for me though to be able to sit down for dinner with Father Benson and just talk one on one about things like the benefits of travel, the pros and cons of contraception, alcoholism in Canada and Ghana etc. It was really interesting and a really great visit. I came back yesterday afternoon feeling really good about it all, and excited to start back at AFAWI today with my first official teen club meeting....which was canceled this morning because my boss is sick. But I'm trying to remain positive! I'm supposed to start again on Monday, and hopefully the new office will be done by then and I can sink my teeth into working with AFAWI. If not, I'm making a list of other NGOs in Accra I might like to contact or visit and I will make it work!
Oh, by the way...Matthew 25 is a reference to a really nice bible verse - sorry, I can't remember it off by heart. But I encourage you all to look it up!
It's comforting to see religion inspiring so much beautiful work.
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