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.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Life in the Big City
Hello Blog! Sorry about the delay in updating you all about my work placement. It's been a big couple of weeks, and even though I have more access to the internet that's made blogging seem less urgent and so I've procrastinated a bit. But here it is!
Before I get into moving to Accra and work placement and stuff, I'd like to take a moment to just say that our group retreat in Kumasi was really incredible. We stayed in a hostel, with nice-ish grounds, and a TV with cable (3 channels!). It was a great week to debrief travel time, and the village stay and to talk about things we'd gone through and goals for the future. It was also super amazing to have some real down time. Down time that included Oprah, and Friends - pretty much the best of western civilization right there. I found it super helpful to have set, focused times for discussion and then time to just let go a little bit of the past few months and not think too hard at all. Sometimes, in the villages especially, I felt like I was always actively thinking and learning and reflecting and while that's great, it's also exhausting. TV is wonderful in that it gave me the means to just shut the thinking off, at least temporarily and give myself a break. It was also nice to have that week with the group to enjoy each others company and support before the parting of ways.
It's been two weeks (less a day) since Hannah, Jennifer and I left for Accra. We're all settled in at the YWCA, whose rooms are conveniently made for three. It's nice to have a space of our own, where we know we'll be for 10 weeks. There are pictures up on my wall, of family, and Scout, and one of Harry and Ginny which my Mum sent me...and which reminds me daily that I have yet to see the new film! The room gets really dusty because of the Harmatan (spl?) this wind that blow in from the...North? Maybe? I don't know much about it. Just that it makes the room dusty and we have to clean it a lot. The place is... rustic, but cozy. Our showers just got shower curtains - fancy! Still lacking sinks and toilet seats - kind of a mystery as to why we have toilets with no seats, but whatever - keeps the squatting muscles strong!
My first week I was supposed to start at my work placement, but they were not yet back from holidays. This was difficult because I was super anxious about starting my work placement and knowing what the heck it would entail. I was also anxious to get over the awkward first days of meeting everyone and finding my role...so it was disappointing and a bit of a stressful week. It did give me a chance though to explore Accra a little bit, which was nice. Just going exploring, looking for food, or books made me feel a lot more comfortable in the city - or this small area of the city anyway. Accra is hot and dusty and smoggy and crowded...and yet its really growing on me. I think part of it is the independence I feel here, and the sense of purpose. Often in the village I was at a bit of a loss for what to do, or I had to do what my family wanted..which is fine, and all part of the immersion process. It is nice though to have things to do, and to be able to make a plan for myself for the day, and, now, to have a work placement to go to every day where I can feel a bit more productive than I have the last few months.
It's been weird though too because now is the time when all my grad school applications are due and so I've also spent the last couple of weeks trying to coordinate that from Ghana....mildly stressful. I'm really worried about getting in because I miss school a lot these days. A lot of my experience has kind of reignited my passion for academics - even things like economics which I thought I hated. It's been odd though too, thinking that far ahead while I'm trying to just be really present in Ghana. It's also just such a different life from what I'm doing now that its hard to wrap my brain around it. I know I have to think about it eventually but I'd been putting it off...and now I'm realizing I may have some huge decisions to make pretty soon.
Anyway, Monday I started my placement at Alliance for African Women's Initiative. Things are still a little jumbled, because their office is being redone so the project coordinator (his name is Philip) is working out of this tiny office, shared with his IT guy. He's super nice though, easy to get along with. He also works with a lot of volunteers from North America and Europe, and it seems eager to give me a decent amount of responsibility. So far I've mostly been going over documents, preparing to help out on the annual report for 2010 and to help Philip with grant proposals he has coming up. I've also met with the Executive for the Teen Club that AFAWI runs at a local junior high school. The club is a really cool initiative, which is set up to help empower teens and to fill gaps in the educational system. They meet once a week, and have speakers come to talk about health, puberty, sex-ed, HIV/AIDs and other stuff that isn't really covered by the curriculum. They also have just fun days of organized games, and debates and a yearly excursion to an educational site. Part of my responsibility will to work with the student executive in planning and running these activities. Next Friday is an election, since some of the executives are graduating in April, so that should be cool. I'm really excited to work with them, and on all my projects. Already I'm learning a lot about how NGOs function, and especially about the centrality of fundraising and other financial concerns and the associated difficulties. AFAWI has a lot of other cool projects on the go, and I'll try to update the blog more often and share a bit more about them as I learn more.
One thing that has come up for me, in particular in my work placement is wondering about what the difference would have been if I had just sent money instead of coming to volunteer. They need funding so badly for so many projects, and I feel like if I'd handed over the cost of my flight instead of coming here, it would have accomplished a lot more than just having me here to help out in the office. It's funny, because I remember having a question about this in my interview for One World last year.... It makes me wonder too how much I could have helped my family in the village if I'd given them the money instead of living with them and paying for my room and board- If I'd maybe bought my host sister that laptop she wants instead of spending all that money getting myself over her. It's a difficult question to confront, and brings me back to the selfishness of this program. The only way I can really justify/come to terms with it is to see it as more than just an investment in my education or my career. It really does make me realize that this program is giving me a huge sense of responsibility, to make sure that after all I've seen and questioned I use what I've learned to become a better development practitioner and to try to change things, if not for Ghana necessarily than for the developing world as a whole. It sounds cheesy, but there it is.
Some other thoughts on being in Accra. Sometimes this city seems like the land of temptation. I can buy anything here! There's this North American style supermarket called Koala and they literally have every product I could want - including Cheese, potato chips, all kinds of brands of shampoo, chocolates, cleaning supplies, magazines...only 28 cedis for a cosmo! (that's over $20). It's overwhelming. And yet its overwhelming in a very different way from travel time because there's less of a stark contrast, I feel, between the white tourists, and the rural village. Here in the city, even the people I work with are just of a different class of Ghanaians than I was living with in the village, and its important I think to realize that, like any country, Ghana is made up of rich and poor and in between - my village experience was just one part of one area of Ghana. My coworkers have laptops, and ipods and buy slightly more expensive food...it's interesting to observe and it reminds me a bit more of being home. It's actually a bit of a challenge that I don't have a laptop - they expected I would, as most of their volunteers bring theirs and they' don't really have extra computers laying about for my use. It's interesting too, because even though I'm still committed to simple living and living in solidarity with the economic poor, I can see how this is a bit of a transition period. I'm starting to think about how to live, not just within the parameters of the program, but how to live simply once I'm at home and all these things are accessible to me, but without program restrictions informing what I should or shouldn't buy. Working in an office also blurs the lines between 'want' and 'need'....do I need a laptop to do my job? Do I need nice clothes to fit in at this office? or do I just want them? Anyway, all these things are whirling around in my head. Luckily I still have a couple of months to get used to Accra and to kind of figure them out a little before getting on that plane back home.
Well, that's my update for now. Like I said, I'll try to blog more often about the projects I'm working on at AFAWI and about the things I'm seeing and learning about in Accra. We've past the halfway mark now on the program, and I am starting to think a bit more about going home. I'm excited - but not quite ready. I'm super happy to be in Accra and working and I feel like I really want to take advantage of the next couple of months to learn as much as I can about NGOs and women's rights and other social justice issues in Ghana.
Love to all,
Jac
Before I get into moving to Accra and work placement and stuff, I'd like to take a moment to just say that our group retreat in Kumasi was really incredible. We stayed in a hostel, with nice-ish grounds, and a TV with cable (3 channels!). It was a great week to debrief travel time, and the village stay and to talk about things we'd gone through and goals for the future. It was also super amazing to have some real down time. Down time that included Oprah, and Friends - pretty much the best of western civilization right there. I found it super helpful to have set, focused times for discussion and then time to just let go a little bit of the past few months and not think too hard at all. Sometimes, in the villages especially, I felt like I was always actively thinking and learning and reflecting and while that's great, it's also exhausting. TV is wonderful in that it gave me the means to just shut the thinking off, at least temporarily and give myself a break. It was also nice to have that week with the group to enjoy each others company and support before the parting of ways.
It's been two weeks (less a day) since Hannah, Jennifer and I left for Accra. We're all settled in at the YWCA, whose rooms are conveniently made for three. It's nice to have a space of our own, where we know we'll be for 10 weeks. There are pictures up on my wall, of family, and Scout, and one of Harry and Ginny which my Mum sent me...and which reminds me daily that I have yet to see the new film! The room gets really dusty because of the Harmatan (spl?) this wind that blow in from the...North? Maybe? I don't know much about it. Just that it makes the room dusty and we have to clean it a lot. The place is... rustic, but cozy. Our showers just got shower curtains - fancy! Still lacking sinks and toilet seats - kind of a mystery as to why we have toilets with no seats, but whatever - keeps the squatting muscles strong!
My first week I was supposed to start at my work placement, but they were not yet back from holidays. This was difficult because I was super anxious about starting my work placement and knowing what the heck it would entail. I was also anxious to get over the awkward first days of meeting everyone and finding my role...so it was disappointing and a bit of a stressful week. It did give me a chance though to explore Accra a little bit, which was nice. Just going exploring, looking for food, or books made me feel a lot more comfortable in the city - or this small area of the city anyway. Accra is hot and dusty and smoggy and crowded...and yet its really growing on me. I think part of it is the independence I feel here, and the sense of purpose. Often in the village I was at a bit of a loss for what to do, or I had to do what my family wanted..which is fine, and all part of the immersion process. It is nice though to have things to do, and to be able to make a plan for myself for the day, and, now, to have a work placement to go to every day where I can feel a bit more productive than I have the last few months.
It's been weird though too because now is the time when all my grad school applications are due and so I've also spent the last couple of weeks trying to coordinate that from Ghana....mildly stressful. I'm really worried about getting in because I miss school a lot these days. A lot of my experience has kind of reignited my passion for academics - even things like economics which I thought I hated. It's been odd though too, thinking that far ahead while I'm trying to just be really present in Ghana. It's also just such a different life from what I'm doing now that its hard to wrap my brain around it. I know I have to think about it eventually but I'd been putting it off...and now I'm realizing I may have some huge decisions to make pretty soon.
Anyway, Monday I started my placement at Alliance for African Women's Initiative. Things are still a little jumbled, because their office is being redone so the project coordinator (his name is Philip) is working out of this tiny office, shared with his IT guy. He's super nice though, easy to get along with. He also works with a lot of volunteers from North America and Europe, and it seems eager to give me a decent amount of responsibility. So far I've mostly been going over documents, preparing to help out on the annual report for 2010 and to help Philip with grant proposals he has coming up. I've also met with the Executive for the Teen Club that AFAWI runs at a local junior high school. The club is a really cool initiative, which is set up to help empower teens and to fill gaps in the educational system. They meet once a week, and have speakers come to talk about health, puberty, sex-ed, HIV/AIDs and other stuff that isn't really covered by the curriculum. They also have just fun days of organized games, and debates and a yearly excursion to an educational site. Part of my responsibility will to work with the student executive in planning and running these activities. Next Friday is an election, since some of the executives are graduating in April, so that should be cool. I'm really excited to work with them, and on all my projects. Already I'm learning a lot about how NGOs function, and especially about the centrality of fundraising and other financial concerns and the associated difficulties. AFAWI has a lot of other cool projects on the go, and I'll try to update the blog more often and share a bit more about them as I learn more.
One thing that has come up for me, in particular in my work placement is wondering about what the difference would have been if I had just sent money instead of coming to volunteer. They need funding so badly for so many projects, and I feel like if I'd handed over the cost of my flight instead of coming here, it would have accomplished a lot more than just having me here to help out in the office. It's funny, because I remember having a question about this in my interview for One World last year.... It makes me wonder too how much I could have helped my family in the village if I'd given them the money instead of living with them and paying for my room and board- If I'd maybe bought my host sister that laptop she wants instead of spending all that money getting myself over her. It's a difficult question to confront, and brings me back to the selfishness of this program. The only way I can really justify/come to terms with it is to see it as more than just an investment in my education or my career. It really does make me realize that this program is giving me a huge sense of responsibility, to make sure that after all I've seen and questioned I use what I've learned to become a better development practitioner and to try to change things, if not for Ghana necessarily than for the developing world as a whole. It sounds cheesy, but there it is.
Some other thoughts on being in Accra. Sometimes this city seems like the land of temptation. I can buy anything here! There's this North American style supermarket called Koala and they literally have every product I could want - including Cheese, potato chips, all kinds of brands of shampoo, chocolates, cleaning supplies, magazines...only 28 cedis for a cosmo! (that's over $20). It's overwhelming. And yet its overwhelming in a very different way from travel time because there's less of a stark contrast, I feel, between the white tourists, and the rural village. Here in the city, even the people I work with are just of a different class of Ghanaians than I was living with in the village, and its important I think to realize that, like any country, Ghana is made up of rich and poor and in between - my village experience was just one part of one area of Ghana. My coworkers have laptops, and ipods and buy slightly more expensive food...it's interesting to observe and it reminds me a bit more of being home. It's actually a bit of a challenge that I don't have a laptop - they expected I would, as most of their volunteers bring theirs and they' don't really have extra computers laying about for my use. It's interesting too, because even though I'm still committed to simple living and living in solidarity with the economic poor, I can see how this is a bit of a transition period. I'm starting to think about how to live, not just within the parameters of the program, but how to live simply once I'm at home and all these things are accessible to me, but without program restrictions informing what I should or shouldn't buy. Working in an office also blurs the lines between 'want' and 'need'....do I need a laptop to do my job? Do I need nice clothes to fit in at this office? or do I just want them? Anyway, all these things are whirling around in my head. Luckily I still have a couple of months to get used to Accra and to kind of figure them out a little before getting on that plane back home.
Well, that's my update for now. Like I said, I'll try to blog more often about the projects I'm working on at AFAWI and about the things I'm seeing and learning about in Accra. We've past the halfway mark now on the program, and I am starting to think a bit more about going home. I'm excited - but not quite ready. I'm super happy to be in Accra and working and I feel like I really want to take advantage of the next couple of months to learn as much as I can about NGOs and women's rights and other social justice issues in Ghana.
Love to all,
Jac
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Options; Settings; Tourist Mode (if only it was so easy.....)
Hello all! It's been a crazy couple of weeks! Travel time has been really amazing - and also really challenging. I'm really glad I've had a chance to visit more of Ghana and to see some really incredible things. I'm also really grateful that I've had a chance to be a 'tourist' in a more conventional sense for a week, as its given me a new perspective on my village experience and my goals while in Ghana. Let's start at the beginning....or where I left off last time.
Fist stop was Tamale, in the Northern region. We were there to volunteer at an organization called Shekinah, run by a Ghanaian doctor which provides a Christmas dinner to the cities poorest. The Doctor himself is truly amazing (I'm not writing his name because I don't know how to spell it. - even though it makes me picture him as David Tennant). He has such a matter of fact optimism about him, and is incredibly sincere. We had the chance to talk to him about his life and why he started Shekinah, and I guess I was surprised not to feel cynical about it. Basically, he runs a free clinic for the destitute and those abandoned by society. He also runs a food program which brings hot meals to people, including the mentally ill, who live on the streets in Tamale. The Christmas dinner he provides every year is about more than just food though. It's a chance for the poorest of the city to have a day of joy and a day of dignity. We spent the days leading up to Christmas at the Doctor's house, helping prepare for this Christmas dinner and it was really amazing. Granted, I never thought I'd spend Christmas Eve pulling apart 750kg of raw chicken (well, not alone, I had help...at least, I helped). But it was so great to be a part of something so big - and so positive. I'm not sure how to write about Christmas day without sounding cheesy - all I can say is that it was really inspiring. Which is nice, because I feel like I haven't been inspired in a long time. I had the chance to go around in the food program truck and bring food, pop and popcorn to those who were unable or unwilling to come to Doctor's house for the meal. As I was riding in the truck, watching the volunteers pass out food I thought a lot about my degree in 'development' and how Shekinah clinic is antithetical to pretty much everything I've learned about "proper" development work. For one thing, there is no 'goal' other than to love and help the poor. There's no measurement of increased earnings or productivity, no increase in GDP per capita, nothing to contribute to the development index. It's about giving aid to individuals. And for some depressing reason this was kind of shocking to me. Also, there's no plan, no sustainability, no exit strategy. Doctor relies on God; "Divine Intervention". He's very matter of fact about it. He gets his funds from donations, from people who have heard about his work and want to support it. He gets no official funding because it is impossible to keep track of spending in Ghana, and he refuses to keep inaccurate records or use dishonest receipts. Yet he has all these stories of how, just when he needed something it showed up. Which we saw first hand when someone spontaneously donated a huge load of cabbage for Christmas dinner - without even knowing that this was the one ingredient they hadn't produced enough of. Normally I would be so skeptical of this system - and I was. But its worked for years, and the clinic has grown and continues to do amazing work. Again, I don't know how to explain it - because I'd been told about it many times but didn't really get it until I was there, part of it in some small way. In the end though, we fed over 3500 people. Our group was there from 5:30am until 9:00pm and we were neither the first to arrive nor the last to leave. It was exhausting and beautiful and possible one of my best Christmases ever. Which is nice, because I thought I'd be really homesick. Hmmmm, Divine intervention?
From Tamale, the group split up and travel time started in earnest. Michelle, Rachel and I headed down to Nkranza (spl?) to stay with an organization called Hand in Hand. Hand in Hand is a school and home for mentally challenged children and adults who have been abandoned by their families and have no one to care for them. It also runs a hotel. We got there late Sunday and found they'd mixed up our reservation - so we were in this really sweet room that was kinda over budget for us....but really nice to have to be in (all other rooms were booked). Monday's plan was to go see monkeys at the Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary nearby...which we did...after a morning spent at the hospital due to Michelle's malaria relapse. In the afternoon though, minus Michelle, and in spite of an impeding rain storm Rachel and I set out. Because of the rain, our not very water proof trotrotrotrofriggin amazing! There were two kinds - mona and colobus. The latter are shy and don't eat human food so they "have no use for humans". They're the ones who watched us from the treetops. The Monas, the guide called and they came right up to us - taking food from Rachel's hand. They like human food - a lot. They come into the villages around mealtimes, or when they know no ones around and apparantly steal food.They're tiny, and adorable and just super cute and fascinating. It's very different seeing them in the wild, jumping about from tree to tree and basically acting like you'd expect.Ohhh, monkeys.
Tuesday morning it was off to Ejisu, just outside of Kumasi. After finally finding our guest house and dropping off our stuff, we went to a Kente weaving village called Aboamase. Kente is the traditional cloth of the Ashante peoples of Ghana, and is really beautiful. The village we went to provides tours, run by a community project that reinvests in community development. They've already built a library with the proceeds and are hoping to build a hospital next. Though much of the cloth now is made with synthetic, imported fibers, we did see how local cotton - traditionally used - is spun and prepared. The weavers themselves were amazing - they worked really fast on complex patterns, using both hands and both feet to operate the looms. It was interesting though to be in a village setting, as a tourist, rather than as an adopted family member. It was interesting too that kente cloth, available at a number of shops is cheaper for tourists than for Ghanaians. The guide explained that this is because if locals buy it cheap, they can then sell it for a profit so the sellers charge them more to ensure this doesn't happen. Not only is there less fear of tourists doing this, but the sellers want western tourists in particular to buy the kente so as to increase its popularity and therefore increase demand for the products. Economically, this kind of makes sense to me...but it still seems not quite right. It brings up the question of culturally appropriation - of westerners buying these cultural products without understanding their meaning or significance. Yet it's also difficult to say that the villagers shouldn't sell their Kente to tourists - as a means of making money and as a means of sharing their culture - shouldn't that be their choice? BUT is it a choice if its driven by economic need? The guide really wanted us to dress up in kente and have our picture taken, as the last part of the tour. We said we didn't have time, but really it was because it made us really uncomfortable. It's especially difficult as a westerner, knowing that western culture has spread around the world - including to Ghana - and not really feeling I have the right to decide what parts of culture should be sold, or protected, or changed. Culture and economics have always been tied together, but the power dynamic makes it a really complicated issue when it comes to wealthy tourists buying from a developing country. Anyway...
Next stop was an Ashanti Shrine, which was really, really cool. It had been restored, yet still is one of the only remaining examples of pre-colonial Ashanti architecture and had a lot of interesting information on Ashanti culture, religion and history. We spent the night in Ejisu, then spent Wednesday traveling down to Cape Coast. By this time, I was getting a little tired of the Trotro system. On the way to Ejisu, our trotro driver had been a maniac - driving too fast on pretty curvy sometimes mountainous roads. This time, to Cape Coast, our Trotro could barely start without help and we had to keep stopping to check the engine - once to do some sort of repairs. We made it to Cape Coast though, where things got very touristy. Our guest house is a popular one for westerners and it was weird to be surrounded by white people all of a sudden. It was also frustrating because around the guest house food was expensive - which is understandable, but made it hard to stick to our strict budget. The next morning we took some time off, just to relax and not be in a trotro and chill. In the afternoon, we went to Cape Coast Castle - an old British fort which had been used to contain slaves before shipping them to the Americas. Obviously, it was pretty intense and kind of difficult. It was weird too because the fort itself reminded me of Fort Henry, in Kingston....yet it was so, so different. It made me realize how lightly I take British colonialism in Kingston - how sanitized it is at Murney Tower - focusing on the suffering of the soldiers having to share a room with 12 others (oh no!) - no wars, just little Timmy who was killed when the roof fell off. Yet here, it really hit home -standing in the dungeons where people literally suffocated to death, piled in by the hundreds -feeling the energy of a place where so many had not only died, but who had been made to suffer horrendously. Over top of the male dungeon there was an Anglican Church - which just seems so obscene. It added to the feelings of white guilt with which I've already been struggling. It also made me realize for the billionth time how lucky I am...to live when and where and under what economic circumstance I live. And yet, its not just luck. I'm also part of a system where I benefit from economic exploitation - from the suffering of others. Its not an easy thing to come face to face with. It would be so much nicer to say that slavery is over with, in the past, and isn't it horrible what my forefathers did and isn't it great we've moved past such injustice. It would be really, really nice. Maybe one day. But part of this experience is realizing that just because some forms of slavery, or economic exploitation, or social injustice have ended doesn't mean that they all have. And its one thing to shake our head at the past, its another to actually learn from it.
We spent Thursday night in Cape Coast, leaving early Friday morning for the Hideout Lodge, in a village called Butre. It was New Years Eve and was supposed to be our chance to relax, at a budget hotel, by the beach, and to chill and recover from so much traveling. And I'll add that the Hideout is not some huge resort - its very low key, and reasonably priced, and the people there seemed cool. And yet.....this was when tourist mode really hit. The beach was really gorgeous - Ghana has beautiful coastline, where pollution and urbanization haven't taken their toll. It's just that it was really weird to be surrounded by white people who were basically on vacation, right next door to a village so much like my own, where locals lived in what we would call poverty. The three of us talked a lot, and struggled a lot, and experienced a lot of discomfort at being there, especially that first day. For me, the biggest struggle was feeling like I didn't belong there - I couldn't spend the money on the insanely overpriced western food, I couldn't just order cocktail after cocktail, and I couldn't just lay on the beach and forget everything I'd been through and seen the past two and a half months - even though I really just wanted to. Yet in a way, I did belong there. I'm a Canadian, not a Ghanaian. I am white. I am wealthy. And when, after hours - literally hours of debating whether or not to order a meal at the resort, to give ourselves a break from the past couple of months, we decided to walk into the village and get local street food I also felt I didn't belong there. I guess I expected some good Karma to come out of that decision, but instead we had trouble finding food within our budget- because of course, prices are raised for rich Obrunis staying a the beach. And of course they are! Its not like I blame the locals for trying to charge me 30 peswas more than usual for rice and stew - or an extra 50 peswas for a big bag of water. Because really, I can afford it, and its still cheap by my standards and the west screws them over enough as it is, why shouldn't they charge us a little bit more? And I guess that's where I started to get really disillusioned with the program. It really hit home how artificial "immersion living" is. And in retrospect I know I've changed and grown and learned a lot, simply because I was even having these thoughts, and debating so hard about a 5$ plate of pasta. At the time though it felt like nothing had changed. And if I was going to be here, in this country, why shouldn't I just embrace my privilege, and spend money and enjoy it. After all, the very fact that we traveled so much in the past few days seemed to negate the idea of living in solidarity with the poor. So I ended up feeling like I didn't belong at the lodge, and I didn't belong in the village. It was difficult too that people at the lodge didn't really understand what we were doing. Not really. And the people who thought we were craziest were a Ghanaian and a Gambian. But anyway. I may have strayed away from simple living that night - actually, I did. But it was a good experience because it made me realize that I can't just change to being a tourist - it doesn't feel right and if nothing else, now, within this program is not the time for it. I realized that I'll have a lot of struggling to do once I return home. But now, I'm here, and I've made a commitment to live a certain way regardless of what I can afford, or justify, or feel I deserve. And, again, it sounds cheesy, but here in 2011 I'm really recommitted to living simply, and to giving up as much of my privilege as is possible and reasonable while I'm here. I know it will never be complete, it will always be artificial in some sense. But that doesn't mean its not worthwhile to try. And as I mentioned, the fact that I grapple with these issues, and that I'm really thinking about them and feeling them so deeply shows me how much I've changed. My perspective has changed. My ideas of what I want, need, deserve have all changed. I've come to terms with my lapse, and with my frustration and in a ways I'm glad it all happened - because I was beginning to resent being here and being confined by the program. Now though, I'm really choosing to be here and to be trying my hardest to live simply and to live in solidarity with my Ghanaian family, even though I've left them until March.
Anyway, January 1st was actually an amazing day. We found amazing cheap food in the village, and it was super satisfying. We also kind of segregated ourselves on the beach - lounged around, talked, napped, and frolicked in the waves and I felt super good and genuinely relaxed. Now we're in Kumasi for our retreat - and its been nice to meet up with the other half of the group, and to debrief a lot of what happened on travel time, as well as in the villages. I'm nervous to set off for Accra on Sunday, and to start work placement Monday. It'll be hard to start the transition all over again and try to get my bearings .But I'm also super excited to take control of my experience. There's a lot a want to learn about, especially around gender issues - things which came up in the village and which I'm in the right head space and environment to explore further.
So that's travel time! Big week, long blog. Hope everyone had any amazing Christmas and New Year! Happy 2011 - I think it's gonna be a good one.
Fist stop was Tamale, in the Northern region. We were there to volunteer at an organization called Shekinah, run by a Ghanaian doctor which provides a Christmas dinner to the cities poorest. The Doctor himself is truly amazing (I'm not writing his name because I don't know how to spell it. - even though it makes me picture him as David Tennant). He has such a matter of fact optimism about him, and is incredibly sincere. We had the chance to talk to him about his life and why he started Shekinah, and I guess I was surprised not to feel cynical about it. Basically, he runs a free clinic for the destitute and those abandoned by society. He also runs a food program which brings hot meals to people, including the mentally ill, who live on the streets in Tamale. The Christmas dinner he provides every year is about more than just food though. It's a chance for the poorest of the city to have a day of joy and a day of dignity. We spent the days leading up to Christmas at the Doctor's house, helping prepare for this Christmas dinner and it was really amazing. Granted, I never thought I'd spend Christmas Eve pulling apart 750kg of raw chicken (well, not alone, I had help...at least, I helped). But it was so great to be a part of something so big - and so positive. I'm not sure how to write about Christmas day without sounding cheesy - all I can say is that it was really inspiring. Which is nice, because I feel like I haven't been inspired in a long time. I had the chance to go around in the food program truck and bring food, pop and popcorn to those who were unable or unwilling to come to Doctor's house for the meal. As I was riding in the truck, watching the volunteers pass out food I thought a lot about my degree in 'development' and how Shekinah clinic is antithetical to pretty much everything I've learned about "proper" development work. For one thing, there is no 'goal' other than to love and help the poor. There's no measurement of increased earnings or productivity, no increase in GDP per capita, nothing to contribute to the development index. It's about giving aid to individuals. And for some depressing reason this was kind of shocking to me. Also, there's no plan, no sustainability, no exit strategy. Doctor relies on God; "Divine Intervention". He's very matter of fact about it. He gets his funds from donations, from people who have heard about his work and want to support it. He gets no official funding because it is impossible to keep track of spending in Ghana, and he refuses to keep inaccurate records or use dishonest receipts. Yet he has all these stories of how, just when he needed something it showed up. Which we saw first hand when someone spontaneously donated a huge load of cabbage for Christmas dinner - without even knowing that this was the one ingredient they hadn't produced enough of. Normally I would be so skeptical of this system - and I was. But its worked for years, and the clinic has grown and continues to do amazing work. Again, I don't know how to explain it - because I'd been told about it many times but didn't really get it until I was there, part of it in some small way. In the end though, we fed over 3500 people. Our group was there from 5:30am until 9:00pm and we were neither the first to arrive nor the last to leave. It was exhausting and beautiful and possible one of my best Christmases ever. Which is nice, because I thought I'd be really homesick. Hmmmm, Divine intervention?
From Tamale, the group split up and travel time started in earnest. Michelle, Rachel and I headed down to Nkranza (spl?) to stay with an organization called Hand in Hand. Hand in Hand is a school and home for mentally challenged children and adults who have been abandoned by their families and have no one to care for them. It also runs a hotel. We got there late Sunday and found they'd mixed up our reservation - so we were in this really sweet room that was kinda over budget for us....but really nice to have to be in (all other rooms were booked). Monday's plan was to go see monkeys at the Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary nearby...which we did...after a morning spent at the hospital due to Michelle's malaria relapse. In the afternoon though, minus Michelle, and in spite of an impeding rain storm Rachel and I set out. Because of the rain, our not very water proof trotrotrotrofriggin amazing! There were two kinds - mona and colobus. The latter are shy and don't eat human food so they "have no use for humans". They're the ones who watched us from the treetops. The Monas, the guide called and they came right up to us - taking food from Rachel's hand. They like human food - a lot. They come into the villages around mealtimes, or when they know no ones around and apparantly steal food.They're tiny, and adorable and just super cute and fascinating. It's very different seeing them in the wild, jumping about from tree to tree and basically acting like you'd expect.Ohhh, monkeys.
Tuesday morning it was off to Ejisu, just outside of Kumasi. After finally finding our guest house and dropping off our stuff, we went to a Kente weaving village called Aboamase. Kente is the traditional cloth of the Ashante peoples of Ghana, and is really beautiful. The village we went to provides tours, run by a community project that reinvests in community development. They've already built a library with the proceeds and are hoping to build a hospital next. Though much of the cloth now is made with synthetic, imported fibers, we did see how local cotton - traditionally used - is spun and prepared. The weavers themselves were amazing - they worked really fast on complex patterns, using both hands and both feet to operate the looms. It was interesting though to be in a village setting, as a tourist, rather than as an adopted family member. It was interesting too that kente cloth, available at a number of shops is cheaper for tourists than for Ghanaians. The guide explained that this is because if locals buy it cheap, they can then sell it for a profit so the sellers charge them more to ensure this doesn't happen. Not only is there less fear of tourists doing this, but the sellers want western tourists in particular to buy the kente so as to increase its popularity and therefore increase demand for the products. Economically, this kind of makes sense to me...but it still seems not quite right. It brings up the question of culturally appropriation - of westerners buying these cultural products without understanding their meaning or significance. Yet it's also difficult to say that the villagers shouldn't sell their Kente to tourists - as a means of making money and as a means of sharing their culture - shouldn't that be their choice? BUT is it a choice if its driven by economic need? The guide really wanted us to dress up in kente and have our picture taken, as the last part of the tour. We said we didn't have time, but really it was because it made us really uncomfortable. It's especially difficult as a westerner, knowing that western culture has spread around the world - including to Ghana - and not really feeling I have the right to decide what parts of culture should be sold, or protected, or changed. Culture and economics have always been tied together, but the power dynamic makes it a really complicated issue when it comes to wealthy tourists buying from a developing country. Anyway...
Next stop was an Ashanti Shrine, which was really, really cool. It had been restored, yet still is one of the only remaining examples of pre-colonial Ashanti architecture and had a lot of interesting information on Ashanti culture, religion and history. We spent the night in Ejisu, then spent Wednesday traveling down to Cape Coast. By this time, I was getting a little tired of the Trotro system. On the way to Ejisu, our trotro driver had been a maniac - driving too fast on pretty curvy sometimes mountainous roads. This time, to Cape Coast, our Trotro could barely start without help and we had to keep stopping to check the engine - once to do some sort of repairs. We made it to Cape Coast though, where things got very touristy. Our guest house is a popular one for westerners and it was weird to be surrounded by white people all of a sudden. It was also frustrating because around the guest house food was expensive - which is understandable, but made it hard to stick to our strict budget. The next morning we took some time off, just to relax and not be in a trotro and chill. In the afternoon, we went to Cape Coast Castle - an old British fort which had been used to contain slaves before shipping them to the Americas. Obviously, it was pretty intense and kind of difficult. It was weird too because the fort itself reminded me of Fort Henry, in Kingston....yet it was so, so different. It made me realize how lightly I take British colonialism in Kingston - how sanitized it is at Murney Tower - focusing on the suffering of the soldiers having to share a room with 12 others (oh no!) - no wars, just little Timmy who was killed when the roof fell off. Yet here, it really hit home -standing in the dungeons where people literally suffocated to death, piled in by the hundreds -feeling the energy of a place where so many had not only died, but who had been made to suffer horrendously. Over top of the male dungeon there was an Anglican Church - which just seems so obscene. It added to the feelings of white guilt with which I've already been struggling. It also made me realize for the billionth time how lucky I am...to live when and where and under what economic circumstance I live. And yet, its not just luck. I'm also part of a system where I benefit from economic exploitation - from the suffering of others. Its not an easy thing to come face to face with. It would be so much nicer to say that slavery is over with, in the past, and isn't it horrible what my forefathers did and isn't it great we've moved past such injustice. It would be really, really nice. Maybe one day. But part of this experience is realizing that just because some forms of slavery, or economic exploitation, or social injustice have ended doesn't mean that they all have. And its one thing to shake our head at the past, its another to actually learn from it.
We spent Thursday night in Cape Coast, leaving early Friday morning for the Hideout Lodge, in a village called Butre. It was New Years Eve and was supposed to be our chance to relax, at a budget hotel, by the beach, and to chill and recover from so much traveling. And I'll add that the Hideout is not some huge resort - its very low key, and reasonably priced, and the people there seemed cool. And yet.....this was when tourist mode really hit. The beach was really gorgeous - Ghana has beautiful coastline, where pollution and urbanization haven't taken their toll. It's just that it was really weird to be surrounded by white people who were basically on vacation, right next door to a village so much like my own, where locals lived in what we would call poverty. The three of us talked a lot, and struggled a lot, and experienced a lot of discomfort at being there, especially that first day. For me, the biggest struggle was feeling like I didn't belong there - I couldn't spend the money on the insanely overpriced western food, I couldn't just order cocktail after cocktail, and I couldn't just lay on the beach and forget everything I'd been through and seen the past two and a half months - even though I really just wanted to. Yet in a way, I did belong there. I'm a Canadian, not a Ghanaian. I am white. I am wealthy. And when, after hours - literally hours of debating whether or not to order a meal at the resort, to give ourselves a break from the past couple of months, we decided to walk into the village and get local street food I also felt I didn't belong there. I guess I expected some good Karma to come out of that decision, but instead we had trouble finding food within our budget- because of course, prices are raised for rich Obrunis staying a the beach. And of course they are! Its not like I blame the locals for trying to charge me 30 peswas more than usual for rice and stew - or an extra 50 peswas for a big bag of water. Because really, I can afford it, and its still cheap by my standards and the west screws them over enough as it is, why shouldn't they charge us a little bit more? And I guess that's where I started to get really disillusioned with the program. It really hit home how artificial "immersion living" is. And in retrospect I know I've changed and grown and learned a lot, simply because I was even having these thoughts, and debating so hard about a 5$ plate of pasta. At the time though it felt like nothing had changed. And if I was going to be here, in this country, why shouldn't I just embrace my privilege, and spend money and enjoy it. After all, the very fact that we traveled so much in the past few days seemed to negate the idea of living in solidarity with the poor. So I ended up feeling like I didn't belong at the lodge, and I didn't belong in the village. It was difficult too that people at the lodge didn't really understand what we were doing. Not really. And the people who thought we were craziest were a Ghanaian and a Gambian. But anyway. I may have strayed away from simple living that night - actually, I did. But it was a good experience because it made me realize that I can't just change to being a tourist - it doesn't feel right and if nothing else, now, within this program is not the time for it. I realized that I'll have a lot of struggling to do once I return home. But now, I'm here, and I've made a commitment to live a certain way regardless of what I can afford, or justify, or feel I deserve. And, again, it sounds cheesy, but here in 2011 I'm really recommitted to living simply, and to giving up as much of my privilege as is possible and reasonable while I'm here. I know it will never be complete, it will always be artificial in some sense. But that doesn't mean its not worthwhile to try. And as I mentioned, the fact that I grapple with these issues, and that I'm really thinking about them and feeling them so deeply shows me how much I've changed. My perspective has changed. My ideas of what I want, need, deserve have all changed. I've come to terms with my lapse, and with my frustration and in a ways I'm glad it all happened - because I was beginning to resent being here and being confined by the program. Now though, I'm really choosing to be here and to be trying my hardest to live simply and to live in solidarity with my Ghanaian family, even though I've left them until March.
Anyway, January 1st was actually an amazing day. We found amazing cheap food in the village, and it was super satisfying. We also kind of segregated ourselves on the beach - lounged around, talked, napped, and frolicked in the waves and I felt super good and genuinely relaxed. Now we're in Kumasi for our retreat - and its been nice to meet up with the other half of the group, and to debrief a lot of what happened on travel time, as well as in the villages. I'm nervous to set off for Accra on Sunday, and to start work placement Monday. It'll be hard to start the transition all over again and try to get my bearings .But I'm also super excited to take control of my experience. There's a lot a want to learn about, especially around gender issues - things which came up in the village and which I'm in the right head space and environment to explore further.
So that's travel time! Big week, long blog. Hope everyone had any amazing Christmas and New Year! Happy 2011 - I think it's gonna be a good one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)