Shyam | 
06 8th, 2008| 
Before I left Canada, I asked friends and chapter members what they wanted to know about Ghana. And one question that kept recurring was - “I want to know how people live.”
The following is the first in a series of people (from various backgrounds) that I hope to be profiling on my blog.
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June 4, 2008
Sege / NakomKope, Greater Accra Region
I met Mr. John Nakom because he is the owner of one of the Rural Business Centre’s (RBC’s) that I am visiting. For the past week, I have stayed with him and his family at their home in Sege – a small town an hour east of Accra.
John was born in Sege and grew up while attending boarding school in Accra. His father is a retired geologist and a Baptist preacher who spent several years in America. After completing his high school education, John decided to do some correspondence courses in engineering and business administration. By then he had started some small businesses ultimately leading him to creating an enterprise dealing in agriculture equipment.
At 38 years old, he now has a wife (Ester) and a 9 year old son (Michael a.k.a. Yoni). He has moved back to his home town, built himself a house with a running water system that he installed (none of the other houses in the area has running water), and lives beside his parents’ home.
John, Ester and Michael - great hosts!
John’s level of thinking is quite unlike those around him.
Ghana has free universal education up to and including junior secondary school (with the wheels in motion for secondary school to join the program). You and I would say, “Wow! That’s great.” John says, “[No it's not. Parents and children alike don't value the education they are getting. They need to work hard and pay for it so that school will not be a joke to them. Also, when parents don't pay for their children's education, what control do they have over their children? Why would their kids respect them?]”
Ghana has also introduced a feeding program at it’s schools. You and I would say, “Wow! That’s great.” John says, “[No it's not. What do the children eat on Saturdays and Sundays? Does the government need to pour tax payers money into a program like this for children to be sent to school? They're encouraging people to take things for granted instead of encouraging them to take ownership of their lives.]”
John draws on examples of people in his own community to illustrate his arguments, and points out that while his government is realizing that education is important, the programs need to be implemented differently.
But John isn’t just a nay-sayer. He actually does something about it.
In addition to owning and operating an RBC, he’s deeply involved in his community. He runs a private school (Kindergarten to Junior Secondary) that is ranked 2nd in the district based on students’ performance. He co-founded and now assists an NGO called Rural Entreprise Network (www.rentrep.com) that delivers seminars on everything from money management to marketing. And he’s a pastor at his church (where I first noticed his flair for public speaking even though I had no idea what he was saying because he was speaking in Dangme).
As for his school, even though it is doing well, John is dissatisfied. He realizes that their education system is producing students with good grades but what they are learning, due to the lack of opportunities to apply knowledge, is not helping develop better life skills. He believes that children need to start learning skills that they can use right away to help improve their lives. And he’s starting with a training in ICTs – computers (students are currently learning to use Paint) and eventually internet. He wants his school to be the role model for his country.
Micheal inside the RBC which is now being used solely as an ICT classroom (for reasons I will describe in another post that is more project related). Micheal showed me around the town, drew me a little map, and insisted that we play football twice a day when he was home from his boarding house on the weekend (which was an irresistible offer I accepted every time. He was the first “small boy” I would come across.)
Grade 4 Class being tested, one at a time, on their ability to identify what an “icon” or “mouse” or “taskbar” is.
While I was there, he introduced me to numerous people in his community, expediting my process of integration and information gathering. He also appointed me his photographer and temporary IT assistant as he had wanted to set up a website for his school. So we ended up setting up a blog that he could manage himself (www.shalomchristianacademy.blogspot.com)
There are three things that impress me most about this man:
1. his determination (and ability) to educate people
2. his understanding of people (I bet you if he took an emotional intelligence test, he’d fair in the top 5% in the world)
3. his openness and business savvy
Add up the above and what you get is a social entrepreneur.
In the face of the extreme conditions of poverty that most of us are, to some extent, at least vaguely aware of, it is people like John that give me a sense of hope for the future.
