Shyam’s Ghanaian Summer…and More

Today I fly out of Ghana. It’s been an exciting time. In the past posts I have described the project and my work, my embarrassing (but hopefully entertaining) dance moves, and some insights I have had on development.

I’d like to conclude this blog though, with a story of an inspirational person that I met. Check it out, and I’ll see you mighty soon.

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From Mr. Noah’s eCARE business centre you can see the beautiful Lake Volta in the backdrop. In front of this is the Kpong tro-tro station – a hub of activity. Whether you are going to Akosombo to see Ghana’s largest dam or you’re going to Agromanya to see its famous bead makers and sellers, in this very little station, Mr. Noah has found a niche – another opportunity that he has capitalized on.

About 15 years ago, after having driven a taxi for a few years and after having worked many jobs, Mr. Noah started a small shop selling automotive grease, engine oil, and other tro-tro essentials. Today, the business is twice as big and makes profits multiple times larger. He has expanded his services to include more automotive supplies, stationeries, provisions (such as cleaning products), pure (sachet) water, and even plastic bags for street sellers. He is also wholesaling cell phone units (catering to the needs of all of the retailers in the area).

This man met me at the station when I arrived and introduced me to his wife (Happy), daughters (Rita, 16 and Sara-fina, 6), and son (Richard, 13). It’s incredible how this family works together. Mr. Noah and Happy spend most of their day, 6 days a week, at the station shop. And they are rarely idle. Rita is off at a residential secondary school and when she is back with her parents on the weekend is often charged with running the whole shop. Richard, meanwhile, helps after school at the business centre. He does the photocopying and plays with MS Publisher and Corel Draw (In fact he’s gotten better at it than Mr. Noah’s two employees). Sara-fina cheerfully both does her homework and plays at the station shop because that’s where she has to spend her time after school.

It was really too bad I didn’t get to stay with Mr. Noah. He didn’t think I would be comfortable enough on his couch so he put me up at a guest house. My attempts at persuading him otherwise prompted him to pull out and show me the plans for the four bedroom, four bathroom house he is building. When he was finished, he pointed at one particular room and told me that the next time I came that’s where I would stay.

I was there for 5 days, gathering information from his business centre, supporting his employees when I could, and talking to people in the community about the services at the centre. Mr. Noah wasn’t able to give me too much of his time (understandably) but when I did talk to him I found that he had some amazing ideas for marketing his businesses, and he had great feedback for the eCARE project. I also found that he was not without challenges: for example, when I asked him why he was stretching himself thin, he described that it was difficult to find reliable employees for either of his businesses. He also explained that his lack of knowledge of computers was preventing him from doing more at his business centre.

In the month following my visit though he had attempted to install internet at his business centre. It didn’t work but as I write this I know that he’s not finished trying.

What struck me most about this man his pursuit of more and better knowledge about everything – he reads about business, about people, about meditation, and anything else he can find time for.

As I leave Ghana, my only hope is that I can keep in touch with this man for who knows what he’ll be doing in 10 years time.

Religion is BIG in Ghana. Christianity dominates the south while Islam the north, and traditional religions seem to be present in most of rural Ghana. I’ve had the most interactions with Christians though and regardless of the denomination, most people are less than excited about missing their Sunday service. Church for them is not only a place where they pray but also a venue to socialize and, I would argue, learn life skills.

Some aspects of the churches activities are completely unrivaled (in their positive impact on the people) by the government or any other body. Such is their leadership development program.

Through the church, Ghanaians have the opportunity to watch and learn from:

• Tro-tros, where pastors that simply jump on board, find a spot from where they can see everyone, and in just a few seconds begins to engage their audience
• Church, where enthusiastic and charismatic pastors that captivate their audience (like Mr. John that I described in another post)
• TV, where songs and dances that tell children to respect their parents or not lie
• Radio shows (one entrepreneur had learnt through a radio show the “Prepare – Plan – Execute” technique which he uses in the way he operates his businesses)

From all of these, Ghanaians learn skills in communication, public speaking, messaging, targeting different learning styles, and many others – all of which can be transferred into their work and lives.

Cool, huh?

As you can see from my last few posts, I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on what I did this summer and what impacts they are actually having in Ghana and on the project I worked on. I was trying to organize everything in words but that wasn’t quite working so here it is visually….what did it take to do things during this placement, what came out of it in the short term, and what will hopefully come out of it in the long term.  

And as I mentioned in my last post, what’s uncertain is the sustainability of these changes. At this point, with my final reports handed in, and my last day at work completed I feel that I have given it my all. Now all I can do is wait and see.

Ghana faces many challenges that are apparent from looking around, talking to people, and reading the newspaper. Some of these are:

• lack of capital and business development support for entrepreneurs, lack of foreign investment
• an education system that lacks funding and is unable to foster independent thinking and allow for practical applications of the knowledge learnt
• lack of political ability to create the social and economic institutions that entrepreneurs need
• a culture that doesn’t necessarily challenge people to keep improving their lives / people that no longer try because it is easier to ask the “Obruni” or white person for money

But on the other hand, I’ve seen many very exciting developments in Ghana such as:

• garbage is being collected from the streets and bus stations by private firms hired by the government
• drinking water is available in sachets expect in rural villages
• most Ghanaians have switched to energy efficient light bulbs following an energy crisis last year and a government campaign urging citizens to make the switch
• more and more people seem to be using their rural banks to save money regularly
• projects such as eCARE are helping entrepreneurs by providing financing and developing skills

And I’ve met some incredible people that are very much a part of the progress such as:

• an entrepreneur I met that also runs a private school that is striving to be better than par; his level of thoughtfulness, his drive, and his ability to influence people is incredible
• another entrepreneur that has built his own business over the last 10 years and is now teaching his children many skills just by example
• a young man, 16 years of age, that lost his parents when he was 13; he had leveraged his artistic and kinesthetic talents into a business where he builds and paints signs for businesses, paints houses, and builds all things wooden from a small room that his friend was letting him use; he was on track to saving money enough money to put himself though secondary school in a few months

My Point

My point here is that Ghana has many challenges but there are also many people here that are creating change. One of the most important development challenges for Ghana is in building strong systems that develop individuals that are able to create lasting change. By this I mean that people have to be able to access education, health care, business support, social services and develop an attitude of excellence. All of the incredible people I met are a product of the current systems that are in place, and all of them seem to be working to better these very systems. These are the people that are going to be able to create lasting changes in their country.

The Role of Westerners in Development

This is where the role of westerners comes in. Where are the people that are motivated to create change? How can we help these people?

For me these people have been the ones that I briefly describe above – all of them want to better their lives and that of those around them through running businesses. They realize that economic development is vital. But each of them face challenges either in their support network, or because they lack certain knowledge, skills and experience, or because they don’t have access to the resources that they need.

So there is opportunity to help these people as individuals, or there is opportunity to help institutions (government or not) help these people.

And being in Ghana has made it clear to me that the latter makes more sense. The only threat is one of not being connected to the people that will ultimately benefit. And I saw this in my project where, for various reasons that I don’t fully understand, the management had lost track of the field realities making their work was less effective.

Nevertheless the fact that these projects are trying to help people in many communities in a sustainable way is a great thing, and that is exactly where westerners can offer support.

This support could come in any form – financial, technological, social – bet preferably all with a focus on what the organization in question actually wants.

Final Thoughts

There two things that are crucial to development: great people and great systems. If a development worker can walk away from a placement saying that they were able to change one or the other (or both) in at least a small but lasting way then it’s been worth the time, effort and money.

Reflecting on my placement, I feel I have in fact contributed to the creation of better people (entrepreneurs) and better systems (project management), but the sustainability of these contributions is, at least for now, unknown.

Drinking aside, our three most important uses of water seem to be bathing, washing clothes, and flushing the toilet. As well, we find one thing at the root of our daily activities: electricity.

For the last three weeks of being in Accra, both water and electricity have been difficult to have at the same time i.e. as water started flowing, electricity would go and vice versa. Mostly it’s just been water though, and I’d like to share this small part of my experience with you.

Are you up for a challenge?

What you need:

·        2 buckets worth of water

·        Yourself

·        Two or three days during which you will follow the procedure below

For the one or two days when you do this:

1.      Pretend that there is no running water

2.      Use ONLY the 2 buckets to:

a.      Take baths

b.      wash 3 shirts (i.e. use a bucket and your hands)

c.      flush the toilet

3.      Refrain from using electricity in your home

4.      Describe your experience in a comment to this post at www.uwo.ewb.ca/shyam/

Everyone that takes the challenge AND comments will enter a draw for a special souvenir from Ghana. Woooo!

I stayed with Afeti Godsway (on left in blue shirt) for two days in Dabala where he works at the eCARE business centre. This is his family.

So it’s time for another update. On Sunday, July 20^th, after my last two field visits in Dabala and Dodze (both in the Volta region but nowhere close to Mt. Afejeto – the tallest in Ghana (or any mountains for that matter)), I took an early morning tro-tro back to Accra. Having left after gathering some sound data for eCARE and breaking out some moves (i.e trying to dance) <see video below> at a funeral celebration the day before, I was pumped and excited for a day of writing (to you!).

That’s when I entered Accra only to find out (upon making several phone calls) that every affordable guest house or hostel that I knew of had closed indefinitely (for the day) – of course, everyone was at church! What was I expecting travelling on a Sunday?

So I waited outside the YMCA (or Young Men’s Christian Association) hostel starting at about 9 am. I read some more of The Ingenuity Gap, I took a nap, I got a mango and some peanuts, I watched the middle class Ghanaian crowd as they entered and left the YMCA church, I listened to the Reverend’s long address, and the gospel songs that they sang, I spoke to a man that really wanted to leave Ghana and go back to Nigeria where teachers get paid better, and before long it was 1 pm.

Still no sign of the manager. Still no one there with any authority to get me in. After making some more fruitless phone calls, I decided that it was time for some internet. By the time I returned, it was 3 pm and I was a little tired. Still no one. So I asked around a lot, walked around for a while, and finally found another guest house which took me in for a hefty rate.

Great, I finally have a place I can use to start typing away, right? Turns out there was a “light off”. At 6 am the next morning I got 10 minutes notice to clear out because the person that was supposed to have the room had arrived. Apparently the guest house was overbooked and the watch man at the door didn’t know.

Despite this sub-optimal start to my being back in Accra, working out of the office compiling all the data from the field, and working with the team (of four interns and the project officer at KITE) to make presentations, write a report, make recommendations, and develop tools for the project has been very exciting.

More on that to come, but in the mean time do enjoy the video below! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQ02AHj1M4)