Shyam’s Ghanaian Summer…and More

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)

Actually I don’t know what it’s like to run a marathon. So never mind that. What I do know is that the last three weeks have been filled with “running” and quite frankly, it’s been stellar! While you’ll find a rough timeline below, let me summarize. I went from visiting two RBCs in the central region, to a meeting at KITE in Accra, to the Elmina Castle (a slave trade centre), to an (relatively) upscale city called koforidua (in transit), where we had 2 hrs to visit Boti Falls. That was followed by another visit to an RBC, which was close to the dam that powers most of Ghana. A tight schedule warranted travel to the north right away, where I stayed in a small agricultural village (where, for those of you who are familiar, the MFP has been implemented…and also where I joined a dance at a traditional funeral), and finally finished off with a fun mid-summer JF retreat (that included elephants)!

June

7 - Ajumako and Ajumako Bisease (RBCs)

13 - Accra

14 - Elmina

16 - Koforidua and Boti Falls

17 - Kpong (RBC)

21 - Akosombo Dam and Kumasi

22 - Tamale

23 - Nkancina (stayed at the village)

26 - Tamale

27 - Domongo and Mole National Park

July

1, 2 - Tamale (rest)

Incredible!

Only catch (actually it’s more like 2): I get on the road again today, and my photos from a lot of these things got corrupted and therefore now rest in peace. Luckily, I backed them up. Unluckily, the backed up version is several hours away on dean’s ipod (dean being a fellow JF). So most photos will have to wait until mid august…eeek! But I’m going to try to communicate what I’ve seen and done anyway, so please do follow along and ask questions!

Allow me to tackle work, the cultural experience of 2 nights and three days in a village, and what I’ll call “play”!

P.S. Dan, the Adam’s, Dave, Codie, Annette (and was anyone else there?) thanks for calling me from your retreat - I’m feeling the love! And Marika and Adam P, congrats on putting together what sounded like a retreat that rocked Ontario!

June 15, 2008

Since arriving in Ghana on May 8^th (5 weeks ago),

• I slept on my 11^th bed last night

• I encountered my 5^th Ghanaian language yesterday (Twi, Dagbani, Dangme. Fanti, now Ewe) – and that’s if I don’t include “Ghana English”

• I began my activities at my 5^th Rural Business Centre (RBC) – also yesterday

• I have spent an estimated 105 hrs travelling on a tro-tro

• I have eaten meat (mistakenly) at least 5 times (and I’m a vegetarian!)

I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs: the ups being sight-seeing Ghana (just by virtue of travelling for work), and meeting / working with a diverse group of Ghanaians from different educational, social, economic and ethnic backgrounds; and the downs have definitely been the food and the language situations. whew!

I’ll save my ups for my other posts (hopefully they are already apparent because they are overwhelmingly the majority) and delve into the “downs”.

When it comes to food, I am generally not picky -except that there can’t be any meat or fish in it – after all, I’ve never eaten those in my life! But it seems that the only place in the world where this is EASY is India. In Canada, it’s not a cake walk but it’s not rocket science either – it’s pretty do-able. In Ghana, it’s still do-able but expect to be putting in a lot more effort, and definitely expect someone to occasionally not understand what you are saying and bring you chicken or goat light soup anyway. This is always hilarious – you just start from square 1 and explain things again. But there are other times when there are little pieces of unknown meats hiding in the food – and this tends to turn me off a little. Luckily for me, 98% of the time, people are extra nice and if you let them know, they will go the extra mile to make me a special meal. whew!

Languages, now that’s another story. No doubt, it’s exciting! But the frustrating part is that every time I start picking up one language, I find myself having to learn a new one because I’ve changed locations! It just means that I have my work cut out for me!

June 12, 2008

Every once in a while (for a few minutes at most) I forget that I am a foreigner in Ghana, and I feel at home.

But then I hear a call from somewhere in the crowd, “Hey, white man!” or a child wave and say “Obruni ba-bye,” and it’s apparent that I am indeed a foreigner in Ghana.

[As I write this I'm being watched by three children that were walking to school (imagine that they've just sat down on the playground to watch me) – and now, yet again I feel like an awkward “white” man. So I'll stop and continue later.]

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[Now that I'm by myself (and no longer being watched), allow me to continue...]

The first phenomenon I want to explore is the fact that I am seen as “white.” Clearly my skin colour is more of a brown. Why then (in cities and towns and villages alike) am I an Obruni?

One incident in particular helped me answer this. Last week, while I was at my fourth RBC, I ran into a Japanese woman (and doctor) who was volunteering at the local hospital for two years. From the interactions she was having with the community (and she spoke Fanti like she’d grown up in Ajumako), she too was an Obruni.

It seems to me that, for whatever reason, some people don’t recognize or realize that people from different parts of the world look different – in other words, they don’t realize that there are more “colours” than “black” and “white.” I don’t think that this fact in itself is of much importance (after all, we are all essentially the same) but why this might be the case is a little more interesting.

Is it lack of education? lack of exposure to the world? Do most people in the world share this view? I don’t know but it’s interesting to think about.

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The other idea that I wanted to explore has to do with the implications of being an Obruni on the project and on life.

To recap, my specific activities at a centre are two fold – 1) support the daily operations of the business (IT, marketing, bookkeeping, value-added services), and 2) gather data from the entrepreneur (“monitoring” activity for eCARE) and the community (explore ways that the business can directly benefit the less privileged).

Supporting operations and gathering data from the entrepreneur are the easier tasks at hand in the context of being an Obruni. Entrepreneurs have been open and willing to talk.

Understanding the community (which contributes more directly to the way this project affects “Dorothy”), is a little bit more challenging. If you have ever been to another country (where you stick out quite obviously), think of the first week you had. For me, that has consisted of overwhelming amounts of curiousity and generosity from people around me, and (later in the week) the beginnings of some (slightly) deeper relationships. During this period, I’m learning lots but not getting as much into people’s heads and understanding them as a longer period of time would allow. Now, multiply this first week by 5, and those would approximate the five weeks I’ve spent in Ghana. Any thoughts on how I could make the most of this challenge?

June 5, 2008

Through all my travels, I’m on the path to be being able to call myself a tro-tro expert – but as of when this story took place (about 2 weeks into my trip), the horizon was still rather far.

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With all it’s hustle and bustle, it’s easier to get lost in Accra than in the more rural areas. “Why?,” you might ask, “More people speak English in the city.” It’s true they do but it’s about the little details.

It was our second weekend in Accra, and Andrea and I were returning from exploring the market to our temporary home. Destination: Mary’s place on Achimota Road and Dzjwulu Junction (10 points if you can say “Dzjwulu” right!)

We get off at “Circle” which is a large outdoor market / tro-tro station situated around the Nkrumah traffic circle.

“We want to go to Achimota Road.”

And a gentleman was kind enough to walk us from the street going NORTH to the street going EAST – a good 10 minute walk - and he got us on the “Achimota” tro-tro.

It was hardly five minutes before we looked around and realized that something wasn’t right. Oh, oh, we should have taken that detour but we didn’t. Apparently the tro was going to Achimota – meaning it did not pass through Achimota ROAD.

Ahhhh…

So we got off the tro tro right away and walked a few metres to the road we should have turned at.

“We want to go to Dzjwulu Junction.”

In no time, we were on our next tro. Five minutes went by, then ten mintues and then the tro-tro’s “mate” looked at us and said, “Dzjwulu Junction.” But we were certain this was not near Mary’s place. We got off any way and asked someone what road we were on. “Madina,” came the response. Apparently there were TWO Dzjwulu Junctions.

By this time it had been dark for a while, and we didn’t know where we were – so we hailed a cab and, weary or “Achimota” and “Dzjwulu” asked for “Plant Pool” (which is the factory at this intersection) and luckily the driver knew where this was. Finally home.

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On another occasion, we found out that we could have gotten on the “Djwulu” tro tro which would have taken us to the area Djwulu without passing through either junction.

Through further experimentation, we found the correct tro-tro which is called….can you guess it?….actually probably not so I’ll just tell you…”Dzjwulu / Pigfarm!” That’s right this place was also in Pigfarm!

We just hoped that this wouldn’t happen in more rural areas. For example, what would have happened if I had gone to Ajumako Bisease instead of Ajumako? Eek! Or what would have happened if Andrea had ended up in Assin Foso instead of Assin Praso? Eek!

But I am proud to say that I am far more prudent today than I was in Accra only a few weeks ago.

Tuesday, May 27

Accra, Ghana

I was in Accra. My project warranted that I stay in the city during the long weekend. And I had nothing else to do. So off I went with my fellow Engineers Without Borders Canada volunteer, Andea, to see the city!

The tro-tro

To get around anywhere in Accra you can either take a taxi or you can jump on a tro-tro (mini-bus). The latter is both cheaper and a lot more fun!

A tro-tro is essentially a cargo van re-fitted with as many seats as possible. Most tro-tros fit about 18 people including the driver and his mate. They start at one tro-tro station and end at another connecting what seems like over 15 stations in Accra alone. They even connect to stations in the surrounding areas of the Greater Accra region. Within the city you can get anywhere for between 30 and 50 Peswas, and to towns in the surrounding region for under 100 Peswas. There are a few really neat things about this system:

1. They never leave without filling every single seat.

2. They will stop anywhere along the route just for you.

3. As soon a spot opens up on the tro-tro, they’ll look to fill it up pretty much right away. So the mate continuously yells out the final destination of the ride to everyone on the street. When a prospective customer signals that they want in, the mate signals the driver to stop the tro-tro.

Can you imagine the chaos?

You actually grow into it. Who cares if it’s going to take twice as long to get home? Right beside you is a cool young dude to talk to, or perhaps even a mama with her cute infant (tied to her as though the baby were a back pack) to watch!

An Eventful Sunday

Sunday the 25^th was AU Day: the day the African Union was formed _ years ago. After surveying the maps for tourist locations, we chose to see Usher Fort, and James Fort. They were used by the British during the slave trade to imprison Ghanaians, Sudanese and others before shipping them to foreign lands.

We then continued along Accra’s coastline to see Independence Square, Independence Circle and the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial. Kwame Nkrumah was key in Ghana’s independence and he also lead the country as their first President.

On the way, we encountered some people playing Oware…

Oware is a traditional Board Game played with lots of little stones. I think I’ve almost gotten the hang of it but I still lose sorely to everyone I play.

Independence Circle (above)

A Relaxing Monday

Monday the 26^th was the holiday for AU Day, and we seized the opportunity to check out one of Accra’s beaches - kokrobite.

Let’s start with pre-departure, departure, arrival and a bit –> a week in Canada, a half day on planes, a half day on a bus, and a weekend in Tamale, Ghana.

Canada:

For 6 days (April 30 to May 7) we discussed culture shock, nutrition, safety, approaches to development, and frameworks and models for analyzing rural livelihoods, and addressed the group’s hopes and fears. We challenged ourselves to think hard and think critically, and the National Office team put us to the test. But the real test was yet to come. The best part of the experience –> the people I’d gotten to know – other JFs and National Office staff.

Arrival:

After an uneventful (thankfully) set of flights, we arrived in Kotoko International Airport (Accra) , and the “real test” was starting to hit me in the face. 37 degrees Celsius with pretty high humidity, drinking water only from sachets (that will make for an interesting future post), the different languages, the exciting new culture, and the delicious food (that, however, needs to be selected with some care) were all hitting me in the face. I was excited to be diving in….

More travel:

From Accra, we grabbed a bus to Tamale (12 hrs to the north). On the way…

“Oh look – mangoes - they’re everywhere!” (the digestive juices were flowing)

At the first stop, “How much for those mangoes?”

“5 000”

I was excited to get started bargaining but needed to understand what “5000” meant first. “100 000 is 1 Ghana cedi”, another lady that noticed my state of confusion told me – ahhhh. Turns out the market lady was talking in old currency. On a side note, 1 Ghana cedi is about 1 Canadian dollar. I was ready to perform my first transaction.

“I’ll take two” and I pulled out a 10 cedi bill.

The women smiled, “no change for that.”

As a street vendor, she didn’t have that much change kicking around. Right - she may be one of the people we talk about as living on less than 2 dollars (about 2 cedi) a day.

I got my mangoes having learnt a thing or two, and we were quickly on the bus again moving at the fastest pace manageable for the roads we were on. Ghana, by the way, has a great set of roads.

Tamale:

When we got to Tamale, we spent two days with some long term volunteers and eased ourselves into Ghanaian culture.

What: Development Work with Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB)

Where: Based in Accra, Ghana and travelling for extended periods of time to rural Ghana

When: May 8, 2008 to August 22, 2008

Having been involved with EWB for three years, and thought about and worked towards international development in Canada, I felt like I needed to see the realities first hand. See them and communicate them back to everyone in Canada and in India – my family, friends, the chapter, and anyone else that is interested. Thus, I applied to the Junior Fellowship Program and having been given the opportunity to volunteer in Ghana, and having spent 4 months preparing, I am now here to do just that. I seek to understand how Dorothy lives. In EWB lingo, Dorothy is every person I meet that lacks opportunity to get herself out of poverty: she is also whom I am ultimately accountable to.

My project partner:

KITE (The Kumasi Institute of Technology, Energy and Environment) is a leading NGO in Ghana in their field and EWB has many years of partnership with them through the Multi-functional Platform (MFP) project. (http://kiteonline.net/)

My project as I know it so far:

eCARE (e-Commerce and aims to reduce poverty, accelerating the extension of clean energy and modern telecommunication services to rural and peri-urban users. eCARE does this by providing loans to rural entrepreneurs for the purchase and operation of Rural Business Centres (RBCs) equipped with computers, printers, telephones and solar photovoltaic systems. eCARE is public-private partnership between Ghana Telecom, the UN foundation, UNEP and KITE. (www.ecareghana.org.gh and http://ecareghana.blogspot.com)

My role:

The eCARE project is about to scale up from 69 centres to 200 centres by the end of 2009. In short, my role is to help KITE create a survey, and gather and analyze data on how existing centres are performing. Once that is complete, I am to work on strategies for ensuring that the new centres are better positioned for success.