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.

————————————————-

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.

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.]

…………………………………………………………………………

[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.

…………………………………………………………………………

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?

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.

—————————————————————

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.

Saturday May 24

Accra, Ghana

I woke up at 5:30 this Saturday morning. At Mary’s, a long term volunteer whose shared apartment I’ve been staying at for the last two weeks, it’s cool, the windows are well netted for mosquitoes, and it’s comfortable. I was well rested. So I lazed around – I read a little bit more of The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, I called my mother, I took a nap, and I read some more before grabbing breakfast.

And then I looked out the window.

And I had a simple realization. What I had been doing this morning was a privilege.

Many Ghanaians do not have Saturdays off. In fact they have to fetch more water than usual – it’s laundry day. And cooking, cleaning, child care, and any income generating activities (wood work, taxi driving, selling a product at the market etc.) still happen on Saturdays and even Sundays.

But on the flip side, most of these activities also take place in Canada. So what’s the difference? What’s “time poverty”? And why might my relaxing morning, and even the fact that I am in Ghana for my summer, be a privilege? Thoughts?