Time Block: Pre-Retreat/Post Accra

The first few days back at the office after returning from Accra have been among some of the most interesting I've had so far. A journalist from the Japanese news agency was in town, along with Adisa (she got to fly while I took the bus), to do a story on the soap room for the upcoming G8 summit. Tagged along for a few days, and it turned out to be a great idea as I got to see the entire processing aspect of the shea soap value chain, from the plantation to butter to soap. Wicked stuff. Tried my hand at the butter making, looked ridiculous, but figured "when in rome...."
Engaged in a bit of cross cultural communication with the reporter, I'd be lying if I said I remembered his name, but the conversation was insightful nonetheless. Turns out he's been living in Nairobi for about a year now, and has no plans to head back to Japan, "life is too structured and rigid". Really struck me, since while his statement rang true with what I would have assumed, I never would have expected him to stand so adamantly against that way of life. Guess it just reinforces the ideology that people are individuals the world over.
The last of the JF's, Rachael, arrived in Tamale a few days back, she got here late on account of finishing up an internship at the UN in Vienna, and I took her out to do some errands she needed to get done. Was a self realization experience. When your in a new place, surrounded by locals, it's easy to loose sight of the fact that you are adapting since you will always be behind those you are interacting with. By taking Rachael around town and particularly acting as a quasi "translator" at the immigration office, it hit me how far I've come. Everyone was speaking english, but the officer had no concept of what she was saying so I had to jump in to get the point across, it's a stunning case of same language but entirely different dialects. Don't know if that makes much sense, but hopefully it paints the picture.
Took my first look at the results of the baseline data collection that happen in my absence. Jacked that it is essentially completed, decidedly less jacked about some of the data collected. The aim of the first section was to detail the demographics of the communities by taking a sample and extrapolating, except that instead of working with a sample of 15 I'm now working with one of 3. Bit of back round, the methodology was that the sample group would be divided into three groups of roughly five people and that each of the participants would answer the demographic component individually before moving on the first the rest of the survey collectively. Turns out only one person from the smaller groups was polled on the demographics, so instead of averaging fifteen results and multiplying by a factor of two, I'm averaging three and multiplying by ten. Can you say increased statistical error? Doesn't help that on the individual surveys the responses range from 30+ to 5. This isn't what grinds me the most though, as perhaps I didn't convey the concept right and I should take solace in getting back what I got, it's the complete absenteeism of the assoc. exec. One of the biggest beefs they had when I met with them was that they though A2N was taking too much a front line role in running the assoc. and that more initiatives should come from the them. So with this in mind I worked it into the budget that a member of the exec could come on each of the community visits. Guess what happens? They blow off everyone, including their own communities! It's honestly ridiculous. They were getting picked up from their homes in the morning, had lunch included, and have offered no tangible reason for dodging calls or not showing. Ain't going to rant..instead I'm going to use it to segway into my next thought.
Since work has been going into the shitter, which isn't to be confused with my still having an incredible experience on this journey, I decided to take stock of all my assets. The end result is that I leveraged much of the energy and time I'd been spending stagnating in the office into diving into my community life. I figure what's the point of sitting in an office in Ghana reading sports highlights, when I can instead be out on the farm learning about an entirely different way of life. Thus I've been staying out in Pagazaa more and more during the days, and hitting the farm like a champ. Which has lead to some great insights, as well as selfishly I'm just happier. Started teach Mustapha computers once a week as well, which is awesome. He comes into town after teaching at the school in the morning, we work for a bit, adjourn for lunch ( I buy, he won't accept rent but seems to let this slide), then come back for a shorter lesson before heading out into the market. I've got a list of places I want to go, and things to buy, so the idea is that by striking them of a few at a time I can limit some of the franticness at the end.
Apologizes if this post ain't as fluid as some of the others, I wrote it over a stretch so it wasn't the one shot wonder that most of the others have been.
Got reminded of a Chomsky quote I read a while I was cruising on bike through town pondering..."development without freedom is the devils gift"..think it's definitely got a correlation to past and future of this place, but I got to contemplate it more.