Viva la Africa

2008-07-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

Been eating ludicrisly well the last few days, think I might be gaining back some of the weight I'd lost. Getting it all back over here might be impossible though, and to be honest I feel somewhat healthier without it. Managed to catch a lift out to Pag on a moto with working gauges, can't convey the novelty of that, so I was able to get a semi-accurate measurement of the distance I've been biking for the last few months. Turns out the estimate I've been getting of 15km ain't off by much, measured out as 17.4km from hut to office. So not counting any side jaunts that comes to a daily total of around 35km a day, six days a week, on a beach comber single speed...not too shabby if I don't say so myself. Back to the food though, had my coaching visit with Cat, who is...ah...my coach. As usual good times, we decided to take in the swad, essentially the exorbinantly overpriced white people resturant, neither of us had been and figured it was as good a time as ever. Got this mini pizza, which should have fed two so said the menu, tasted good but didn't last too long in the stomach. I genuinely think I might be lactose intolerant and just didn't know it before now, cause anytime I try to eat dairy products they last in my stomach for about 15 minutes elapsed! Continuing with the food theme, decided to indulge in some of my care package treasures and made some african fatis. Since I don't have any sort of refrigeration, once I opened the wraps I knew I was going to have to eat them all in fairly short order I decided throwing a dinner party ghana style at the ewb house with two of the other volunteers would be the best remedy to this deliemma. Got some tooboni (this bean paste food), avacado (which they call pears..took me a bit on that one), some spicy groundnut powder, and fried up veggies. Mix in a couple of boxes of sangria and I was essentially in utopia. On an entirely unrelated note got to go for chocolate cake later that week as well...killed my gut but was definitely worth it.
Working to finish up my final report on the shea association for Adisa, turns out she's coming up for a workshop the last week of july so it'd be good to have it done by then. Partly so I can talk it through with her in person, and partly so I can cross it off my list of things to tie up before I head back over the pond.
Anyway, work on getting a few more of these up but things are getting a bit crazy so forgive me if they aren't as frequent. Vanishing into the village for a chunk of time too, so probably end up going native and forgetting how to write anyway! Plus I don't got no power..
Cheers

2008-07-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

So Friday was an odd day. They've been rolling blackouts through all of Tamale for the past week or so, which has been seriously hampering any attempt I've been making at productivity. You'd think they'd broadcast the times, or the reasons, for the blackouts right? Nope, Ghana just don't work like that ladies and gents. The point of this story though is that I ended up having a fairly serious disagreement with my boss. Seems he lost his key to the office, and since there's only one other key he wanted that one, problem is that I needed it to get into the office on Sunday to teach Mustapha computers. To try and solve this most vexing of dilemmas I suggested numerous plans, such as hiding the key, calling me so I could come in and get it on Saturday, or leaving it with the watchman. In the end I managed to get him to get him to agree to the last, but not before he went off on a hilarious tangent...well as least hilarious to me. Starts tearing into me, full of finger pointing, and yelling over my responses, about how all my options don't consider the security of the office and how resourceful thieves are. How resourceful does a thief have to be to pick up the labeled key you dropped and open a door? Security of the office? Sure there champ..Tried to play it nice but in the end I was laughing cause he was trying to pull that "I'm bigger than you" physical intimidation crap. This guy might be taller, but he's a fat, dagomba princeling...kinda throws him off that I look him in the eye and ain't culturally programmed to take his shit. To top it off he's a total chauvinist too, you should have heard his tirade on Thursday, I honestly thought he was going to say women have smaller brains. Speaking of which if the women in this country ever got a mind to, they'd physically dominate the male population..no jokes, their jacked. Anyway the guys a wanker, and guess what? Mustapha and I biked into Tamale, 17km, and he didn't give the watchman the key to let us in. Even considering the no go computer lesson, Sunday was an awesome day. Bought Mustapha lunch, biked back to pag, stopping to talk to his friends along the way, it was sunny and clear for the first time in a while, got some food and chilled out. There's this great banku joint along the way. Put on the aviators, did some reading/trying to mitigate my beater tan, and taught Hanan how to use the camera...which lead to a LARGE number of ridiculous pictures. Finished if off by walking into the bush, climbing a huge tree and watching the sun set. Ain't no pint at the pub, but still a good way to end off a day.
Interesting thought I've been having recently is how a community like Pag would survive the apocalyptic world that is being predicted with the demise of cheap oil. The global north, if it gets its act together, should be fine since it has the intellectual and technological capital to adapt when it has to. The south though has been steadily pushed by development projects and media influence into emulating the same unsustainable lifestyles, yet they do not possess the aforementioned capital in the same quantities. Strange to think that the people the burgeoning middle class in this country look down upon, the subsistence or small scale farmers are the ones that will best weather the storm. Pagazaa doesn't employ too many outside inputs, they have the tractor, but that is only to increase production for income generation, not to meet basic food needs. They eat, from what I've seen, almost exclusively community produced foods and have large, stable, livestock herds. Indigenous knowledge and teaching are still strong. Anyway it's just weird to think that the tsunami that everyone is bracing for would register as little more than a blip in their eyes.
Just found out the boss got malaria...ain't karma a bitch..
Hoist one for me,
Cheers

Work...maybe..?

2008-07-14T04:22:00.000-07:00

So I got back my shirts, for the second time, from Mustapha's tailor yesterday. First time
round he did a great job, but I figure he must have mixed up the measurements cause both
shirts were too short and the head opening on one was too small. The shortness wasn't so much
a case of them being unwearable, more that self-conscious feeling when you wish it had just
a bit more length. Anyway I ended up cruising past the guy's shop again, turns out he still
had some scraps of my material left and was able to add a few inches to them both...all in
all a fairly successful culture outing if I don't say so myself. Major problem now is that I
went all out bling on one of the shirts, it's green with this gold foil patterns on it,
definitely ridiculous and awesome. Thing is the consensus around the office is that it will
all rub off the first time I wash it, so the eternal dilemma is do I wash it and continue to
wear it in-country? Or do I use it sparingly in an effort to preserve it as a
memento/exhibition piece for back home? Thoughts anyone?
Now that I've dispensed with my vanity for the day, I wanted to put down some of the
work streams I've been chipping away at lately..cause I am supposed to be working and not
just perusing the Internet right? Want to forewarn y'all though, I'm going to be posing some
questions that I don't know the answer to, so if any one's got any suggestions throw them my
way.
My first, as well as my only really mandated work stream, is the processing of the community
baseline data. Fairly sure I've talked about it before, but for those starting here it is a
basic community survey that was designed to profile demographics, shea butter production
practices, as well as unearth some indicators that could be revisited in later years to
determine what, if any impact the association may have had on an individual member level.
Guess the first things I've noticed while compiling the data? That all these type of surveys
come with a truck load of assumptions, are never administered as planned, and when there the
first stab of some bush wild civil engineer, they sometimes got a..cough...few holes! All in
all though I've been able to glean some meaningful information, particularly with regards
to production and profitability. Seems that near all the members buy their raw shea nuts in
the market as opposed to picking them locally, which is contrary to what the association had
believed, or at least publicly stated. Quality, effort involved, and availability out of
season are some of the rationals I've come up with for the practice, but if this output
could be minimized or eliminated the profitability of shea would greatly increase. So the
question is, how do we do this? Been thinking that establishing a stronger connection
between nut pickers and processors would be a good start, as well as perhaps devising a
system by which individual groups could be divided into specialized units, while still
sharing the profits jointly. This though requires an analysis of the effort input needed for
both practices. Another thought is developing a better system of storage for the nuts, so
that when they are in season, and thus cheaper to purchase, groups could buy, all the while
stockpiling nuts to use during the more expensive off-season. Segwaying to the profitability
track, on the outside the activities of the producers seem to be relatively profitable,
averaging out at 40ish%, yet the general consensus is that they are losing money overall.
Would have been nice if someone mentioned that BEFORE we did the survey so a question along
those lines could have been included, but eh, what you going to do? My thought is to further
investigate the processes of the individual groups, since all returned that they were using
the best practices instructed by the assoc., which should be efficient and thus profitable.
Chains got to have a busted link somewhere though....
Maybe this next one reeks a bit on societal tampering, but nonetheless I believe it would
not only benefit the development of the shea industry, but also the community as a whole,
both long and short term. What I've been batting around is the idea of community centers,
like the ones we take for granted back home, as a tool to not only improve the productivity
of individual shea groups but also as a method to promote more equality and leadership
tendencies...pretty lofty, aye? Looking first at the shea industry, I systemic problem seems
to be a lack of organization both collectively within the assoc. as well as within
individual groups. Sure they have a group exec. and individual group execs, but it isn't the
kind of structure that will actually make a tangible difference in production or
efficiency. To do that I think each group must be run like a small scale production factory,
having a central processing and storage centre, as well as a set work schedule. An
additional bonus to this approach would be that it would allow each of the groups to
successfully develop individually while waiting for a larger scale international buyer.
Which, when it arrived, could facilitate a quasi corporate merger of the groups, which since
already organized and productive, could actually yield the strong, one voiced market force,
that as of now is nothing but an A2N pipe dream.
Turning to my own personal trip, thrashing around with the JF brain trust we hit upon one of
the major factors in the slow development of Ghana being a lack of strong leaders. Delving a
bit deeper we stumbled on a few possible factors(obviously these are generalizations), one,
people are largely taught to be subservient and obedient and thus are completely out of
there element when asked to take on the responsibility/risk involved in leadership
positions. The result of this cultural conditioning is the chronic buck passing mentality
that seems to be present here. Two, community meetings are usually held in the chief's
compound, so while they my have the appearance of a democratic forum, decisions are made in
a autocratic manner. Wherein the male segment decides, and above them the chief decides.
Both of these problems could, at least in our minds, be addressed or at least mitigated by
the creation of community centers. They would offer a neutral site for meetings, and drawing
from my own youth, could provide a location for sport and other activities. Which when we
looked back on it was where a lot of us feel we first started to develop leadership
tendencies, wanting the puck on your stick so to speak.
Rambled on a fair bit on this one ladies and gents, I'll try and shorten it down for the
next few, but I hope some of the points came across.
Hoist one for me,
Cheers

Hitting the fields....

2008-07-03T06:43:00.000-07:00

Running with some of the themes of my last post, I figured I'd through up a brief explanation of the farming practices within my community. Also heard through the grape vine, I choose not to use the word criticism cause I ain't bothered, that people might be itching for some more practical topic matter.
Pagazaa is what I term a subsistence plus farming community, by which I mean they generally always meet their basic needs and thus are able to approach agriculture more as a business venture, as well as engage in other income generating activities such as petty trading or trade work. Community organization and crop diversification seem to be critical catalysts to this success, but since I've only really explored this one case I don't have any concept of whether this is a unique feature or indicative of most communities. Taking Mustapha as an example, he farms rice, maize(kinda African corn), yam, cassava, and groundnuts(peanut like), and not in small quantities either. Maybe that needs a disclaimer, compared to many subsidence farmers his 6 acres of groundnuts is a huge field, but not so much so when measured against the 1500+ acre industrialized scenario we see back home. I think this ability to farm on such a relatively large scale is completely predicated on the presence of the tractor. Haven't been able to get a concrete answer as to how the arrangement works, but here's what I've garnered so far. It seems to be something that is either communally owned, or is a service that everyone contributes to , and that the system of whose field gets plowed and when is fairly intricate. Literally it's been operating day and night since the beginning of the rainy season, and gives the farmers a massive leg up by removing the need for them to till their fields manually. Speaking of that, manually working a farm = balls...no jokes I've been working the groundnut farm lately and I'm surprised every one's back here ain't totally shot. The work ethic of the farmers is incredible though, take Mustapha for example, he gets up around 4.30 for morning prayers, goes to the farm till around 8, then teaches in the school till 2ish, before heading back out to the fields till around 7.30 or so at night. That's a weekday, so you'd think he'd chill out some on the weekend right? Nope, he just uses the time that he would have been teaching to stay on the farm longer, honestly I don't know how he keeps it up. That was a bit of a tangent..what was a talking about, ahh..community farming. So the people in the village have this communal labor practice, wherein once a week or so everyone from the village comes and works of the land of a particular family. Pretty impressive sight to see hundred or so men, women and children, working a small plot by hand. Exceeding practically as well, since the community was able to completely weed Mustapha's groundnut farm in one day, which then freed him to put more work into some of his other crops without suffering any consequences. Another major aspect of farming culture I've noticed is the manner in which skills and knowledge or conveyed to the children of the family. From the time that they can walk a child is brought out to the farm constantly, even though lots of them aren't able to contribute anything meaningful. The principle is that they thus learn though observation, so that when they are able to work the fields the learning curve is basically non-existent. Children from say 11+ are also given their own mini-fields, where in the can plant whatever they want, thought they seem to all choose yam and groundnuts from what I've seen. One of the kids a live with Hanan, 13, has this yam field where, no lie, the mounds are easily over half as tall as he is! A side note to this is that these mini-plots only seem to be given to male children, since males are viewed as the administrators of the farm while women are just generic labor. Also yam is viewed as the most powerful, masculine crop, so that's likely why the children gravitate to it.
In terms of agricultural inputs and add-ins the only one's present in the 'pag appear to be a minimal amount of herbicide that is applied to the maize and rice crops. I haven't really noticed, or heard of, any fertilizer use, thought there is an epic amount of livestock so it's definitely, ah, naturally abundant! With regards to seeds the heavy emphasis is on having large enough yields that you are able to a lot a portion for use as seed next year. Purchasing seed seems to be a last resort, only happening under unexpected conditions, like drought the previous year, and even then seed is generally bought and sold within the village as opposed to looking to outside traders.
Tried to cram a lot into this one, so hope it all came across ok, and if you got any questions feel free to throw them up. If I don't know the answer I'm more than game to dive into village to try and figure it out.
Stick on the ice but elbows up.
...didn't anyone see the pickups detroit made? Re-sign Stuart and sign Hossa! Looking like it might be a repeat for the winged wheel...

Time Block: Pre-Retreat/Post Accra

2008-07-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Accra Saga Part 3

2008-06-20T02:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, memo to self, don't put off writing blog entries it just makes it a right mother to get in all down later.
Still working with the Accra theme, and a bit more of a work related track, I had a chance to interview the women from Salinargu that had gone with Adisa to the trade fair in Japan. Was probably one of the better experiences I've had since being here, seeing the genuine enthusiam of people taking in the world for the first time. It's hard for me to imagine, coming from Canada, what it must be like for someone to developed society for the first time, these women had never even been to Accra before! Hearing them talk about the plane, trains, beach, and seeing a different culture was all in all rewarding. Amazing too was the amount of encouragement they derived from the interest that people showed in their work, it was a validation that the dreams they have could come true I think. Didn't hurt either that one of the major comments that the exporters had was that they were against any sort of mechanization of the butter/soap processes, which helps the women who were worried about the capital cost of machines. Also, JICA, which is basically the Japanese version of CIDA are paying for, and doing all the paper work for the women to become organically certified in Asia, which should only add to the orders that are already coming in. Biggest learning point the women said they were bringing back was sanitation, meaning personal hygiene as well as cleaniness of the manufacturing site, something I never even considered when profiling the assoc. so it was cool to have my perspective broadened. Hightlight of the whole interview was one of the women getting up and teaching Safia how she should use the electric airport walkway when she travels.
Being in the office in Accra was a kinda odd experience, I loved the environment, super friendly and lively, but I didn't really have any work to do, which meant I just trolled the internet too much. Which brings me to my next point, out of the fire of my misery I came up with and rolled out what I've termed "Henry's Mental Sanity Plan". It basically involves, cutting back on internet, phone calls, taking better care of myself physically, journaling, and generally remembering what a beautiful woman told me before I left, "remember your in Africa". The electronic communication hurt me particularily cause I think I was trying to be a part of people's lives back home, when in truth I just can't, I have to step off the train, and looking through such a small window is messy. Plus I figure there's no way I should be checking my emails so frequently that I don't have new messages, I am supposed to be 1000's of miles away. Along with all this I decided that I needed to do things that I wanted to instead of doing the status quo, so I decided to take a different bus line, Greater Imperial Transport, as opposed to the ewb standard stc. One of the best decisions I've made so far! Station was definately in the ghetto, and the bus less fancy, but the seats were infinately more comfortable, they only played one nigerian movie (they lick...don't care what anyone says..they just suck), was 7 cedi's cheaper, and I felt like I was travelling with the regular populous. Ride was picturesque, with all my personal garbage I've never sat and watched the country go by as I've taken the bus. Going over the volta river at dusk, with the people out fishing was something that will stick with me forever I think, couldn't bring myself to bastardise it with a picture. Though on a side note I have started employing a take more pictures mentality. Another funny moment about the bus was before it got going there was a argument about who should sit in one of the middle seats behind me. Picture me just sitting there reading my book smiling as everyone goes crazy, Ghanaians love to yell and get involved so it took about 15 minutes before the whole issue was resolved. Best part was a group of people at the front loudly starting the "just throw him off the bus and replace him!" movement.
Anyway I got back to Tamale in the evening, and managed to snag a lift with Mustapha on the motor bike back to Pagazaa. Definately going to get a license when I get home, sorry mom, but it might be the best way to go cross-country. For sure the bicycle is my urban movement machine, but the idea of having an old Indian for heading out camping has completely infected me.
Stick on the ice but elbows up
Cheers

Accra Saga Part 2

2008-06-20T02:48:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the theme of the previous entry...being in Accra also had a great side benefit, as another young dude is staying with Adisa so I was able to made my first solid friend. Laugh it up ladies and gents, but making solid mates that aren't out to for something, be it wealth or status, is remarkably hard and I'm a seriously social dude! One of the LTOV's got serious why we laughed about feeling lonely during in-country, no jokes though, I'm so used to being on a island in my mind now that I wonder if I'll be able to back into it. Then I remember who my friends are back home and know they ain't gonna show no mercy! Thankful for that. Figure it's kinda like hockey after the offseason, when you strap them up for the first time your worried your gonna be a total spoon, but it all comes back once you get out there. Plus "it taste's so good when it hit's your lips!"
Getting back on track...Osman is a chill dude, and remarkably, at least after living in the north, is educated, obsessed with football, and likes hitting the "pub" for pints. Thought the pub here is really a patio, and they call pints bottles. Either way, I jonesing for it bad, cause anyone who knows me, knows I love the pub...and of course the occasional drink! Try to keep the sarcastic comments to a minimum on that one! Was good to kick back though and have some solid locker-room conversations, plus Osman has a master's in agricultural development and fleunt english so I got some perspective. Funny part about drinking in Ghana though is everyone is super cheap, I mean junior high cheap. I'm all tall boy number three and feeling maybe a slight buzz, Osman's half done two and definately riding high! Shot's are out of the question too, a case of one an done, kinda want him to make it to the 'peg so I could take him out to the toad, he nearly passed out from my recounting of an average night....worried it might TKO him though..
Watching football here is nuts, people go straight off the handle, and that's with everything in Ghanaian culture already dialled up to 11. What you do is go to this little shack that has one or two small tv's with the feed on it and pack it to the brim. It's like a adidas "power of sport commericial"! Anyway, was wicked since the UEFA cup was on, so everyone was especially jacked and the matches where solid. Also I want to go on record saying that fried egg sandwiches are god sent, was a nice switch up to eat for pleasure rather than simply for substinence.
Only really downer about staying in Accra was the market, it's not that it wasn't intriguing to see, it's just that being a white person is a more significant obstacle than in Tamale. Up north, while I know I'm going to get jacked on the price, people are at least polite, which ain't the case down south. I went to the market on the saturday before I caught the bus with aspirations of finding myself a pair of used jeans and ended up getting so frustrated that I didn't buy a thing. It all starts with everyone grabbing me, it's like a gauntlet, every person has to get in my face and physically grab my arm and try pulling me toward their wares. I know I'm supposed to be an ambassador, but that crap just don't fly in my world, so I'd end up ripping my arm away from them. If that wasn't enough, the price hikes were now to high for me to write off as supporting the economy and people absolutely refused to barter, which is traditionally the point of a market right? Also it hurt me that I was taking away from the experience of those I was in the market with since they were getting over charged on account of me, while having to deal with comments like "just get the white guy to pay for it". In the end I had to just wander away so they could get some of the things they wanted. Brought me down a notch though, I feel like I let the market get to me and detract from my experience, which in hindsight I will not allow to happen again. Another aspect I struggled with was I'd see stuff and think, that'd make a great gift, but the problem is it's something that people could get in north america, only just alot cheaper. Bringing back people gifts that were made in China and supporting the destruction of indeginous industry are things I just can't do, but if you want to buy local in the market your in for a long day. Felt sort of the same as when I went to the cultural center, it was so fake, no one who was Ghanian ever visited there, or used any of the wares, it's solely designed to cater to tourists. Which again runs me into the ethical delemmia of not wanting to cheapen the experience I've had here, I want to bring back gifts I got in real local markets. So I've made a list and I'm going to start having at it this weekend.
Got to go to the beach around mid-week, which was sweet, and selfishly one of the real touristy activities I'd had on my list for the trip. Ended up swimming in the ocean with the sun setting, actually laughing at the whole thing. Don't think my old man ever though one of his boys would be doing this. Definately through the rasta lifeguard for a loop though, as next to no one in Ghana can swim, so he was freaking out about how far I was out...though he might choke on his whistle...or maybe that was a hope., Only detractor was that you have to pay to use the beach, and people are constantly trying to sell you junk, but that's the way everything is here..everyone trying to milk a buck out of the same cow without ever trying anything new.
Like before, gonna chop this one here to keep them readable.

Accra Saga Part 1

2008-06-20T02:45:00.000-07:00

So here's the first in what's going to be a long series of posts, so bear with me I'm just gonna giv'er through them. I figure the best place to start is with my departure for Accra. I was starting to feel like I was hitting the wall on this trip before I headed out, and was thinking that being on the road again might work as the ultimate travelling cure all. Man did I get that one wrong...On the way down I was travelling with Liz, who was trying to work through all the issues associated with going home after being away for so long. She needed someone to talk to, which while I was game to be the sounding board for questions like "was it worth it?, did I make an impact?", in the end they were incredibly destructive for me. Personally, I'd never really considered this placement past the midterm retreat, the logic being that by picking closer goals the time would pass much faster. So the sudden consideration of what it would be like to see my family, friends, and Canada again kicked the base I'd been standing on out from underneath me. All of this was exacerbated by the fact that our travel was on the night bus, which you can't sleep on, and by having to sleep at the station in Accra cause it was too early when we arrived to get a room in a guest house. Not that, that didn't stop us from driving all around the area in the wee hours, before eventually conceeding defeat! Another aspect is that Liz and I have two different and distinct personalities, I perferr to just pick a goal and go, while she likes to daly at the starting line trying to decide which way to go. It's not that I'm saying that one way is better than the other, it's just trying to accomadate her style had some negative affects for me.
All the above leads to my first night in Accra, which was interesting to say the least! We finally did get a room, where we basically just crashed till the early afternoon. Then Liz had to go to the market to buy even more gifts(as much as people told her she just bought more!), so off we went. Moving around in the capital is definately different than Tamale, everything is so much more frantic, packed, and dirty, yet all the while the city sprawls like nothing I've ever seen. Shopping with Liz was an excercise in me chasing after her, trying to give her constructive comments, and getting to buy or see anything I wanted too! But ce la vie, it was her last visit so I was down to indulge. After the market we headed back to guest house, where we got picked up by one of Adisa's daughters, Sala, in her car...was wierd to jump from living in the village to staying with the wealthy, but more on that later. Sala then pronounced that the traffic would be too nuts to head back to Adisa's till later, so we should go grab something to eat. This is where I was barely able to hold it together, turns out the Ghanaian idea of a fancy place to eat is a suped up fast food resturant! Not even kinding, we when to this place, Papya, where it was like an old school A&W! The waitress came to your little Mctable and they all wore uniforms that you only see in old movies about diners in the southern states. Food was good though. Headed off to the house eventually, was kinda surreal cruising through the urban environment at night, that fact that everyone here loves sappy north american pop songs didn't help either.
Adisa lives in what can best be described as a mansion by Ghanaian standards, it has a couple sitting rooms, two floors, kitchen, and bedrooms with individual bathrooms. And of course it comes with the requistie gate, wall, and rasorwire. Might not compare to big homes back in the developed world, but relative to it's surroundings it's the ritz charlton! Getting to watch a bit of tv, particularily the world news(english aljezeera is pretty solid), and generally just kicking back was good for the psyche. Only really wierd part about staying at the house is that Adisa has drivers that take her everywhere, even to get lunch, so I essentially had a showfer service all week..definately a change from two hours of biking a day, or six to a car cab rides!
My assumptions about what is truly alturistic also came to light while I was at Adisa's. She takes in these girls from the various communities that she does work in, lets them stay in the house and puts them through school, with the trade off being that they do all the cleaning, cooking, and domestic work. My gut response was that this was a way of getting quasi servants on the cheap, in reality that was just me projecting my idealologies onto the situation. It wasn't until I considered that these girls would be doing the same chores under worse conditions, and befret of the opportunities for betterment that I could see the alturism behind Adisa's actions. This doesn't mean I'm slurping the Adisa coffee, but looking at things through her societal context I believe her actions are genuine. All in all, the whole ephipany was a catalyst for me to start considering how I've been evaluating everything I've seen...which can only be positive
Gonna cut this one here in the name of keeping these readable,
Stick on the ice but elbows up
cheers

In Accra...finally..

2008-06-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

So I'm in Accra, ended up being awake for something like 30ish hours straight though, which sucked. Just wanted to say thanks for the comments and questions, I appreciate it. It tends to pick me up, and give me an outside perspective that I find I lose alot when I'm immersed in everything over here. Working on getting answers up to the questions, I figure I'll just self post them on the comment board, so check it out in a week or so. Thanks again, and keep it coming!
Stick on the ice, but elbows up...and all bow to the winged wheel!

Another post?

2008-06-04T05:23:00.001-07:00

Started throwing up some links to other JF's blogs, running out of internet so I'll have to do the rest later. Hopefully going to see a local professional football match today, called it football, I must be integrated! It's at the new stadium that was build for the African Nations Cup that Ghana hosted this year, pretty imposing, even got razor wire on the walls. Also going to brave a haircut so I can look swanky for the big boss, don't worry I'm making before and after videos! Trying to figure out how to convey #3 buzz cut and don't obliterate the side burns....
Stick on the ice but elbows up

June 2...lame title I know..

2008-06-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

So once again as I'm writing this we're having problems with the computers in the office. Recommendations for the JF program next year, a labtop should be mandatory, even a crappy one, and you should not be told not to bring a pair of jeans. The labtop would help since every computer here is riddled with viruses, I've now had my mp3 player killed and my usb stick wiped out. Gotta love that one, spent a week or so picking the files, applications, etc.. to put on
it and in less than a month it's all for not. But ce la vie, aye? Definately wish I'd brought a labtop, even just for the sake of not having to deal with the general shittiness of the computers here. Jeans should not be disparaged against, I wish I had a pair right now, I even brought some to pre-dep but everyone was so adamantly against them that I ended up leaving them behind. Yet when I got overseas, all the LTOV's say they'll come in handy, and go figure they sure would have. Hoping Robin, another volunteer whose back in Canada right now might be able to pick
mine up from the house and bring them back, but that's a fair bit to ask.
Had my meeting with my coach, Cat, last Thursday and Friday, good times, except for when she got sick from the food in Pag! Helped to give me a bit of direction as well, we did this excercise, took like four hours, where I organized my goals in terms of impact overseas, impact back home, and personal development. Know it doesn't sound that complicated, but if you work them through to activities and indicators of success it can take a bit. One of the impacts for back home that I've been considering is the connection between my chapter and the shea association. I feel like there is a strong correlation between the two organizations, so I've been analyzing both and taking some of the recommendations I've arrived at for the association and projected them onto the chapter. Been coming up with some proposals for increased member involvement, alternative outreach and recruitment, as well as some best organizational practices. Didn't feel like burdening the rest of the audience with my thoughts, so I gonna throw it together into a file and send it on back to the chapter. Tell me what you think, I don't have much in the way of a
sounding board over here so some of the ideas could be a little off.Another big conclusion I came out of the meeting with was that I can't leave things undone on this trip if I'm going to come away with a positive experience. By which I mean, no justifying not trying something, whether it makes me uncomfortable or not, actually more so if it does. Otherwise I think I'll leave feeling unsatisfied, and that's no good. Along these lines, dove into the market with Mustapha on Saturday, was a great time. While I love getting lost in the vastness/insanity of the markets, it is nice to have a quasi guide to point you in the right direction if your looking for something in particular. Picked up some cool fabric, a hat, and a kifir, which is a muslim scarf,
went for red and white just to be patriotic. Didn't get to go the the central mosque or Mustapha's tailor for the smock, but the intergration never happened in a day!
Talked to a few people back home in the last few days, seems like the love is free and flowing. Was a load off my mind to hear things are going well for everyone and got me thinking of a great line I stole from George back at the conference (George being one of the co-founders of EWB). He was talking about why the organization was so successful
and he said, " when we thought about it, everything we did came down to love, and that's why it's so successful." Hallaluha brother! Amen!
Heading down to Accra for an indefinate amount of time starting on Thursday, great part about the business world when it comes to stress, not so much in terms of packing! Got to meet the head of the association and see the head office, but apparently I'm also likely to have 3-4 days of waiting to get to do those tasks. Guess I'm just going to have to check out the markets...and the beach! I know I deserve your sympathy..HAHA!
Keep the elbows up, and death to the penguins

June 1

2008-06-04T05:04:00.000-07:00

Had another meeting with the shea association on friday, went reasonably well, people showed up on time, except only two of five showed! I'm loving working as a consultant in this environment. I outlined the baseline methodology that we'll be employing for the community survey, proposed a meeting template, and introduced the concept of a communication tree. All in all, I'd say I'd give myself a B, it wasn't everything that I wanted to have done, I'm still waiting to hear back as to how much it will cost to have a sample of shea butter tested for each of the communities, but it was a decent effort. I'm hoping I'll be able to convince Adisa to get on board with the shea butter grading for each of the communities, I know it will cost some extra money but it would give the association at least a rough idea of what is being produced so they can better allocate capacity building resources, order division, as well as generally have a specification sheet to show to potential buyers. Learned at the meeting that Safia is officially getting her visa to immigrate to Canada, don't know how I feel about that one. While I can't begrudge her for going, at the same time I can't get over that she's leveraged her "involvement" in the association into the ticket, along with the fact she's hanging everyone out to dry. But a individualist approach seems to be the norm over here. Which is contrary to the tales you here of the great sense of community, the veil of which I feel has been removed. It is safe to say that, in any society, when people become organized in a community it is at least partially if not wholly self-serving in motive. People are seeking protection, food security, access to increased resources, be it knowledge or material in nature, as well as numerous other factors which they deem would be beneficial to themselves. It's not like this is an epiphany for me, it's just that the communities here are portrayed as struggling against the odds and somehow, better than those back home. I don't think that's the case, if all things were equal, I feel they would manifest themselves in largely the same way as back home, it's just the limitation of individual resources and knowledge that results in the increase of group participation. Great example came from Helen in the last meeting, she was on a rant about how orders should be divided amongst the communities(14) evenly, it was warranted though as she'd just found out about the 600 kilo order that Safia had accepted, given to two communities, and been payed for without telling anyone else in the association. When she snuck in that, if there wasn't enough to go around, at least the executive's communities should get the lion's share of the order. Interesting that the elected executive would see to it that their areas got the most preferential treatment, sound like a familiar political practice to anyone?
I think another one of the JF's, Glyniss, may have put it best when she said "everyone here believes there should be rules, as long as though don't affect them! It's like the roads, everyone drives on them, just not always in the right direction"
Elbows up, and death to the pens...there only prolonging the inevitable

What have I been up to....

2008-05-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

Kinda vanished on you everyone out there, know it's becoming a bit of a habit, but in my defence I have been writing posts they just been filled with a good number of rants so I'm still undecided whether I want them floating around the net for all to find. Could make my life here I bit awkward if some individuals stumbled upon them.
Along with that I feel as though I'm painting a negative picture of my placement, when in actuality it is probably the furthest thing from the truth. While I'll own up to certain aspects, like office motivation and general productivity grinding me a fair bit, the social aspects of hanging out in another culture have been amazing. Knock on wood, but I feel as though I'm at a place with myself where I now know enough to go out a fully enjoy the environment that I'm living in. I tend to spend my days trying to get full up with experiences, even if it's something like getting a haircut, which even for a basic buzz was a twinge tricky! Living in the village is awesome as well. I've been able to try my hand at all sorts of activities, following the path of farming from seed preparation to planting to weeding, from harvesting to making food, and generally just enjoying an infinitely simpler life. I don't got any power or water, I bathe out of bucket behind a mid chest high wall while having conversations, and live in a mud hut. All in all a heavy transition from my life back home. With that in mind though, being here has made me realize that while the wrapping of culture here is exorbinately different, the content is largely the same. You still have people going to work, walking there kids to school, you got village drunks and homelessness, teenagers sneaking off into the woods, it's largely the same, you just have to look at it a bit longer to see. I think I'm also starting to get a handle on Tamale itself, I now know where most things are, good places to eat, grab a pint, and pick up the basics, so that helps.
Heading to Accra, the capital city down south, on the 5Th with Liz so that should be sweet. Looking forward to hitting the famous beaches and checking out the market. All in all it's shaping up to be a good week, the last time I was there was when I first landed and was generally freaking out about the realities of ACTUALLY being in Ghana so I didn't enjoy it to the fullest.
Speaking of markets, hitting up Tamale this Saturday with Mustapha, should be wicked. He is great for knowing where to go and helping me not to get ripped off quite as bad! Got a decent list of stuff I'm going to try and find; kenti cloth, fabric for smock(going to his tailor in the afternoon), some new flip-flops, hat, ring, kifir, and I want to look at getting a prayer mat. I pretty much use it as a place to sit outside my hut at night, or when people come by, but the one I got is on loan from someone else so I should just break down and get my own.
Completely switching threads, I was wondering what people think of the blog so far? Haven't gotten as many comments as I would have liked, or as many questions. So feel free to offer some advice. Do people want me to try and be more interactive on the comment board? I'm also game for the audience giving me things to go and search out (idea courtesy of Sias...aside I found some more farming stuff for you).

Anyway, death to the penguins

Direction....Finally?

2008-05-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

So I think I might finally have been able to pin down what exactly I'm supposed to be working on during my placement. What it looks like right now is that I will be coming up with a monitoring and evaluation procedure from which a baseline of all the communities involved in the association can be determined. The end goal of this being providing a frame work by which a measure the impact, both positive and negative, that the association has had on each community can be taken down the road. Given the number of communities involved, scheduling times to visit, problems with transport, methodology creation, as well as the compiling of data and report writing that's going to have take place, I figure this could easily end up taking at least a month and a half. Which if you factor in the fact that I'm working for a cash/motivation strapped NGO, will likely end up taking the entirety of my placement. Kinda comforting though, cause when you combine the above with skill building the executive, I should at least be fairly busy, and that I think is key to my own mental health. Along the same vien, the ongoing saga of actually getting the association legally registered with the government may finally be coming to an end. Brief recap, from talking to the executive it was communicated to me that all the nessecary paperwork was already in the capital. Little did I know that this wasn't totally true, turns out the forms need to be filled out in triplicit and the executive had decided to only fill out/send one. Don't ask me why, cause I don't know and can't get a straight answer. Anyway, from talking to Adisa the one completed form is now rolling it's way back to Tamale, no one made a photocopy of it or apparently remembers the required info...again don't ask why, and hopefully I should be able to get it all sorted out at the executive meeting on saturday. Hope all is well in the global north, heard you guys still having a bit of a cold snap? Had one hear the last couple days, pretty hilarious seeing people wearing toques and I'm still sweating bullets! Got some sweet fabric at the market on the weekend, so I'll be hitting up the tailor some time this week to get some shirts made. Never really had tailored clothes made so it should be interesting. Mustapha is also going to take me to his friend who is a also a tailor to get some clothes similar to the communities, with is kinda different then the general ghanian, made. thinking of maybe a muslim smock/man-dress thing, look comfortable in the heat.... Side note on buying fabric, turns out most of the "ghanian" design fabric is actually made in england, holland, or other african countries. Managed to find some authentic stuff, but it required some looking. Anyway I just found it an odd outsourcing of culture, maybe a chance for impact? Just kidding, already got enough on my plate. Oh and for those who I know care, and you know who you are, Mustapha has an old classmate who lives in a village where they weave tradition kenti cloth, so I should be making some purchases there soon....don't worry I'll take pictures!
Till next time, stick on the ice and elbows up....and please don't let the pens win..

Weekend in Africa....

2008-05-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Brought out the frisbee last night, was originally supposed to play "wale" a kinda of board game (thought they dig the board in the dirt) with the kids, but the ground was too wet so opted for some disc instead. After they got the hang of it, they went nuts! Even the adults thought it was pretty sweet, turned into a community event (didn't get any pictures, but it was raining, and after music death I'm paranoid..sorry). In the end got them playing this game where they stood in a big circle and threw it around, if you missed you were out until one was left. They seemed to dig that, and the adults judged whether the throw counted as a fair one or not. Once this got going I decided to go on an integration rampage, pounded fufu and did some laundry, feel save to say I got a passing grade from my house mom or at least a laugh!
This JF experience is a complete rollercoaster of emotions, friday afternoon riding home I hated this place, with everyone of the hundred plus "salaminga!" (white man!) shouts grating my nerves, but then I had a great night in the village. Food was good, it was a cool night so I got great(and not super sweatty sleep), and I feel I had a decent conversation about child discipling with Mustapha. He was explaining to me, after I'd watched him sternly talking to a young boy, that the boy had been three times absent from school, been warned and henceforth would be whipped the next time he was asbent. I feel I managed to convey to him, that while I agreed that the boy should be in school and that there should be consequences to his actions, physical violence wasn't the answer. We even dicussed some alternatives, such as removal of priviledges as alternatives. While I don't hold out any hope that this will spare the child in the end, I'd say it was definately a mutually respectful exchange of ideas, which to me at the least counts for something if some seeds were planted. The next morning I found myself loath to leave the community, and ended up being late to meet Glyniss(another JF) in Tamale cause I was shelling corn with the family. Going in to town though was the best choice I've made on this journey yet. Started with me running into Glyniss while I was texting her walking down the main drag, and then Dean immedeately after! Didn't even know he was coming in! Laughed, I mean really laughed, for the first time in a week, had a conversation without difficulty, talked about the experience, and generally had my spirits immeasureably lifted. Ended up crashing out at the ewb house for the night before heading back to Pagazza on Sunday.
Speaking of that trip, I decided to brave the taxi rank to snag a ride home. For those who don't know, this is essentially a large parking lot cramped with cars which you walk around asking people where the taxis to where you want to go are parked. Once you find it though, this doesn't mean you get to leave. Generally the drivers don't want to go unless they have six passengers, two in the front, four in the back, and kids don't count! Thought you can go with less but you have to pay multiple fairs. Ended up getting smooshed into the front with this 14ish year old boy, after about an hour and a half of waiting, felt kinda bad for him, think I freaked him out a bit.
Anyway the saga continues, stick on the ice but elbows up boys and girls!

Wondering.....

2008-05-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been struggling with the rigid, and unequal gender roles that are present in Ghanaian society, especially in the rural context in which I am living. The men essentially just work the farm, which doesn't seem to be something done all that often, and otherwise they simply lounge around and are waited upon by the women. Women on the other hand are responsible for all the household tasks, some of these being, cooking, cleaning, child rearing, washing, and water fetching (no easy task I assure you!). All of this is done in addition to the long hours the women are expected to put in working the family fields as well! For me coming from Canada, and particularly my family where both of my parents have been professionals for the entirety on my life, this has proven to be more than a little disconcerting. Which leads me to my most troublesome question at the moment, how do you break down this barriers without alienating/offending those around you? At work I believe, I've managed to at the least chip off a few bricks. After some explanation the women no longer instantly differ to me, I clean my own dishes after lunch, and, thankfully they no longer ask permission to go home for the day. That one threw me for a loop when it first happened, I don't know how to explain it other than it left me shocked, and immensely uncomfortable. Any progress I've made at work though I think is largely attributable to the women I work with being aware of their own self worth and empowered by their independent business ventures. This is in stark contrast to my rural life in Pagazaa, where I would guess few, if not none of the women are educated and have been firmly boxed into their roles. When I try to interact with them while they are cooking, they look at me warily, and wonder if they've done something wrong or ask me if I want something from them. Anytime I try to convey an interest in what they are doing, it gets hung up in cultural barriers to the point where I simply make them uncomfortable or am reduced to a side-show. Which by the way, the numerous children of the community almost always guarantee I am, I can't even go "free-range" in the bush (I'll let you all figure that one out), without a pack of children chasing after me. Never though it would be children that would make trying to fit into a community so difficult. Anyway, back to my previous point. The most stunning image of gender roles I've encountered was when I endeavored to get my own water from the village bore-hole (about 5-10 min away walking), and was chased done on the trail by my host Mustapha. He adamantly explained that their was water in the house and that it was the women's place to make sure it was there. I countered by trying to use, not wanting to be a burden on the family, as well as seeing the whole of the village lifestyle as my shield and in the end he said he would allow it for today. Which, as all of you who know me even a bit can attest too, lead me to nearly chirp with off in true prairie fashion, allow me!? Managed to bite it back though.The really awkward moment came when I returned to the house with the water, and the first wife (the landlord has three I think, but I'm not sure) can to me and tried to convince me that I should just let her fetch it next time. I guess that in my head I thought that women would be enthused and excited about someone taking an interest in their way of life as well as possibly lightening the load a bit. Never for a minute did I consider the angle that they would push against my attempts to learn and achieve autonomy from the patriarchal structures.
In addition to my firmly held beliefs that men should respect women and that gender roles are antiquated/stupid in the first place, I think two of my other worries with regards to the topic are somewhat selfish. I worry about creating a barrier between myself and the community by pushing too hard against their traditions. This being something I'm going to try and overcome by sitting down with Mustapha and explaining how are ways are different in Canada, and while I can't imagine that he'll come over to my way of thinking, I hope we can work out a way for me to go about my business with minimal friction. The flip side to this worry, is the comprising of my own principles. I think it's easy to have beliefs until they are tested, be it gender roles or sustainable commuting. If I accept the roles here I am no less a hypocrite than if I bought a car the minute I could afford one despite all my campaigning to the contrary. Along with this comes the fact that I fear I may lose myself out here in the African plains. I don't think I've ever been in a better place mentally than when I left for this trip, I have an incomparable group of friends, a great relationship with my family, and while I'm forever reflecting and improving, I am content with my development as a human being. What if I subconsciously buy into this system and lose that essence of what makes me, me? Abstract stuff I know, but thought controlling nonetheless, as the fear of losing my life back in Canada feels quite real over here.
Jumping back to the first topic though, I feel it is important to mention that all the gender inequalities in the community are balanced by the fact that the people are beautiful, welcoming, and their way of life, at least for the moment, is incredibly intriguing for me, so I'll try to write a post soon about the positives instead of focusing on the negatives.
Anyway, keep your stick on the ice, but your elbows up.
Cheers,

-Oh and somewhere someone do a jag shot for me, you know who you are, take a picture and send it my way...

Bike Saga

2008-05-17T05:56:00.000-07:00

Got my bike yesterday, definately different than what I ride at home, it's a cottage/beach comber type which people here call "home-use". I ended up going for it on the recommendation of my friend Mustapha, who is my host in Pagazza. Speaking of which, the bike and I got a baptism of fire on the ride home. All was going well, I was cruising along, it's about 15km for Tamale to Pagazza, waving and talking to people in my "bella, bella dagboni" (meaning small, small dagboni) when the sky started to darken. If I thought the first storm of the rainy season was intense I had no idea what I was in for. Lightning, blackness, rain hitting me so hard it left marks, and wind so strong it knocked me of my bike! And I'm not a small man, thought I am loosing wieght by the day in this heat(don't worry mom, still well over 200). I struggled against the storm of a while, before the bolts on my seat broke, forcing me to get off and walk beside the bike. After a while though it was too much and I sought refuge in the mosque at Wamale, about 5km ahead of my destination. Imagine a soaked white man, walking up to a mosque yelling "gafferia!, en chena Pagazza!" (excuse me, I'm trying to get to Pagazza) and getting ushered inside by a group of children. Once inside, it was a surreal experience, sitting on a prayer mat with a group on children, most of whom speak negligible english and have never seen a white person. I managed to get their names, thanks to another of the patented dagboni phrases Mustapha had taught me the night before, "a ulee? (what's your name?), and learned that one of the adults knew of Mustapha. Oh and I forgot all of this was going on with evening prayers taking place, and of course the storm! After about an hour the rain subsided enough for me to try and continue my journey, thought by then all the daylight was gone.(The sun here in like a rock, rising to the top of the sky instantly and dropping just as fast) With the help of the man in the mosque I was able to jerry-rig the seat and turn on the mechanically powered light attached to my bike. It only lasted about half a klick though before it pulled loose and started grinding against the tire, so I had to pull it off. So here I am biking through the african plains, no light,pitched black except for lightning strikes, broken seat, and having a pretty minimal idea of where I am. Ended up stopping a group of men also travelling on bikes, managed to work out that Pagazza was not the next town but the one after. Managed to make it to the village, but by then I was so tried and unfamiliar with my surroundings that I had to watch into a random compound and talk one of the residents into taking me to Mustapha's home. Which, on a side note was exceptionally easy since as per muslim tradition I had the day before gone around and met all the households in the community so that I would be known to them and considered hence forth a member of the community. Anyway I got back to my home, took t-zed(a corn based dough that people eat everyday), changed, and headed off the the bike fitter to discuss what he could do for my bicycle to make it more servicable for the commute tomorrow. Pretty cool way to discuss business, chilling on a mat in this dude's hut surrounded by bikes, helping to crack shells off groundnuts(think peanuts) so that he could seed them the next day.
All in all another day in the wonderful world of a Junior Fellow....to bad it starts again at 5.30am!
Keep your stick on the ice but your elbows up
Cheers
Henry

May 13th

2008-05-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Okay taking a second kick at this, didn’t save my progress and the power blacked out, go figure. Still listening to the Dixie chicks though, one of my co-workers Sadia loves them, it’s a nice shot of home (even though I’ve never listened to them before and the music is pretty depressing!)
So a lot has happened since the last time I posted, my apologies to the audience. I arrived in Accra on the 7th in the evening, crashed at a guest house and then caught a 12+ hour bus ride up to the northern region capital of Tamale the next morning. Once in Tamale, we caught some acclimatization time and in country training from the Ghana LTOV’s (long term volunteers) for 2 days, and then split apart to head to our individual placements. While Tamale has a number of internet cafes, it also is subject to nation wide rolling blackouts which knock out the power for days at a time as part of a governmental initiative to conserve power during the dry season, which thankfully has ended while we have been here. The way it ended was dramatic to say the least; even growing up on the prairies I haven’t experienced a storm like that for some time. Imagine most dense and forceful rain you can imagine, silhouette it against a black African sky, have it slamming down on the tin roofs of the city and you’ll get a rough picture of what it was like.
My first day with the Africa 2000 Network, went fairly well, I was picked up at the hotel by the driver Mr. Tahinru and taken to the office where I met three of my co-workers, Latifah, Sadia, and Shabani. The later two are members of what is called the National Service Program, where in educated young people volunteer for various organizations in an effort to gain the experience necessary to compete in the small and competitive job market. Everyone is exceptionally friendly, but the pace of things is very different. Having nothing to do for days seems to be an accepted practice, which for me is troublesome since I need to be in constant motion when at work. Also the hierarchies that are present within the office are more blatant than I ever would have expected. Mr. Tahinru dominates based largely on his age and gender, thought he is a relative of the founder of the organization Madame. Adisa, and the woman frequently will defer to the men, particularly when it comes to cleaning up the office as well as after meals. I’m happy to say though that after my initial surprise I’ve been throwing a wrench in their patriarchal ways, by insisting on doing my own dishes, cleaning, getting water etc….
In terms of the work I’ve been doing, the majority of this first week has been spent familiarizing myself with the process of shea butter refinement and the marketing of its products. To that end I visited the processing center in Saginaru, which is essentially a suburb (but in a geographic not wealth way) of Tamale, to observe the women mixing the various oils and caustic soda together to make the liquid soap. In a few days, after the soap has hardened in the molds, I hope to return to the center so that I can observe the cutting and packaging process.
After looking through all the reports, talking with those responsible for the project at A2N, and consulting with the head of the emerging shea producers association, Madame Safia, we hit upon the marketing and branding of the product as the major obstacle to creating a sustainable local demand. So I’ve been trying to wrap my head around that one, and actually I am just about to step into a meeting with the executive of the association to pitch my rough idea, so wish me luck and I’ll post more on the outcome.
My office should be getting internet access by early next week, or at least that’s what everyone says, so I should be throwing up a post on the village I’m living in, which is pretty barebones….plus a got a video of a sweet drum/chanting circle!
Hope all is well back home, keep the comments coming, ask for details about anything I mention, and pass along this blog address to all those you think might be interested.

Cheers,

Henry

Pre-dep Almost done.....

2008-05-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so pre-dep has been one of the most challenging and thought provoking experiences I've had. Working in a facilitated environment, breaking down and analyzing issues, scenarios, as well as courses of action is something I've never done before. Being pushed to explore everything in an out of the box manner for 12-15hrs a day, has both envigorated and utterly exhausted me. The group of people I'm with though are fantastic, and considering the little time I've spent with them the comfort I feel is kinda scary....but giving the housing situation, with zero personal space it isn't that surprising!
Speaking of the group dynamic I got a story to share, CAT had just finished explaining a tricky value chain on the development sector, when someone asked a question to which the response was as follows,
Cat- I don't think I can give you a concrete answer to that
Dean-What!?
Bevin-Spoon feed me!
Needless to say, after the heavy stuff we'd just been taking in I nearly passed out from laughter.
I know I mentioned the concept of how I might try and circumvent the gender barriers that I feel I might encounter on my placement, so I'll share one of my theories as of now. I think by engaging in the daily activities of all the groups of a family household on the premise of learning about their livelihoods, which I actually want to do anyway, I can try and float outside of the tradition gender heirarchy in a sort of ambigious state, thus hopefully being more effective. Any thoughts from the audenience? I wish I had the space to share all that I'm been learning with all reading this, but it would go for miles and my fingers might start to bleed, so I'll try to throw in tidbits as I go.
On a positive note, toronto has been a great city to indulge my love of bikes, the culture is booming here so it's been great getting a look at some of the stuff people have done. Been taking part in this informal yoga class the JF's been doing in the mornings, which while I'm sure I look like a fool doing, has been a nice bit of excercise.
Anyway, more to come, RIP habs, and comment away

Cheers

So I'm at Pre-dep....

2008-05-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

So at pre-dep in toronto, living in a house in the downtown area with only 18 shady beds and 25+ people, so we definately got some close quaters going on! Basically the deal with pre-dep is that we work in sessions learning all day, from about 9am till 10pm trying to figure out what development is, how we fit in, and how to work in particular on our placements. Today was fairly general, but it was a good way to try and bring us all into the "ewb" headspace after finishing off exams and dealing with all the packing shananagains.

I feel I should explain a bit more detail about my placement, as I mentioned earlier I'm working for the Africa 2000 Network, in Pagazaa in northern Ghana outside of Tamale, on a shea butter iniative. Which essentially functions as a side cash crop that allows womens collectives to make extra income which they can then use to improve their lives, send their children to school, etc.... What I in particularily will be doing is firstly, helping the main office of the NGO to run more effective meetings, secondly to travel around to all the various producers in the region collecting information about the cause and affect that maybe limiting/aiding their production, before lastly compling it all into a proposal for the better allocation of funding. While it isn't quite what I thought I would be doing for the summer, I'm still pretty excited, in my head I have this fantasy of myself biking around the region surveying the producers with the sun shining. My luck is that it'll rain though....just like in toronto!

A big issue that I've been looking at with regards to my placement is gender barriers in Africa, and more specifically how I can transcend them inorder to engage in the frank/honest dialogue I'm gonna have to have for my placement to be successful.....got lots of thoughts on that one, but my turns next on the docket, and with one shower for the whole house, even I'm on time for that one!

Hope all is well with everyone,

Hoist the Sails

T-minus 48 hours...

2008-04-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Wierd thoughts keep flowing through my head right now, so I'll try and organize them the best that I can;
- I'm leaving during the season that I enjoy the most, the cottage, camping, patio's, biking, the weather. Really this is the time of the year that I work towards, fight through the rest, to get to. I use it to "re-charge" myself, and the fact that I'm stepping out for the whole of it is really starting to sink in.
-This year I've genuinely tried to broaden my horizions, expose myself to new people and have them be a part of my life, which is all sort of wierd now that I'm disappearing during the time when I'd actually have the free time to put into motion plans we'd schemed.
-Had a shaker for my taking off, thanks again martha if you read this, got pretty lubed so take everything I recall with a grain of skepticism, but I mate of mine told me "not to change" as I saw him out the door...which got my mind turning, and likely will be the source of the next post.

....okay now for a few business points, I want comments, this has the capacity to be a great interactive forum and I'd love to use it to keep in touch, so if you feel so inclined, comment away! I want to recommend "Harold & Kumar : Escape from Gauntanamo Bay", it's full of sneeky social commentary and funnier than hell, particularily the part about Bush.

Keep the pedals turning..

Cheers

Feeling oddly ok...

2008-04-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted much on development lately, but with getting ready to take off I've been having to get a bit self-centered in terms of my thoughts, so my apologies.
Met up with Sam today, another junior fellow, and went out and bought some stuff for the trip. Something stuck me while we were out though, I'm oddly comfortable with leaving, I feel as though I should be more freaked out....maybe I'm just over confident, niave, or toasted, either way heading out in a few days.
Keep your stick on the ice
(trying this one out, give me your thoughts..)

2008-04-23T00:46:00.001-07:00

So I know I've been missing in action lately, exams have been consuming my time, but I just had one of those weird travel moments. In addition to contemplating the epicness of development, today I encountered a personal, and somewhat selfish, predepature moment. I went out for one last drink with a group of my friends and it occured to me that this would be the last time a would see these people, the last time that I would be involved in their lives for 4 months. For me my friends are an extension of my family, and in some cases my immedeate family, and the thought of stepping out of their lives for that long a period of time is forgien and frankly, scary......that's all I got sorry

2008-04-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

So I've lucked out big time, turns out my placement package contained with name of the most recent Junior Fellow to work with my organization, A2N (Africa 2000 Network), Ben Best. I was able to dig up his email address through myewb.....
Okay, brief interlude, EWB stands for Engineers Without Borders(which is kinda a misnomer cause you don't have to be an engineer!) the organization that I belong to and is facilitating my work placement in Africa. For more info on the organization I strongly recommend you check out their website, plus theirs lots of great stories of volunteers, pictures, and information.
.....and he was quite enthusiatic about my working with the A2N. Of all the things he's passed on to me so far, we're setting up a phone call which should be a great chance to pick his brain, the best, no pun intended!, has been a copy of his final report on his placement. It contained his recommendations on everything from clothing, to development, to the organization, to profiles of his co-workers. All of which has been great at giving we some much needed realism as to where I'm going and what I'll be getting up to, all of which still seems like some fantastical pipe dream to me alot of the time.
One great point Ben made that got me thinging was that you shouldn't just walk into a community and ask them what's wrong with it, cause to them their might not be anything to fix and to make people think in a negative way about where they live can only be destructive. Ben's answer to this was that development projects should be requested and evaluated by the communities with NGO's acting almost as consults presenting proposals for the community to review. This way if any mistakes are made at least they are of their own making, providing ownership of the situation. I can't find a way refuke his logic, in fact I couldn't agree with him more, I've just never though about the issue from that perspective before, but I can't help but think there's more to it than that.....
Anyway that's all I got

-Oh if anyone has any ideas as to a cool "handle" to use to sign off with pass them my way, we'll vote and the winner gets something...maybe a thumbs up?

Possible Impact?

2008-04-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

So, I was talking with Adam about what kind of impact he thought the Junior Fellowship Program could have, which got me thinking about how I feel about any possible impact I might have.
Before I jump into it though I figure I should give a bit of backround about my own placement, I'm going to be working in Pagazaa, in the Northern Region of Ghana, for the Africa 2000 Network trying to create a more efficent office environment and skill building among the empoyees of the Shea Butter Project.
I think I look at the JF program in two ways, firstly it offers young people a chance to learn about poverty first hand, and secondly it gives us a chance to "set the table" for greater change down the road. Since only real, sustainable change can occur with time and by those people directly involved it would be niave to assume that in 4 months I could create any significant impact. By my "set he table" analogy, I mean, I hope that my work, perhaps for example by helping co-workers at the NGO with their computer skills, that they are in time able to use those skills in some way to create true change in there community.
That's all I got for now, as always thoughts, comments, and criticisms are welcome.
Cheers

Seeing how this thing works.....

2008-04-08T10:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is the first foray into this blog medium...seeing if the thing works...more intellectual thoughts to come...