Weekend in BONGO

Weekend in BONGO, principal town in BONGO district, in the LAND of Ghana, West Africa.

(or why development aid to developing countries/poor parts of countries with “middle income status” should continue)

While Zebilla lies 45 km to the West of Bolga, the road to Bongo heads 15 km north. Both towns, and indeed the districts they head, are among Ghana’s poorest, with high rates of adult illiteracy, a subsistence economy based on local crops grown in a single season, and a fragile infrastructure.

Evic, a fellow VSO volunteer, supports local individuals and groups with a desire to set up enterprises. The work is slow, demands patience and successes are long term, not quickly achieved.

Both of us being quite tired after the demands of a week’s work, we spent the bulk of each day enjoying what must be among the best of social pastimes:-eating Evic’s beautifully cooked food and talking. As re-volunteers, we could compare experiences from across the continents, referencing Guyana, Kenya and Cambodia, as well as Ghana, plus home spun anecdotes from the Philippines and the UK. We encompassed small businesses, education, health care and governments as well as wandering into  more personal topics. Regarding relationships, Evic declared she had found the perfect “boyfriend” in her motorbike.

Evic dusts and polishes her VSO motorbike

 The potential for food and finance shortages among local farmers, due to a lack of rainfall for the earlier months of what should be “the rainy season,” was again worried about, as we walked along the dried river bed of a White Volta tributary.

 The river level rises and falls with great rapidity, quickly taking away the excesses of tropical storms. The bridge is a recent addition- previously, the route was impassable after heavy rain.

Linda -Remarkable individuals-4

Linda talks with the women selling shea butter in Zebilla market

Linda- Remarkable individuals 3

 Linda showed me the water supply for her business premises- connected in July 2013, and flowing every third (market) day. Her next business purchase will be a polytank for water storage. A water supply on the premises will make processing easier, and will allow the proposed wash room for the women to be finished and made usable.

The main buildings and office- with connection to electricity supply

The actual business premises were developed using Linda’s wages from her regular employment (this venture being accomplished in her spare time) and from prize money she was awarded from a national essay competition run by the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) through which Linda’s plans for the Shea Butter Hope Givers enterprise were conceptualized. (website-hopegivers.wix.com)

Alice’s example is a reminder that each of the women have a multitude of necessary duties and responsibilities, (eg childcare, carrying water, collecting firewood, ensuring family feeding for the day)  so that coming to process the shea butter is not a daily 9-5 type job, but a part time activity to be added to other tasks and prioritised when possible.

One of three traditional style open huts constructed. The women knead the butter in these.

To date income from this venture has been used for further investment, to pay the women workers “in kind” through providing snacks and a meal when they come to work, to provide work clothes and to reward guest speakers who deliver training and education.

Linda- Remarkable individuals 2

Linda discusses advantages of working collectively to women shea butter traders in Binaba market

Linda’s plan- coming into fruition, but with more to be done and with formidable challenges - is to train women  to work a process with controlled, consistently applied techniques, in a protected work compound, resulting in a high grade, quality guaranteed shea butter, to be sold on for further processing and eventually giving the women involved a decent regular income.  Run on collective lines, and using facilitation and training, the women are taught to question, to discuss and to be involved in decisions made about Hope Givers. Her workers are recruited from among the young local women Linda had identified as being the least able, through traditions and circumstances, to initially help themselves.

Linda- with a young single mother and her daughter

Alice is typical and one of Linda’s original team of 12. Alice had a little schooling but after Primary 3 was taken to Cote d’Ivoire with her family, returning recently as a young adult, and training as a hairdresser, but unable to read and write. With no finance to set up a business, her prospects were limited. Alice expresses her commitment to the Hope Givers vision- “If you want to learn you have to be patient, have faith and not quit.” She is committed to the project. She also continues to work in a rented space as a hairdresser and produces a locally popular ginger flavoured drink- “Zonko”- to generate income.

Alice- in her rented shop, with zonko- in a recycled bottle.

Of the formidable challenges-the infrastructure we take for granted in the affluent West is lacking. Binaba is linked to the nearest villages by one decaying tarmac road, and the whole Upper East region lacks any sort of transport network.

At 27, Linda can remember electricity coming to her village. She can remember when mobile phones would not work locally as there was insufficient signal. The internet connections remain poor and unreliable.

Linda- Remarkable individuals

Why set up a business?

When the entrepreneur tells you of her desire to

work within her home community; to develop  “economic self reliance” among young women with little or no education; to counteract their vulnerability due to traditions which forbid women owning land or profiting from the fruits of harvested crops, (against the laws of Ghana, but persisting) ; to show through education and participation, that

 “you can use what you have to get what you don’t have- to make a better place for yourself. You can make a better living using the few resources you have at your disposal;”

then you feel humbled and in awe of a remarkable woman.

 Binaba- a large village with its own market- some 30 minutes motorbike ride from Zebilla-is typical of settlements in this part of Ghana. The major question is how to make a living.  An education-while no guarantee of employment- opens options. Without learning, there is subsistence farming, small trading, local handicrafts and artisan trades to serve community needs. Women, burdened with the responsibilities of child care, family care, household duties and crop maintenance are in the worse position. Traditional customs favouring the male override Ghana’s laws on land ownership and inheritance, so that although women may toil on the land, the men, as the owners, take any profits.

Linda , former student of the University of Development Studies in Ghana, who, through a combination of serious study and applying techniques to practical situations, is now progressing her own business- The Shea Butter Hope Givers.

Local shea nuts are roasted, then kneaded to make a butter, to be used as skin care or for cooking. The work is done by women in their homes, and the resulting shea butter brought to local markets for sale, providing another way to supplement the hand to mouth activities.

Shea nuts- the nut is covered with a sweet coating-tasting something like dates- and is good to eat, though so thin, that it could never be exported as a fruit. Within, the rich brown nut- which is processed- can be seen.

When in season, shea nuts are gathered from the trees, and sold by the road side.

Shea butter for sale in local markets- quality varies, prices vary according to season, and the product, while measured in bowls, is then transferred into a black poly bag when sold.

Gideon- remarkable individuals-an occasional series

Gideon’s childhood was typical of a boy growing up in northern Ghana: Gideon could ride a donkey, herd cows, go to school and play with his friends. Gideon lived in the family compound with around 30 members of his extended family.

Then at the age of 12 he contracted cerebral spinal meningitis (CSM). He recovered but his hearing was lost for good.

Gideon changed schools, attending the Wa school for the deaf, and after completing his Junior High School exams, enrolling in Mampong-Alhwapem Senior High School. An all-rounder pupil, he reveled  in sports, playing football, volleyball and running in the 400 by 4 relay team.

After completing his Senior High School exams- the equivalent of A levels- Gideon became a Pupil Teacher at Gbeogo school for the deaf, near Bolgatanga. Unfortunately for Gideon, as happens not infrequently, he was not paid for his work, and had to leave the school.

Gideon- outside his shop

He instead harnessed his artistic talents, took a training course and set up his graphic arts business, God’s Gift Arts, in Zebilla. Gideon is always busy, making silk screen designs and rubber stamps,  and printing wall map designs, shirts and T shirts, painting signage and designing personal stationery needs.

He is an active campaigner for disability rights, is Chairman of the local branch of Ghana National Association of the Deaf, and also the coordinator for the Peace Pals of Ghana programme for Bolgatanga. Outside his shop, others who are deaf, or else wise with a disability gather with able bodied visitors –mostly men- in the afternoon , joining Victor, a member of Ghana Federation for the Disabled, dropping by to chat or sign, or to play cards.

Gideon is ambitious, both for himself and for people within the deaf community. He is in the process of applying for Gallaudet University, Washington DC, USA, on an International Student Scholarship. Gallaudet is the only higher education institute in the world in which all teaching programmes and services meet the needs of people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The university has scholarships available for applicants from developing/low income countries who can demonstrate a commitment to community and to sharing skills. Gideon has applied for a graphic arts course, with accounting and finance, to extend his own business, offering employment to others, including those who are deaf.

Sophia-remarkable individuals-2

Sophia particularly wants to train and employ groups who are the lowest earners:- women, especially those who have not completed their education, people with disabilities, and young adults. Older school pupils are encouraged, as they can collect and recycle plastics which would otherwise be dumped as litter.

A guest at the launch- continues to weave throughout the afternoon.

One production group- who are all deaf/hard of hearing, pose with their Signer, teacher Emanuel from Gbeogo school for the deaf.

Sophia is interviewed for Joy TV

At the impressive launch of her new NGO, she was publically supported by the Deputy Regional Minister, the Regional Environmental Protection Minister, other public dignitaries….. and me, being invited to join the platform guests. Therefore I was able to make a statement about the rights of people with disability, the right to life, to education, to health care, to participation and the right to employment.

Dr Roger Kanton, agricultural research scientist, speaks to the meeting. The value of Sophia's business in terms of environmental protection is well understood.

Sophia-remarkable individuals-an occasional series

Sometimes, when a story seems too good to be true- it is true!

Sophia’s newly hatched NGO- Innovative Creative Foundation-was born out of necessity and a desire to counter a serious problem. The necessity was for employment; the problem, environmental threats posed by throwing away “rubbish.”

The raw materials for Sophia's products- rubbish.

Clearly gifted as a craftswoman and artist, Sophia took one of the major rubbish problems in Ghana- plastic bags-turning them into a raw material for creating beautiful and useful crafted products. Transferring weaving techniques for making straw baskets and the like, but instead, washing, shredding then weaving plastic, Sophia has devised methods for multiple production of a range of useful and decorative goods. Individuals, but more often collectives or extended family groups, are trained by Sophia, with no charge, to follow the production stages, and earn a piece work rate. An embryonic marketing team is establishing regular trade locally, in Accra and, importantly for growth and income, abroad.

Some of the products -all created from discarded "rubbish."

James- remarkable individuals-an occasional series

I first met head teacher James in a Spot bar, while enjoying a slow Saturday drink and playing Scrabble under the mango trees.

When the conversation turned to work, and VSO, I asked James,

“Where are all the children with disabilities, because I haven’t seen any in the schools we have visited?”

“Come to my school,” said James. And a few months later, Haruna and I did.

Head teacher James- at his desk.

We were invited into the head teacher’s office. James called several children, one by one, to come in, giving a brief explanation of each child’s particular problems. One child was withdrawn, shy of “the white lady” or anybody else. A young woman crawled into the office, and squatted on the floor. A few patently had learning difficulties. The ethos of inclusion, of respect, of the right to education, was clear throughout. James talked with his pupils, not at them.

I thought, what a basic and simple way to telegraph the message to all your teachers and pupils: - set the example; treat all your pupils with disabilities as pupils first and foremost.

The Primary 4 class- including two pupils with disabilities.

James’ support goes far beyond benign and passive acceptance of disability- beyond the call of duty. He has been active in pursuing Social Welfare, making contacts with the Ghana Health Service clinic near to his school, and with the local branch of a major charity, World Vision, to meet the needs of his pupils. He discusses their education with his Circuit Supervisor (the local inspector and advisor).  He will take a child on his moto (motorbike) for health checkups or to go home. His teachers, similarly interested, asked about training and teaching materials.

James and Haruna meet with a parent

Haruna and I took up James’ challenges, securing additional funds for some pupils, necessary hospital treatment for one, and arranging teacher training for his staff. At the end of the school year, James was invited to my Farewell Get together, where I could publicly thank him for being a model head teacher in supporting disability rights.

Teacher Barikisu, with her child-and one of her pupils with SEN. (Mothers bring their babies to work until they reach school age.)

Ghana Must Go

Ghana Must Go!

(Which sounds like a play on this blog’s title)

In 1983, the familiar blue and red checked zipped bags, made in China, and sold widely across Europe, were branded by Nigerians, “Ghana Must Go,” bags.

The Nigerian government, as part of an economic ping ponging of migrants between the two countries, ordered the expulsion “en masse” of all Ghanaians.

So hurried was the process, that the outward bound had to cram their worldly goods into the cheap, strong, easily available, woven plastic bags.

Guileless, the moniker continues today in Ghana.