wrapping up

Life has been a bit crazy, trying to wrap everything up. Writing final reports to give to MoFA, saying goodbye to friends and figuring out how to fit everything in my now too-small-seeming backpack has kept my brain on the fritz.

After four months of living in Bolga, making friends, creating new relationships, discovering a new town, I’m really going to miss this place.  At the same time, living in Northern Ghana where about 80% of people live on about $1 a day can be overwhelming and I’m  looking forward to coming back to Canada. 

Today is my last day with my host family and tonight we’re having a small ‘sitting’ so that we can say goodbye properly.  A goat is being slaughtered and I bought a big bag of groundnuts to make groundnut cake (my Ghana addiction)!  As a thank you to the family, I’ve bought the entire family matching cloth to make outfits with.  I don’t think there’s anything I can really do to thank them enough, but I hope this is a start.  I’m going to miss this family!

So what did I manage to accomplish?

A question we always torture ourselves over is “How much impact did I have?” It’s a good question to ask, but very difficult to answer.  Over the course of my placement, I learned a lot about myself, about development, gained perspective on what life is like for the majority.  I worked hard at the office, laying groundwork for a market information system, developing an Excel template to help them process data faster, and developing a survey to find out more about market information systems in the region.

Now will any of this be useful after I leave? 

Another classic problem is that after a volunteer leaves, the project stops and we’re back at square one.  I don’t know if I’ve managed to avoid this trap, but through the best of my efforts, I’ve tried to keep as many people in the loop about my project as possible, as well as make any reports and template I give to MoFA easy to understand and use.  There is also a long term volunteer who will be following up with the project, so I hope to see some good progress being made!

If nothing else, I have learned so much over these months and I hope to bring all this back to Canada and share it with friends, family, EWBers, and future development champions!

Maybe I’ll be back? Who knows?

A few pics of the family I’ve been living with:

Me in my favourite Ghana dress, standing outside my room in Zuarungu!

 

With Vic, my host mother on our way home from Church

 

 

 

Hanging out with Zita, my host sister, in the family room.

 

 

Meghan and her moto after having been ‘beat by the rain’

Meshach in a sea of motos

underwater logging in Ghana?

The Globe and Mail discusses Joe Clark's (former Canadian PM) multi-million dollar underwater logging project in Ghana's Lake Volta.

An interesting issue with many pros and cons. Read the article and weigh in with your opinion!

"Will Joe Clark's tree project sink Ghana fishermen?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/will-joe-clarks-tree-project-sink-ghanas-fishermen/article1252796/

a few excerpts from the article:

We want them to come soon,” he says. “We hope they come tomorrow. Our nets get stuck in the trees and we don't get any fish. When they cut the trees, it will increase our fish harvest.”

A few metres away, a poorer fisherman disagrees. “If they cut the trees, the fish will go away,” says 25-year-old Emmanuel Zuta, who has no boat of his own and has to hire boats to take him to the trees, where he swims down to the underwater branches to attach his home-made bamboo traps.

“Most people here are against it,” he says. “I'm happy that nothing has happened so far. I don't want them to come for the trees. We usually follow the trees to find the fish.”

The logging project has also sparked controversy among some of Ghana's environmentalists, including one who alleged that it will threaten the fishery and “drastically alter” the Lake Volta environment. Another said it would pose a “significant risk” to the lake's biodiversity and the “unique habitat conditions” that have evolved since the 1960s when the lake was created by a hydro dam that blocked the Volta rivers.

He believes the logging project will create jobs and growth in a poor region of West Africa that rarely had such opportunities in the past – and could bring the same benefits to other developing countries as the underwater technology is exported around the world.

how to make shea butter

During my recent stay in Yameriga village, Regina, humoured me for a day and showed me how to make shea butter.  Back home, we pay way too much money for fancy cosmetics containing this miracle butter.  In Ghana, the making of shea butter is entirely the woman’s domain.  You’ll find it all over the markets selling for almost nothing!  Making the butter is an entire day of hard work  (I had blisters on my hands!), but in the company of other women chatting and laughing away, pounding, grinding and mixing gets easier and easier.

Step 1: The Shea Tree

Women will leave the house around 3-4 in the morning to be the first ones ready to collect the fallen fruits and nuts. Since the trees are wild and therefore don’t belong to anyone, first come first served!

Step 2: Where I started from

The shea nuts have already been collected, boiled, dried and peeled by hand at this point.  Next we pound.

Step 3: Pound ‘em

Myself, Regina and Tata, using stones to crush the nuts up into small small pieces.  I was pretty slow compared to the two girls….obviously.

Step 4: Sweat over a fire

Next you take all the crushed shea and stir them in a pot over the fire until they turn black.  Very sweaty business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Grind ‘em

Here is the step that gave me blisters but smelled amazing.  Now we ground up all the pieces using a grinding stone and creating the most delicious looking melted chocolate-like substance.

Step 6: Work the pipes

Now you basically use your arm as a giant whisk and beat the mixture as hard as you can!  The mixture is beat in order to extract the oil.  While this was happening, it was pretty cool to watch the dark brown mixture start to turn grey-white as the oil was extracted and started to float to the top.

This  part was definitely the most physically exhausting.  I only lasted for about a minute before my arm was ready to fall off.  Regina was a superstar and beat the shea for a good twenty minutes.

Step 7: Rinse it

 

 

We got the fat out of the nut, and then we rinsed it to get all the brown stuff out. After rinsing, this is what we ended up with.  It’s completely white!

 

Step 8: Sweat over the fire, again

 

Next, we gathered up all the white fat (it still smelled delicious) and remelted it over the fire, only for it to turn brown again! This shea business is pretty cool.

 

 

 

 

Step 9: C’est fini!

The ‘almost finished’ product.  If left, the oil will solidify into the butter that we are more familiar with.  In its oil form, women will use it in most of the household cooking.  Regina gave me this oil as a souvenir, so I’ll be bringing some homemade shea butter back to Canada!

Final thoughts?  This is tough labour. It’s quite amazing to think that the small amount of shea oil it took Regina and I about 5 hours to make (not including gathering, boiling, drying and peeling) will sell for about 50 cents at the local market.  What seemed like a luxurious commodity at home is a normal part of a woman’s livelihood here in Ghana.  Made by women, for women so the price suddenly makes sense since women rarely have much disposable income. Regina was quite appalled when I told her how expensive shea butter was in Canada.  She then decided she would come to Canada and become very rich selling shea butter there. I felt pretty bad telling her that we don’t have shea trees in Canada.

village life in Yameriga

This past week, I took a week off from work and the hustle and bustle of MoFA to go and stay in a remote village for one week. All EWB volunteers do a 'village stay' in order to better understand what life is like for the majority of people in Ghana and the world.

Early Tuesday morning, I headed off to the village of Yameriga, on the back of Meshach's (my host brother) moto. I was greeted by the local chief and then marched off to the compound where I would be staying, followed by about 15 kids who would be my shadows during my time there. I was shown my room and felt incredibly privileged as I had probably been given the best room complete with mattress and mosquito net!

I got myself settled in my new home, and was promptly presented with food and a live guinea fowl, my third chicken since arriving in Ghana! I was incredibly flattered since that is quite a generous present, and fairly overwhelmed by all the children hanging around, just waiting to see what I would do next.

Village life had a slower pace than what I'm used to living. I would wake up around 5:30 to fetch water for the day's activities and start cooking with Mary and Tata (two of my little shadows). The men would then go out to the farms for a day of weeding and the women would either head to the farms to weed or start one of their many other chores around the house. Yin's family are farmers and grow most of what they eat on a few acres of land.

My favourite part of the week was learning how to make shea butter, so stay tuned and you’ll learn everything there is to know about making the stuff…kidding.

 

This maize was hung outside in the hot sun to dry right outside my room.  Once dried, it can be stored all year.

 

 

 

Learning how to weed a groundnut (peanut) plot. 

The women of the village organized themselves to farm one acre of groundnuts together.  They’ll keep any profits they make from selling the harvest, and invest it into another project next year.

 

 

The village chief with just a few of his many, many grandchildren.  Undoubtedly the product of having three wives.

 

My shadows for the week in the village.  Here we are, having made it to the top of the local mountain!  Halfway up the mountain, the children told me that ‘small people’ lived at the top and that I would have to make an offering for invading their home.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything with me except too many kids with too much energy.  I told the children, that instead of leaving something, we would all sing a song to make them happy.  It was pretty awesome getting to the top and having the children serenade me with a pretty great view in front of me.

Posing with Yin and family, my host family for the week.

malaria bites

And so do the damn mosquitoes that gave me the parasite! Last Wednesday, I cycled home from work and arrived home feeling a bit tired. I decided to lie down for a little while, and before I knew it, had developed a fever, had a headache, body aches... Meghan and Vic both saw me and declared that I was going to the hospital the next morning, both positive I had malaria. I protested thinking that I don’t feel thattttt bad, nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure. Besides, everyone else I had seen with malaria had been throwing up, passing out, running to the bushes every 5 minutes, while I just wanted to sleep. There’s no way I have malaria! Nevertheless, I went to the hospital the next morning feeling even more ridiculous about being there because by that point the fever had gone and all I had was a slight headache. However, it’s a really good thing I went because I ended up being diagnosed with severe malaria!! After an injection in the bum and a slew of malaria meds later, I was brought back home and told to rest. This was the most frustrating part as I felt just fine. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all passed with minor malarial complications – occasional runs behind the (thankfully) tall millet plants, but fine for the most part. Then Sunday hit. Wow, those malaria/the meds sure did a number on me. I could not move/think/eat/live. Thank god that only lasted for one day because that was NOT fun.

Though I think I had it milder than most, because I’m on a prophylactic, and I was lucky this time, I’ve had a slight taste of the debilitating disease keeping much of Africa from developing. Getting malaria here is kind of like getting a cold back home. Everyone gets it once or twice a year, some have resistance to it, others get it so bad they’re useless for a month. Imagine feeling the way I felt on Sunday but having to go out and farm because you have to eat?

From May to September is the worst time for malaria since its the rainy season and mosquitoes are multiplying like no tomorrow. "Right now the malaria is too much!" many Ghanaians have exclaimed to me. The good news is that clinics and hospitals are used to treating malaria and anybody with the disease is in much better hands here than back in Canada. Ghana also has a nationwide health insurance plan which costs the equivalent of $10 for one person for the year and covers medication for common diseases (like malaria). The bad news is that there’s no vaccination or real prevention against it. It must be hard to develop if you’re not healthy first!

running to end poverty

June 28th (and July 4th) two worlds met when simultaneous runs took place in Canada and Ghana!  The grand event was the third annual ‘Run to End Poverty’ which was started 3 years ago by Christian Beaudrie while he was a volunteer in Tamale, Ghana as his noble attempt to “raise awareness, and create a sense of connection with people in the communities where we are working overseas”

I think what Christian started is pretty great. One woman asked me “How can running end poverty?” Valid question. In Canada, its helping raise awareness and fundraise to send EWB volunteers overseas.  In Ghana, people are coming out in support of the cause, to take part in a community event, and simply for the pure joy of running.  On both sides, an event like this is a wonderful community unifier and has most definitely contributed to positive change. Whether it got someone to think about extreme poverty or just get out there and exercise I think either way its a great ‘starting line.’ Three years later, we’re still running strong… keep it up!

Ghana Run #1

Chereponi district in the Northern Region rocked out on their first official ‘Run to End Poverty,’ organized by Miss Farah Haddad, a fellow JF.  Farah, with the help of the local PE Coordinator and her running partner Moses, enlisted over 20 strapping young men (and one girl) to take part in the run! I travelled down to Chereponi to take part in the events and had an absolute blast!  We all ran together, in a show of solidarity (though I think it was to make Farah and I feel okay about being slow as molasses) and everybody clapped and chanted “Ghana Canada!” as we crossed the finish line! 

Team Black Star proudly showing off their certificates after the early morning run in Chereponi

We love running!

 

 

 

Farah and I rocking our sweet ‘Run to End Poverty’ shirts.

 

 

 

 

Ghana Run #2

Zuarungu, the village I have been living in for the past two months, was the perfect place to have their own ‘Run to End Poverty.’  I enlisted the help of a couple of my Cephas, Meshach, and Aaron (fellow JF) to help me organize the run and spread the word to the churches and football teams. 

The morning of the run, I was a bit nervous no one was going to show up, especially, since the church had had an ‘all night’ event (the whole community stays up all night singing and dancing at church).  However, one thing I’ve learned is that Ghanaians never disappoint!  People came straight from the all night – some were still in their good church clothes, some in flip flops, some barefoot – ready to go.  After a warm up stretch in the middle of the Zuarungu Market place, we ran off, lead by Cephas, a champion long distance runner.  Needless to say us white folk dropped off the pace. I guess the run wasn’t long enough for everyone else because afterwards, the children gathered in a big circle and started dancing and singing some of their local songs.  Unfortunately, they managed to get me into the circle to dance.  I say unfortunately because there is now a video of the event which may get posted one of these days – most likely on a blooper reel…

We had over 30 kids showed up with giant smiles and tons of enthusiasm in Zuarungu! 

 

 

 

Myself, Farah, Ryan and Aaron feeling the heat after the run!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Canada Run!!

Thanks to Christian Beaudrie and the team of half-marathoners for getting our Ghanaian rears in gear and getting the run going!!  Looks like the Vancouver run was a lot of fun though I don’t think they had any Ghanaian dancing and singing after… maybe that would be a nice addition to the race next year?

Check out www.runtoendpoverty.ca for more info about the Vancouver run!

Team Maple Leaf in Vancouver raised $12 000 to send volunteers overseas!!  Woooot!!

The Mighty Baobab Tree

 

If I were an artist, I would have pulled out my sketchpad and captured the essence of the Baobab tree with my lead tip.  Alas, as a true child of the 90’s, my laptop, and Paint helped in creating this masterpiece.

Most of the Baobabs I have seen around here have trunks about two to three metres in diameter.  In South Africa, one was found with a diameter of 15 metres!  A fun fact:

Locals believed that the Baobab had offended God and, in revenge, God planted the tree upside down. When the dry season comes, the Baobab resembles a mass of roots pointing towards the sky instead of being underground.

 

The Baobab tree is truly magnificent against such a stark landscape.  From what I understand, the area was once heavily forested, but most of it was cleared to make way for agricultural land.  This practice has led to soil erosion and infertility which is an ever present problem for farmers who for the most part have a difficult affording the time, labour and money to restore the fertility of their soils. 

The trees are now few and far between during dry season waiting for the rains to come.

One of my good friends, Cephas, shakes his head when we get on this subject of deforestation, “People don’t understand what trees do for the land.  They just chop them to make more space for crops.” He plants trees around his family’s compound as a way of educating his family and neighbours on their importance.  He has told me he wants to study agriculture in high school and university because that is one way he can make a difference in his community. In a place where agriculture is small-scale, all work done by hand, Cephas has dreams of Ghana’s own Green Revolution.  And why not? In the west, the Green Revolution ‘revolutionized’ agriculture by decreasing labour and increasing crop yields. However, it also dumped mass amounts chemicals into our environment and drastically increased land degradation.  I believe developing countries should have access to the same technologies the west had access to, but is there a way to learn from each other, so that mistakes are not repeated? A big, broad question… any answers?

 

One of the trees Cephas has planted in his attempt to reforest Ghana!  The bricks are placed around the base of the tree to protect it from the roaming sheep, goats, cows (all facets of barnyard life) who would love nothing more than to munch on the tender shoots of a young tree.

 

 

 

The Green Belt Movement has been planting trees in an attempt to reforest Kenya since 1977.  It was started by a pretty cool lady by the name of Wangari Maathai (2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner) and to date has planted over 30 million trees!  Check out their website (http://greenbeltmovement.org/w.php?id=61).  I want to tell Cephas about this organization and the work they are doing.  Who knows what might inspire someone to take action?