So I am back in Ghana and living in paradise. I spend my free time swimming in the ocean, lying on the beach or learning to surf. Hard life right? I blame all those things as to why I haven’t written a blog since I have been back.
I was a little nervous about coming back to Ghana as this is the most important three months of the whole year. I had a great vacation in South Africa and I really needed the time to get away for a little bit. Right before I left, my house was broken in to and my housemates and I had all of our electronics stolen, as well as our money. It was a traumatizing experience, one I never wish on anyone but as a traveler, there is always the chance that it will. It was really upsetting and that was the first time that I had negative feelings towards Ghana. As much as I didn’t want this to affect my outlook on Ghana, it was a lot easier to say then to actually do it. I have come to terms with it and the girls and I can even joke about it which helps. South Africa was a welcome break. I was very nervous about coming back but I promised to come back with a positive attitude and to try and forget the negative feelings that I once had.
As I said, the next three months are the most important of the whole year. They are the reason why I am here. During the next three months my classmates and I have to intern with an NGO to gather first-hand experience in our field. I am working with an NGO in Busua called Black Star Development. Busua is a small fishing community located in the Western Region. It is a really small NGO and I have 3 co-workers; Tabitha, Paolo and Ebenezer. Tabitha and Paolo are from the States and Ebenezer is from Busua. Tabitha and Paolo are helping to set up the NGO and get it going. When they leave in about 6 months, they will hand everything over to Ebenezer so that the NGO will be locally run. The NGO is working on a few projects right now including creating a Women’s Club, a Youth Club (youth here means people up to 30 years old), building a Community Tourism Center and an after-school program. I am working with another girl in my program called Amy and we were brought here to create and run the after-school program. The NGO that we work for wants to start “Surf N’ Shine” Packages. They want to get volunteers to come and run or start projects in Busua and in return, they will be able to learn how to surf. The program hasn’t started yet and Amy and I are the guinea pigs. We are here to test out the program so that in a few months they can start marketing it. It is really exciting to be part of something new and to create our own after school program but also nerve-wracking at the same time.
The last few weeks we have been walking around the community and getting their perspective on the program. It was really great because we met the Chief of the community who also turned out to be the Chief of all the Ahanta people. Chief’s here are a really big deal. People revere them as they do most traditions. While I was in Tamale I went to a witch camp and we had to meet the Chief before we were allowed to enter and give him a tribute. In the North, the chiefs have to sit on animal skins (this is considered their throne) while in the South the chiefs sit on stools. The Chief that we met in the North was sitting on the traditional skin and we had to sit before him. It was very traditional and so I was a little surprised when I met the Chief in Busua, especially as he was the Chief of all of the Ahanta people. When we met him, he was sitting on a plastic chair watching the local soaps. We were introduced to him, as per proper protocol. It is really important to follow traditional protocols and one is to always be introduced to the Chief. As we were sitting on plastic chairs telling him why we are in Busua, I looked over at the TV and saw to the right that a power outlet was resting on the traditional stool. It was slightly ironic. Busua is a tourist location and I feel like it is being influenced and moving away from the traditional aspects in Ghanaian society. It can be seen past this example with the Chief. It was just strange to visit a very traditional chief who was only the chief of his village and then visit a chief of the Ahanta’s who was a lot more untraditional. He approved of the work we were doing and insisted that we teach the children English. While walking around and meeting other community members, all of them gave us their support for the program. It was nice to go around and meet some members in the community and know that approve and support us. We also went around to the schools to discuss the program with the head teachers, who also gave their support. We were really appreciative of the community and their support and hopefully we will be able to maintain it.
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| Traditional Stool |
So we have just finished our first week of the program and it has been a very interesting week. We have decided to choose some older children in the community who will become Peer Leaders and help us to tutor the younger children. This is for two reasons: a) it is to help older children as well as we will be working on leadership skills while also trying to improve their literacy b) it is an effort to ensure that the program will become sustainable when Amy and I leave. We are hoping that by the time we leave, the older kids will feel comfortable enough and have invested enough into this project that they will continue it when we leave. So for right now, we have just been working with the Peer Leaders and once they are ready we will open the program to the younger children we want to target. We have just been playing educational games in an effort to bring them out to the program and we hope that they will keep coming. This is going to be one of our biggest challenges, as the numbers are dwindling already. It is a significant problem here that most projects have to address. Tabitha set up a Women’s Club and at first the attendance was great but over time, fewer people are attending. It is also hard because there are no immediate rewards for the children. This program will hopefully help them in the long run as their English will be better and they will learn other important skills such as working together and leadership ect. These skills that they learn will hopefully help them if they decide to continue their education, in the workforce but also generally in regards to life. It is hard for children to understand this and it will be something that we will have to try and overcome while we are here. Some children can’t attend either because they have to do chores and cook dinner for their families, which obviously takes precedence over our program. We are also having difficulties with “Ghanaian Time.” Most of the children who do attend the program are late, regardless of how much we try and enforce that they must attend the program on time. This will also be a challenge that we will have to address. The first week was a success and they have loved all of the games that we have played. The biggest hit was the blind obstacle course.
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| Love to see this! |
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| Learning Names |
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| Throwing a ball around |
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| Introductions |
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| Blind Obstacle Course |
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| Everyone joining in |
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| Circle Time |
The children that are participating in the program are all wonderful though. They really do have fun and Amy and I have fun too! It feels great to be doing something worthwhile and to be experiencing development work first-hand. We are also really lucky as we have been given the freedom and ability to create our own program, which is an amazing feeling. There will be a few more ups and downs over the next 2 months. If it’s going to be anything like the last three weeks, I can’t wait to see what Busua has in store for me.
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| Some of the kids |
I promise to make a more concerted effort to keep on top of this blog, even if it is to only stop my mother harassing me.
Until next time….
P.S. Thanks to Elise for taking such great pictures. Photo Credit goes to her.
