Leaving Ghana and Returning to Canada

Wrapping up work was hard…I had done 28 official interviews with various entrepreneurs across Damongo, and trying to draw out useful information and trends, and capture the individuals was incredibly difficult. I was working day and night trying to analyze the data, asking:



‘how can I make this report useful so that I can do something for all these people who are counting on me?’



‘how can I show how inspiring and relevant to work with Zeinabu was?’



‘how can I show that Issa Sole is a great entrepreneur, despite his lack of education…how can I show that though he is just asking for money he is desperate to do the right thing, that really all he needs is business management training, someone to take the time to explain to him the facts about bank accounts’

‘how can I capture all these opinions that these individuals have about the Business Advisory Centre and what it should do?’

…these questions raced through my head as I tried to pull this thing together. The hardest report I have ever had to write. No marks here, no one checking to see that I had an executive summary that was less than 250 words or group member that I can’t let down…I was accountable to no one, no one but those 28 people that I interviewed over the past few weeks, and those 20 in Busunu who I kept in my heart, and all those across the northern region who I had to potential to impact in some small way. It would be easy to say that I am just learning about development, this is my first time doing something like this, this placement is more about what learning I will bring back to Canada anyway…but this was the most important thing I ever had to write. I was able to gather perspective on my placement and what I was able to do in the time I had, but I threw my heart and soul into this research that I was undertaking and needed to genuinely do the best I job I could at it.

WHOA! Backtracking, those were horrifying pressures I was putting on myself, so I stepped back, yet again, and realized that though this was MY biggest contribution, it was a small part of a bigger process. All I could do was the best I could do. So just do it, and I did. Somehow. And in the end I was pleased with what I managed to produce.

I had already accepted that I wouldn’t have much impact on my office, it’s fruitless to work with unmotivated people, and unrealistic to try and be able to create that motivation in 3 months (one of the keys to development I have learned is to work with motivated people).
However, my big presentation at the Zonal Office went great. Though I had malaria and was out of steam in every which way, the people at the Zonal Office are passionate about the Rural Enterprises Project and were excited to learn more about how to work with and support existing business owners.

After that was over, as we say in Ghana after a big meal, I was satisfied. Though my work is not over, what I was able to do overseas was and I was ready to go home.

That was the hardest summer of my life, the greatest learning experience, about the world and myself, but hardest mentally, physically and emotionally to date. Homecoming was exciting, and as I said, my work is not yet done. I will continue to learn and share my findings with people in Canada in an effort to connect Canadians to Ghanaians, to show that we are all living in one world, and stimulate the change in our actions to reflect that reality.

I am excited to continue to work with EWB in Canada, because it is an amazing group of passionate and determined individuals, but also on my own, starting out a life of continuous learning and curiosity for the complexity and simplicity of this world.

Here are some pictures of some of the people who meant a lot to me, those who motivated and inspired me, or just brightened my day and made up the faces in my life for the past 4 months. Thanks to everyone who was a great support this summer, I hope you were able to take away something from this experience too…as we say in Ghana, somehow.

The Ghana JFs of 2008

My Family for the summer
In the office, two of my co-workers, Hardi the Business Development Officer and Pamela the Admin Assistant

Saratu and her seamstresses, greated me everyday as i passed and made lovely dresses

Two of my brothers and friends, Sherif and Junior

Madame from the zonal office, inspirational and down to earth
The station women who sold me fruit and boiled eggs

Giftey, who was just as jovial and lovely when I went back for a second visit

My shea picking partner, also just as impressive and powerful on second glance

My little Paul, the sweetest and most beautiful boy

Sarah Grant, long term volunteer with EWB, an awesome role model and friend
Sakara, friend from the village as previously viewed, but a great friend even if our interaction was short-lived


Zeinabu and her husband with their family in their electrical shop

Fouzia, who was there the whole summer, through the good times and the bad, morning and night!
Issa Sole, making my tire shoes

Kofi the chemical seller Patience who made beautiful batik tie and dye and was as sweet as anything

My phone units seller, always welcoming and having my 7.5 cards!
The woman who i bought most of my beautiful material from

Bawa, my bicycle repair man and enthusiastic greeter, anytime of the day, and numerous times!
Anthony, my landlord, host father and friend who i could share my morning tea with and frank and intellectual conversations about my work and development and Ghana

Steph in Tuna

This week I visited with one of the other JFs Steph in her home town Tuna. It was wonderful to see where she was living and who she was working with. For me it was good to see a different approach to development work, a grassroots NGO versus a huge development project throughout Ghana streamlined into the government. Steph has done a great job with her work, and she could explain it better through her blog, so I encourage you to check it out, but basically her partner organization, Tuna Women in Agriculture (TUWODEP) works with women’s groups in villages working on food security, education and introduction of new income generating activities. During my visit I got to walk around and have a taste of Tuna (no pun intended), travel to two villages to meet with some women’s groups, see Steph’s living arrangements and conditions and spend time with her devoted co-worker and friend. Check out more on her blolg: http://www.stephghanasummer.blogspot.com/, or from the link along the right side of this page "Steph in Ghana". Guinea Fowl that we were given as a gift...and chopped for dinner!
Steph's compound, I like the mango tree in the middle!

clay pots that one of the women's groups make
storage facilities for grains, something steph has worked a lot on improving with TUWODEP
The TUWODEP office
Tuna Market

This is Steph and her awesome co-worker Anase
Me and Anase with 3 women's groups in a nearby village
A piggery that TUWODEP helped to a women's group set up
Local beer, 'Pito' that we were given as thanks for our visit...delicious

It was an interesting opportunity to see another approach to some of what REP is striving to do: work with women’s groups to empower them and improve their livelihoods, but on a much smaller scale. Furthermore, there is a great opportunity for REP to partner with organizations like TUWODEP because of their shared focus and intended beneficiaries. REP likes to work with people in Groups, but from what I have observed, a lot of the time the groups form because of training sessions, instead of training sessions working for pre-existing groups. I am interested to learn the difference this would make in the success of a program. It seems that a strong cohesive group would be more successful than one thrown together at the last minute. Continuing on that note, meeting with these women’s groups, they could benefit greatly from any of REPs trainings (beekeeping, soap making, batik tie and dye, etc) so its too bad REP isn’t working in this district…but I guess on the other hand good that there is a project like TUWODEP working there.

While I am sitting down and putting together the results of my business owner interviews…the question I am trying to find an answer to is: what support do existing business owners need, and how can the BAC or local support networks provide that support. It’s hard! Where would you go to for support if you were struggling to set-up or run a business? What role should an organization like REP play in the business community? What if the results aren’t in line with its existing strategy? So far, yet again, the issue of dealing with people in groups arises. But most business owners are independent. So what role does the BAC play in assisting lone entrepreneurs? The feedback I have gotten so far from the field is that the BAC should be a resource for all businesses, and it should be able to redirect and link entrepreneurs to other sources if it can not directly assist them. Money is always the major pitfall for business owners, but though REP isn’t able to financially support everyone, it should have the capacity to direct people to sources and present them with different options, give sound advice on steps to take to better manage money, and invite people to workshops that they run on business management. Of course everyone just wants a quick fix, but its up to something like the Business Advisory Centre to educate people on the various ways to become more profitable.

I’m on the cusp of my last week…somehow in the next few days I need to pull together a report on these business owner interviews, present it to my office and the zonal office, finish buying and making everything I want to take back, snap all the pictures it was too awkward to snap in the beginning, say goodbyes and then manage to pack up all my stuff, put it on a bus and head to Tamale. It feels like a mountain I need to climb in the next 7 days…I hope I can do it!

Business Owner Interviews!

A month ago, I hit a wall. I have not talked too much about work…because work was an ever changing plan and mission to learn more. Developing a plan, presenting the plan and trying to follow through with it…and the plan failing. Again and again. Finally, I hit the point where I had gathered enough information and perspective that I was able to see what I would be able to accomplish in the time I am here. With just now 5 weeks remaining, I have resolved to a new mission: gathering perspectives of business owners on the ground and feeding it back to higher levels of REP, the decision makers who affect policies and implementation of programs that affect these people. This is the best way I can see that I can contribute to this project and benefit Dorothy. It’s appealing to me in many ways as well. I don’t need to be stuck in the infuriatingly frustrating office (which just the other day got funding…the first time since I have been here), I don’t need to try and change attitudes of people in my office who don’t want to change and I can get outside and go and talk with people and better understand this culture. Talking with clients has really motivated and inspired me, so I am happy to spend my time doing it, despite the inherent stress of it. Furthermore, despite its downfalls, REP does do good work, so even going around and encouraging people to take advantage of this great resource will help people.
Last week, I came up with my strategy for the rest of the summer, and visited with the Zonal Coordinator of REP in Tamale to get her on board and excited about the results of the interviews. This week in Damongo was spent biking around town meeting with business owners. The aim is to learn what kind of support business owners need to be more successful and what the role of the BAC and local experts could/should play. With the information I gather, I will draw out trends and key findings to present to this BAC so they can better understand the views of the people they are aiming to help, and more importantly to the Zonal Office in Tamale, because they are the decision makers who can affect not only this district, but all those in the northern zone. Furthermore, they expressed an interest in how to support existing business owners. The general outline of my research plan:

1. talk with existing business owners in Damongo of varying levels of success and interaction with the BAC
2. next week to talk with people in the second biggest town in West Gonja, Daboya, who have been trained in soap making and batik tie and dye and some business owners there
3. talk with more business owners in Damongo, including unconventional ‘businesses’ like food stall owners, and the women who were trained under my host mom in soap making.
4. figure out how to write up a meaningful report from the information I gather.

After an attempt at coming up with an organized agenda of people to meet with (something that rarely works here anyway) I decided to just make it up as I go, let the information I gather and new ideas guide the research. So with my questionnaire in hand, the loose methodology of: keep it comfortable and casual, take time to see their shop and understand their business, ensure it is beneficial to them, and play it by ear, I set out on the town.
This week was incredibly interesting, stressful, informative, tiring, moving, frustrating and wonderful. Wonderful because I was doing something, meeting people, being useful, scary and hard because…what if they don’t speak English? What if my questions aren’t good enough? What if it rains all week? What if I don’t get any useful information? Who will I talk to? Will they have time, will they trust me, expect something from me? But when I just sucked it up and got out there…I realized all the opportunities and all the friendliness and openness that Ghana is famous for.
I spoke with the man who fixes my bike and learned he is proud of the fact he is now his own boss, and not a ‘small boy’ under a master. I talked with a seamstress and her 6 apprentices who always enthusiastically greet me as I pass and without recording my measurements or the style, managed to make me a beautiful and comfortable dress. I talked with a ‘liscenced chemical seller’ who had a natural knack for buying the right amount medication at the right time of the year, and had dreams of having full shelves so people will always get what they want from her. Then the well-spoken man who ran a provision store with his brothers, clearly articulating what he thought would be most beneficial for the BAC to do with shop owners, sitting proudly in the well-stocked and organized store. Then David the ICT guy who was thrilled to learn there was a thing in town called the Business Advisory Centre, and left a government job to set up a computer training centre because of the benefit to the people in this rural community. The struggling artist, full of ideas, dreams and skills, still lacking that one opportunity to really do well for himself, and the Rasta man who is using his creativity and desire to help his community to set up a youth-powered cultural centre. And finally, the woman who was running the electrical provision store at the station…so full of drive and pride in running her business…and her seriousness and commitment to making it a success, saying “ this shop is my future, I don’t want to joke with it. with this store she can have respect, even though she wasn’t able to continue on with her education” which almost brought me to tears with inspiration and love for this woman who was so determined to do better than the cards she was dealt. Later her husband came and my heart just swelled even more…this family, business minded and friendly, working together to build towards their dream and do well for themselves. And there were many more.
Each day, with each interview I learn so much more about the business culture here, people’s attitudes about support and assistance, about entrepreneurs and about the role the BAC does and should play. I have heard some discouraging things about the BAC…the majority of people I talked to didn’t even know it existed, and those who had contacted them were disappointed with the interaction. One man, David, said when learning about the BAC, “if there is something like the BAC in Damongo, they have a job to do.” As I go around and people are unaware of it, I tell them all the services available to them through the BAC: skills training, business management workshops on financing, record keeping etc, general advice on running the business, and links to financial support. But the more I gave out phone numbers of my co-workers (which even though I warned them, I am sure they won’t be too happy about) and directed them to the office, “you can go any time and just introduce yourself”, I can’t help but feeling these people will be let down. But I have to keep faith that REP does do good work, its not all political or corrupt, my co-workers really do, deep down, want to help the community and do a good job, and there will be a few more people who will benefit.

Some of the business owners:


Some interesting things I have found so far:

• Virtually everyone is a business owner! Some people are doing one main thing, some people are doing a bunch of small things to work towards their dream of a supermarket, catering service, building contracting company or just being able to support their family
  People feel empowered by having their own business and being able to support themselves and their family


• The great resource which is the BAC is being wasted because no one knows about it or takes advantage of it



• Lots of people just struggle through the hard times, and grow very slowly, expecting that no one will help them but themselves



• Money is the major pitfall, everyone knows the only way to get to their dream or what they are planning or hoping for next year is to save ‘small small’.



• Everyone thinks everyone else has money that they are hiding away for themselves
  I have been impressed at the creative ways people are able to make money on the side, and the longterm dreams that people have…they may be selling soap and charcoal now, but they are working towards something bigger



• Its very difficult to drag the how and why out of people to get the information I am trying to get…but maybe it is that simple, I contact my mom for support because she’s the one I trust.

I think one of the major things that needs to happen is the BAC needs to expand who it views as business owners worthy of assisting. Helping one shop owner is not just helping a greedy businessman, its supporting an entire extended family. Business development leads to empowerment and economic development of the district, increased opportunities and reduction of poverty, so all businesses need to be developed, not just the obvious one’s who appear to be struggling. Anyway…my mind is racing with questions and hypothesis, and changes with each person I meet and perspective I hear. I really hope I can come up with something meaningful, because these people are not just slackers and waiting around for money (granted there are many of those too), they are just trying to get by and be independent and take care of their families. I feel the weight of responsibility now that I know these people, sat with them for an hour, sitting in their world, learning of their accomplishments, struggles, obstacles and dreams…I have the responsibility to do something to make their lives better. To know and not to do, is not to know. I know. So I have to do something. I just hope its good enough.

Tie Dye done right (none of this 80's t-shirt business)

Batik Tie and Dye!

Along with soap, one of the skills trainings that REP holds is batik tie and dye. Though I have come at an unfortunate time for project funding, I am fortunate that my host mother is a poster-woman for REP in a way. From her, I learned and gained great insight on soap making, about being an entrepreneur, and now on batik tie and dye!
The soap was pretty fun, but the batik tie and dye is so much fun! Tedious in its own way, but I like the creativity of it and the excitement of how it will turn out…like a kid at camp eager to see how your tie-dyed underwear would look after you took the string off, except it actually looks amazing! I’ll take you through some of the major steps of Batik tie and dye, and then just tie and dye.

1. Gather materials…needed: white cloth, dye, stamps, wax, creativity, hydro (sodium hydrosulphite…I think? Every time we use a sketchy chemical I have to laugh…how the chemistry teachers of my past would cringe!)
2. melt the wax and stencil out the plan
3. start stamping…this will hold these patterns as white
4. prepare the dye
5. soak the sucker in the dye
6. put it out to dry
7. the next stamp will hold this lovely orange colour.
8. then you can dye it again, and that will be the final background colour

materials for stamping for the Batik

melting the wax
planning for the design
first wax stampmixing the dye

dying the material

second stampthe final product!

Tie and dye is easier…in a way. If you buy the cloth pre-tied, then the dying is just a fun experiment (in my opinion). But, as Rabi aspires to, to be able to tie the cloth yourself is the best, and she hopes to learn. from how tedious it was to untie the cloth, I imagine its not so fun to do the tying, but I’m sure it is more economical.
There is dying and washing and then snipping open the ties, there definitely is an art to it, like all these things, it looks easy, but I am sure if I were to do it it would manage to be ugly! My tie dye always was!

material all tied up

after dying, cutting ties

finished product!

Youth in Peace and Development (YIPAD)

I have been attending these YIPAD meetings with 2 of the boys in my house, Steven and Junior, because I can’t help but be drawn to working with kids. The purpose of the club is to show kids the importance of education and let them know about their rights and role as children. They do things like awareness activities around Damongo and surrounding villages on HIV/AIDS and malaria, etc. Since I have been here, we haven’t worked on any of those things, the meetings have mostly consisted of a whole lot of lecturing about the need for discipline and commitment…at which point I saw a great opportunity for a place where I can contribute. Here we have a group of kids who have good intentions, are able to commit this time to come to meetings and an opportunity to become great leaders but it is being squandered on useless talk about who will arbitrarily bear the title of president or who has paid their money for a t-shirt or an upcoming trip. Even if I don’t change the way REP operates and help 100 small business owners, I know how to work with kids.
Sitting down with the group leaders I told them that I have had a lot of experience working with kids in Canada and could teach them leadership and teambuilding games so that the kids would want to be committed. They would feel committed and respect each other more because they would feel that they are gaining something by coming to meetings, other than just being lectured. They want me to help them secure an office and computer, but I want to help these kids as much as possible. This organization definitely has a lot of poptential, and has done a lot of good things already...but I have learned that I can't strive to drive huge organizational changes in 5 weeks...I need to keep my sights closer to the ground, thats where I will have the most success. So drawing on my years of experience working with rambunctious children, I slipped so easily back into my camp counsellor role.
Before the meeting start (which is usually an hour or two after the kids are told to arrive) the kids play games…football (soccer) is popular among the boys, the girls play a game like hackey sack with leaves tied together with some plastic, there is also a game like tag where you throw your flipflop at someone to become ‘it’, a game kind of like moneky in the middle except opposite, you try and arrange and mess up a pile of flipflops while avoiding getting hit with a ball (made from a bunch of rubber bags), or climbing up in the shea trees to shake down some of the fruit to munch on.
There are about 25-30 who come out to meetings…the first thing I tried with them was a song with actions. That went well. Then I tried the ‘clap to shut-up’ trick…if you can “hear me clap once clap back…” that worked wonders, instead of trying to yell at kids and threatening to beat them. The next meeting I tried the “human knot” to have the kids working together to solve a problem…it was a bit disastrous. The kids had fun and it was a start…but these games are pretty foreign to them! Breaking off into groups, working together to solve a problem…you mean you aren’t just going to tell us how to do it? It was really interesting to see the result of how children are treated here. The education systems and attitude towards children and their education are very different in Canada. I think that there is still the attitude that by virtue of going to school, a child is getting a good education…but the way they seem to be taught is how to do what they are told. Creativity and self-discovery are not encouraged…from what I have observed so far.

At our next meeting I had them break off into groups and come up with skits/plays demonstrating the importance of education…and it was a great success! I was so proud of the kids, and even though it took them a while to understand what they were supposed to do and step up and do it, before long they were huddling in their teams coming up with new and better plots and performing in front of the other groups. Though they could learn a thing or two about facing the audience, not talking over each other and projecting their voices, they did well for their first try at something like this! It was interesting that the person who had the hardest time grasping the concept of what we were doing, having the kids be creative and work together to come up with their own play, was the group leader. He had a hard time not going around and dictating what the kids should do. Maybe an individual quality, but maybe how he is used to interacting with kids…the mentality that if you are older you know better. This is one of the cultural aspects I am struggling with. I think its important to respect your elders, but more importantly respect should be based on what you do and how you act. If you show up hours late for a meeting and are distracted the whole time, that’s disrespectful, so why should you receive respect?
Working with these kids has given me a really valuable insight into the culture. How children are treated and behave leads into the type of citizens and society you will have. From what I have seen at my office, the attitude that I find frustrating…not wanting to try new things, take risks or push the status quo…can very well be connected to the mentality engrained in childhood years. Anyway, I am going to keep staying involved with the group and try and learn as much as I can from them, and teach them as much as I can, because with kids there is hope for the future!
An extra Bonus is the Wagashi, the Afrcian cheese, that we have been stopping to pick up on our way home. It is mild like mozzarella, but deep fried like saganaki...very tastey.