Woman and wife of the chief trained in making batik cloth.
Yes, it's a kid picture, but I like the face... and the bunny.
Chief.
February 9, 2009
Faces
Woman and wife of the chief trained in making batik cloth.
Yes, it's a kid picture, but I like the face... and the bunny.
Chief.
CID Ghana
CID Ghana, or Cooperation for Integrated Development, is a development organization in Tamale. It supports communities through schools and resources and development through educational skill-training programs.
Wish I could have spent more time with them, but I was able to get some material about their projects in the day I was there.
One of the projects is to build a toilet next to one of the schools that CID-Ghana supports by providing a teacher, fixing up the school and working with the ministry of health to give the students one meal per day. This is to encourage parents to let the children attend school.
Along with sponsoring the school in Kotingli, a small village, there is also work being done to make things more sanitary by building a toilet for the school and to provide cleaner drinking water. Until the filtering system works, there are chemicals put into the water to make it clean so it is usable.
The water also dries up every year, forcing women to walk up to 22km to fetch water each day, carrying the large loads on their heads with their children helping as well. The filtering system is almost completed as well.
There is also a goal to train women in skills so they can help support their families. As someone told me in the North, if there was a Nobel prize for anything in Ghana, it should go to the mothers. Women do the cooking, cleaning and caring for the children, as well as often farm work to try to support the family financially. Not all of the money earned by men is returned to the family, but what is earned by the women is. They trained the women to make batik cloth to sell.
One of the things I really noticed in the villages was the teamwork environment. When a house needs to be built, all of the men gather to help build it in return for dinner. It's about helping each other to support the greater community. When food needs to be made, two women may team together to make it. I think much of the world could learn from that.
Wish I could have spent more time with them, but I was able to get some material about their projects in the day I was there.
One of the projects is to build a toilet next to one of the schools that CID-Ghana supports by providing a teacher, fixing up the school and working with the ministry of health to give the students one meal per day. This is to encourage parents to let the children attend school.
Along with sponsoring the school in Kotingli, a small village, there is also work being done to make things more sanitary by building a toilet for the school and to provide cleaner drinking water. Until the filtering system works, there are chemicals put into the water to make it clean so it is usable.
The water also dries up every year, forcing women to walk up to 22km to fetch water each day, carrying the large loads on their heads with their children helping as well. The filtering system is almost completed as well.
There is also a goal to train women in skills so they can help support their families. As someone told me in the North, if there was a Nobel prize for anything in Ghana, it should go to the mothers. Women do the cooking, cleaning and caring for the children, as well as often farm work to try to support the family financially. Not all of the money earned by men is returned to the family, but what is earned by the women is. They trained the women to make batik cloth to sell.
One of the things I really noticed in the villages was the teamwork environment. When a house needs to be built, all of the men gather to help build it in return for dinner. It's about helping each other to support the greater community. When food needs to be made, two women may team together to make it. I think much of the world could learn from that.
Heading North
I decided to head with a group of volunteers up North to do some work for other NGOs. They were kind of touring the different projects, and I was able to do small amounts of day-work to give them something.
I usually prefer to travel a little more low-profile and by my own schedule, but we made it up and back safe and sound in the decorated trotro.
After a box of toys went flying off the top.
I usually prefer to travel a little more low-profile and by my own schedule, but we made it up and back safe and sound in the decorated trotro.
After a box of toys went flying off the top.
Home Visit
Later in the day we went on a home visit to two of the children sponsored by Light for Children. The home visits are meant to update the profiles of the children and check-in on how they are doing.
It's a tricky situations sometimes as well. AIDS comes with a big stigma here, and just because a child is sponsored by Light for Children doesn't mean he or she has it. It is not discussed during the visits as sometimes even the children or the rest of their family do not know for fear of being stigmatized and cast out of their living situation. As a journalist, I tread lightly in the situation.
In all, though, the home visits are a good chance to check-in on how school and life and family are going and for the volunteers to meet the kids, who are welcoming but can be shy just like any kids, whether they are used to meeting obronis or not.
It's a tricky situations sometimes as well. AIDS comes with a big stigma here, and just because a child is sponsored by Light for Children doesn't mean he or she has it. It is not discussed during the visits as sometimes even the children or the rest of their family do not know for fear of being stigmatized and cast out of their living situation. As a journalist, I tread lightly in the situation.
In all, though, the home visits are a good chance to check-in on how school and life and family are going and for the volunteers to meet the kids, who are welcoming but can be shy just like any kids, whether they are used to meeting obronis or not.
Journey of Hope
Finally access to internet again! It's amazing the bit of withdrawal you go through...
The following day after the Malaria talk, a group of volunteers went to a school to deliver the Journey of Hope talk (a program to educate about the prevention of HIV transmission. Faithfulness, Abstinence or Condom, and pick the best for the time in your life.)
One of the projects I'll be doing is a short piece about the Journey of Hope.
It's been interesting doing work for some different NGOs here. It's a mix of cultural differences and balancing controls and communication. I'll admit, there were times of frustration, but hopefully in the end each will get some work that will help their cause, either showing what they are doing or showing the issues.
I really do believe in the work of grassroots NGOs. They struggle to stay up, but small things go a long way.
Take Journey of Hope. There are questions of the volunteers of how to take it to the next level in delivery, and there is a push to focus on abstinence for the teens. But the students have a chance to bring up questions about HIV transmission, such as can you get it from deep kissing or sharing food?
The following day after the Malaria talk, a group of volunteers went to a school to deliver the Journey of Hope talk (a program to educate about the prevention of HIV transmission. Faithfulness, Abstinence or Condom, and pick the best for the time in your life.)
One of the projects I'll be doing is a short piece about the Journey of Hope.
It's been interesting doing work for some different NGOs here. It's a mix of cultural differences and balancing controls and communication. I'll admit, there were times of frustration, but hopefully in the end each will get some work that will help their cause, either showing what they are doing or showing the issues.
I really do believe in the work of grassroots NGOs. They struggle to stay up, but small things go a long way.
Take Journey of Hope. There are questions of the volunteers of how to take it to the next level in delivery, and there is a push to focus on abstinence for the teens. But the students have a chance to bring up questions about HIV transmission, such as can you get it from deep kissing or sharing food?
January 28, 2009
School Visit
Tuesday the group from Light for Children did a visit to the Yaa Acchia Girl School in Kumasi to give a talk about malaria.
The students performed skits that they had rehearsed for a long time, and the group gave some malaria information. At the end, with the speakers pumping out music, the students had us join in on dancing.
Wednesday will be another visit to a school to deliver the "Journey of Hope" educational message about HIV/AIDS, then back to the school to finish up yesterday's work, to the market to gather food for a cook-out, hopefully home-visits with the children, then a cook-out before leaving tomorrow for the North to visit a bunch of NGOs.
The students performed skits that they had rehearsed for a long time, and the group gave some malaria information. At the end, with the speakers pumping out music, the students had us join in on dancing.
Wednesday will be another visit to a school to deliver the "Journey of Hope" educational message about HIV/AIDS, then back to the school to finish up yesterday's work, to the market to gather food for a cook-out, hopefully home-visits with the children, then a cook-out before leaving tomorrow for the North to visit a bunch of NGOs.
January 26, 2009
So it begins
Finally in Africa.
It was a long trip, but not a bad one. I don't think I've ever had to show my passport so many times in a 24-hour period. The plane took me from Washington D.C. to Frankfurt in 7 hours, then about an hour and a half through customs in Germany, and on another plane to Lagos, Nigeria as a quick stop before heading on to Accra, Ghana.
I am currently in Ghana volunteering as a photojournalist for Light for Children and hopefully gathering some stories for other organizations. I picked up extra work here and there to fund the trip, and am doing it because it can help in a different way, but also because I really believe in service, and lately have a need to feel like I am doing something for a reason bigger than myself.
Once arriving in Accra, Light for Children was kind enough to have someone pick me up and Poppo definitely made life easier! He was there to greet me with a big bottle of water, got me to the guest house where I stayed for the night, introduced me to the group of volunteers he works with, and gave me an introduction to Ghana dos and don't over dinner by the Gulf of Guinnea. (Don't use your left hand in relation to others, whether eating or waving, Obroni means White Person or Foreigner but is not an insult, etc.)
The next day we went to the airport to pick up another volunteer and together hopped on the bus to head to Kumasi. There were some interesting movies played on the bus, and as I was asked when I got into Kumasi, "Did they involve a story line of someone cheating on someone else? They usually do." And they did.
Last night I got settled in with my host family, who are incredibly hospitable, then talked with Sebastian about the upcoming three weeks, what the group has been up to, and what we hope to accomplish. We both agreed have a general plan and play it by ear. This morning I met with Yaw and learned the history of Light for Children.
Haven't taken any photos or interviews yet, but am learning and reading a lot quickly. Today the volunteers return from the North, then tomorrow go to a school to give a presentation. I'll be heading along for that, and on Tuesday we all go back North to observe and work with a few other NGOs there. We came up with some ideas to propose, and we'll see what I can get done. We go about a day and a half with each one, so it will be quick work.
Upon returning to Kumasi, I will really dig into the work with Light for Children... going on educational events with the volunteer group, spending time with children and their families, and following those who run the organization.
For now, I'll keep planning and getting prepared and educated on the missions of the groups, and hopefully get my cell to work today!
It was a long trip, but not a bad one. I don't think I've ever had to show my passport so many times in a 24-hour period. The plane took me from Washington D.C. to Frankfurt in 7 hours, then about an hour and a half through customs in Germany, and on another plane to Lagos, Nigeria as a quick stop before heading on to Accra, Ghana.
I am currently in Ghana volunteering as a photojournalist for Light for Children and hopefully gathering some stories for other organizations. I picked up extra work here and there to fund the trip, and am doing it because it can help in a different way, but also because I really believe in service, and lately have a need to feel like I am doing something for a reason bigger than myself.
Once arriving in Accra, Light for Children was kind enough to have someone pick me up and Poppo definitely made life easier! He was there to greet me with a big bottle of water, got me to the guest house where I stayed for the night, introduced me to the group of volunteers he works with, and gave me an introduction to Ghana dos and don't over dinner by the Gulf of Guinnea. (Don't use your left hand in relation to others, whether eating or waving, Obroni means White Person or Foreigner but is not an insult, etc.)
The next day we went to the airport to pick up another volunteer and together hopped on the bus to head to Kumasi. There were some interesting movies played on the bus, and as I was asked when I got into Kumasi, "Did they involve a story line of someone cheating on someone else? They usually do." And they did.
Last night I got settled in with my host family, who are incredibly hospitable, then talked with Sebastian about the upcoming three weeks, what the group has been up to, and what we hope to accomplish. We both agreed have a general plan and play it by ear. This morning I met with Yaw and learned the history of Light for Children.
Haven't taken any photos or interviews yet, but am learning and reading a lot quickly. Today the volunteers return from the North, then tomorrow go to a school to give a presentation. I'll be heading along for that, and on Tuesday we all go back North to observe and work with a few other NGOs there. We came up with some ideas to propose, and we'll see what I can get done. We go about a day and a half with each one, so it will be quick work.
Upon returning to Kumasi, I will really dig into the work with Light for Children... going on educational events with the volunteer group, spending time with children and their families, and following those who run the organization.
For now, I'll keep planning and getting prepared and educated on the missions of the groups, and hopefully get my cell to work today!
January 21, 2009
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