Bamboo and beads in Abompe

Volunteers all around Ghana recently convened in various locations for regional VAC meetings. This was my first chance to run a meeting as a VAC (volunteer action committee) representative. Since the Greater Accra region only houses two volunteers, we have adopted those volunteers as honorary Eastern Regioners.

Due to budget restrictions, VAC meetings had to be held either at existing Peace Corps facilities (Accra, Kumasi, Kukurantumi or Tamale offices) or at the site of a volunteer. Thanks to the generosity of a fellow volunteer, we had our meeting in beautiful Abompe. I went to visit Abompe only a few days after arriving in Ghana. This site was one of the many stops made during my Vision Quest. To this day, I'm not sure if I've seen a nicer Peace Corps house. The fifteen volunteers in attendance all sat comfortably during our meeting and at the end of the night, only a few had to unfold mats for sleeping. Granted, many of the more seasoned volunteers are more comfortable sleeping 4 to a bed than when we first arrived but regardless, this place was nice. Her two showers, four beds and two fridges put my saggy mattress, outdoor bucket bath box and state of the art insta-mold kitchen to shame.

Before we got down to business, the volunteers split into two groups. The first group went on what our host warned would be a very taxing hike. The second group (my flip flops and I joined this group) would tour Abompe and see some of the current projects.

Abompe was recently selected to help promote a bamboo bicycle project. A world renowned bicycle designer has been making bamboo frames for competitive cyclists for a while and is now working on a way to expand the project while working towards providing affordable frames (some sell for several thousand dollars in the states). In addition to the main work site for the bamboo bikes, we visited several bauxite bead makers. Bauxite is the mineral that is used to produce aluminum. In Abompe, bauxite is also mined and used to produce beautiful beads. Many styles are made but the waist beads were the most impressive. A small stick with a pin at the end is used along with a bow (like how fire can be made) to create enough friction to bore a hole through the stone. I got to try my hands at this process and was pleased with my ability to bore one hole in a reasonably short time. I'm used to seeing jobs in Ghana that require long hours of intensive work for minimal reward but this ranks as one of the worst.

Our two groups met in the early evening, enjoyed stew and beer while airing our respective frustrations about life in the Peace Corps. As usual, some more tenured volunteers were frighteningly jaded while some newbies were still shell shocked and sporting incredibly lofty goals (I agree with this approach but know that not all of those goals will be met).

The meeting went well and I got to follow it up by winning a game of poker. I've really missed playing poker and definitely got my fix for now. It always helps when you win.

That'll be all for now.

Love to all
Ira

I got my B's

Stephen has recently moved to our District Capital, Asesewa. While I will miss having him in Bormase, I understand that it's time for him to pursue a life of his own. Rather than being the family workhorse while earning no money, he will now pursue employment either at the District Assembly or as a teacher.

When Stephen made this decision, it was as a stopgap while waiting for the results of his February exams. Having fallen short of the necessary marks when taking the exam while a Secondary School student, Stephen re-took a few subject exams with the goal of qualifying for either University or technical college.

As it is, Stephen can work as a teacher. With a Secondary School education, he can earn 80 Ghana Cedis per month. Unfortunately, to discourage new employees from quitting a few months into the job, Ghana Education Services do not pay teachers for the first six months. Once the six month trial period is completed, new employees receive six months of salary in one lump sum.

I spoke with Stephen last week and he told me "I got my B's." I'm not sure if he meant that he qualified for University or for Training College. Either way, he can pursue teaching as a career at a higher base salary (200-400 Ghana Cedis per month)depending on the qualification. He and I haven't had a chance to talk about his plans since he received the scores but I'm very proud of him. I don't know if our study sessions helped him reach his goal but either way, he did it.

In other news, Hannah has started her popcorn making endeavor and is doing well. She made small batches on consecutive days and sold out in short order on each occasion. She has given me her earnings so that we can sit down and discuss how much profit she made and how she might be able to do better in the future. The logic behind her work ethic still escapes me but progress is being made.

A huge bush fire cleared all of the brush around my Moringa farm. The leaves on many of the trees were fried but the hours of work it saved made the small loss well worth it. Many of the trees still look like sticks but with the recent increase in rain, I expect a beautiful transformation any day now.




There is more in the works but that can wait.

Love to all,
Ira

Development

While I know that one of my goals is to work towards sustainable development, I can't help but focus much of my attention of individual development.

Maybe it's my Psychology background or maybe my interest in individual development and my decision to pursue a Psychology degree come from the same place. Oops, maybe I'm over analyzing.

I'm the youngest of three children so I've never really had the opportunity to watch a child learn and change on a day by day basis. In the last year, I've gotten to see so much change in Bormase. The tiny, wrinkly newborns that were perpetually strapped to their mothers' backs when I first arrived are now starting to walk around. Toddlers like Atta and Lahweh are running around and talking up a storm. I've seen school age children go from having a mouth full of tiny baby teeth to proudly sporting tongue sized gaps between their canines to having what appear to be far over sized adult teeth (this is a real moment of truth since orthodontics and dentistry aren't real options). On a less endearing note, some young girls have gone from primary school uniforms to maternity clothes and are now sitting at home with newborns of their own.



In addition to seeing the physical changes, I've had a chance to see the different ways that these children play. When I shared a compound with the twins, I could watch them play at washing clothes, washing dishes, drumming and pounding fufu. It wasn't uncommon to see Lahweh flip over his little stool, fill it with rocks and leaves and pretend to drive around like a local lorry driver with a fully loaded car. I occasionally get weird looks when I sit in the dirt and play hand slapping games or catch. When hanging out at the borehole, I'll kick a small plastic ball around with a 6 year old or I'll throw a spherical seed pod as high into the air as I can only to watch children of all ages circle beneath it and make stabs to catch it. Being a white man makes me different already so why not be the only adult male to play games with the small boys and small girls? I'm still the coolest and craziest white dude around. No harm done.

Hannah moved her twin two year olds Atta and Lahweh to a neighboring compound in order to live with the twins' father and escape Dorothy's instruction. The house is between my house and the Moringa farm so I'll try to stop by to say hello on my way to weeding. Since the bushy growth in front of the house was recently prepared for planting (a nice way to say slashed and burned), the children can see me walking up the road and will greet me with repeated entreaties of "Kweku ba!! Kweku ba!!," Kweku is my local name and "ba" means come. I'll enter the compound and join Atta, Lahweh, Teye (the massive 22 month old cousin) and Tetteh (4 or 5 year old cousin) in whatever game they're playing. Recently I've had them take turns hanging on to my index fingers so that I can lift them up and allow them to pull leaves from the Cassia tree (like Ghanaians need help working on their strength).

Though I love playing with these kids, I see Hannah frying Gari with a 16 year old nursing mother and her 14 year old pregnant sister. 22 month old Teye is actually the uncle of the 3 year old twins.

I've recently been working with Hannah, trying to get her to take work more seriously. Seeing that nobody in Bormase sells Popcorn while everybody loves to eat popcorn, I taught Hannah how to make it. I made a loan of three ghana cedis and fifty pesewas (a little more than three dollars) in order to purchase the first supply of kernels. Hannah and I sat down and figured out how many bags of popcorn she would have to sell and at what price if she wanted to make a profit.

After our introductory lesson, Hannah told me that she'd be back in the afternoon and we'd make the popcorn. She didn't come back. I had to track her down in order to set up a time for her to get to work. Sekesua market day came and went with no popcorn made. Dorothy came and asked me if I could get popcorn so that she could start selling it in her store. When I told her that Hannah was planning to make popcorn to sell and that I was trying to help support the twins, Dorothy told me of past business ventures that were unsuccessfully attempted with Hannah. Dorothy and Stephen each assured me (with limited excitement) that they would surely end up supporting the twins. I still have hope that Hannah will get her act together. As it is, she spends most of her time walking around town her pregnant, teen-aged sister in law.

As great as it has been to watch children grow and develop, it's very disconcerting to see the sheer number of children trying to develop. At least the children don't seem worried about it.

Love to all,
Kweku