My work in Ghana is very varied and this week I have been called upon to travel out of town to a number of different locations for various reasons. I start this week in Akropong in the Eastern region of Ghana. I like it here because the climate is slightly gentler than that of Accra and the mosquitoes are certainly less hungry. The Eastern region is also where they grow the cocoa and mine diamonds and gold...what more could a girl want!? I’m here to work with the deaf members on writing the fundraising strategy for the next 5 years, rather a large piece of work a Danish donor has quite rightly requested to see, but no one here seems to understand why this is important despite my various attempts at presenting it in different ways!!! The reason I right about this is because of a disagreement which occurred this very morning. Many of you may have heard me mention my rather annoying boss who goes by the name of Mr Asamoah, he is in his 70’s and runs the organisation like a dictatorship, men in their 30’s are treated like the work experience student, staff wings are clipped or publically put down on a regular basis, the communications officer has to iron all his clothes and do his church administration for him and all he seems to do is listen to the radio and watch T.V at the same time oh yes and occasionally tell the deaf that they are stupid. So a little bit of a nightmare really, when I gently tried to ask about some issues to do with internal communications I felt that the organisation had, he shouted at me and then said to a colleague of mine in Twi (the local language, that I am only a small girl, but I am like all whites, so impatient and too demanding!!). So we have our work cut out trying to deal with this man...but I am not one to shy away from a challenge! This very morning the deaf themselves decided that they didn’t want him in their meeting, they didn’t need a welcome address from him (which more often than not is a fairly discouraging, disempowering message telling them how bad and unmotivated they all are – ironic to say the least!) I could not believe how Mr Asamoah reacted, like a small child he walked out of the meeting hall followed by 5 grown up men who listened and cooed as he threw his toys out of the pram (not because they wanted to but because he is their elder so they have to). He had to be coaxed back into taking part in the later stages of the meeting by them telling him how amazing he is, how much knowledge he has, how he has changed people’s lives etc, then a special table and chair had to be fetched for him to feel comfortable. I stayed well out of it all, all I wanted to say was that actually the organisation belongs to the deaf; they are well within their rights to say they didn’t want him in the meeting and actually it isn’t surprising given the way that he normally talks to them!
The frustration I used to feel about this man was enormous, the way that it is him himself who is standing in the way of the organisation making progress because he has to control EVERYTHING, from ordering stationary to allocating hotel rooms, making phone calls, he is incapable of letting others do their jobs properly and knows next to nothing about running an organisation and managing people! The staff are trapped, they see that he is behaving in an inappropriate way, they really care about the progress of the organisation but they have to bow down to him otherwise he will make their lives hell, he threatens people with the sack. So I have decided to focus on small wins, on training staff, on working with deaf members directly and bypassing him at the end of the day he does not control what I do, so I will look for other ways to make a difference and find satisfaction, my colleagues unfortunately are not so fortunate...
So things are looking up at work, I have had a fantastic few days travelling around the Eastern & Central regions meeting the deaf in the villages and small towns, improving my sign language and Twi and working out how together we can change things. There are a number of projects I am now chomping at the bit to get my teeth into, including managing a project training deaf women all over Ghana in hairdressing enabling them to set up their own small scale enterprises and raising funds for a partially completed bakery for the deaf in the beautiful town of Cape Coast right by the sea. I’ll be sure to tell you about these soon...
It just so happens that my travelling for work has coincided with the Africa Cup of Nations, a huge football tournament which has whipped Ghana into a frenzy as we are doing rather well. It has been hugely enjoyable to sit in local spots with people with a nice cold beer, watching the football and observing the ooohs and ahhs and screams of the Ghanaians and it has been amazing to see how the people react when the team wins, running through the streets wrapped in flags, car horns blaring, elderly people dancing uncontrollably...what fun! So Ghana play their rivals Nigeria on Thursday in the semi finals....the match is during office hours, I wonder what Mr Asamoah will do given his normal love for television...perhaps the office will be full of televisions and radios that day!!!
Friday, 29 January 2010
Back to Ghana
It was with a sense of great excitement that I returned to Ghana after 2 very festive weeks spent in the U.K, I was encouraged to see how much I looked forward to going back as coming home after only 3 months away it could have been very unsettling. As soon as I stepped off the plane the familiar surge of tropical heat hit me and as the smells of mangos, household soap, roasted plantain and sewage washed over me, I knew I was glad to be back.
I returned to my apartment to find that the hammatten had been and gone (winds bringing the sand down from the Sahara to west Africa) and had left a fine dust over everything, the mosquito screens and plastic slats I have for windows had not done much to shield the inside of my house so I spent the next day cleaning the place and getting settled back in.
I was delighted to find the women downstairs ready to great me and even insisted on carrying my suitcases from the car to my house for me, they told me about their Christmas break and were really pleased with the presents I had brought them, just some tea, biscuits, chocolates and some bits for the younger children. As I have alluded to before I am really happy in my apartment and the ladies that live downstairs certainly have a role to play in that. I live in a house, divided into 2 apartments, I Iive in the upstairs one which has 2 bedrooms and downstairs lives Agatha, Becky, Gladys and Sarah. Agatha is in her 30’s, Becky is 25 and Gladys is in her teens, they are all sisters and Sarah who is a very beautiful one year old belongs to Agatha. These ladies are always happy to great me, they look out for me and are concerned if I am later than normal or if they haven’t seen me for a few days, I often get a phone call asking if I am ok, or hear the younger girls calling at my door ‘Auntie Emily do you have...’. The sense of community in Ghana never ceases to amaze me, communal living is the norm, and people are always very surprised to hear that I live on my own. In the compound behind my house (which I can see directly into from my bedroom) live a number of families, or perhaps they are the same family, brothers and their wives and children. They live together in a small compound and from 4am (after I am woken by the call to prayer from the mosques in the nearby Muslim neighbourhood) you can hear them clattering around with pots and pans, peeling yam, feeding babies, washing clothes and rather annoyingly the men revving their taxis ready to start a day’s work, the way they live together is literally on top of each other but it almost makes me envious, perhaps that is the way we are supposed to live. In the west we tuck ourselves away in a little bolt hole which we may spent almost all our money on or spend years saving for a property for ourselves because someone once told us (and the media continues to tell us) that in this we will find security – how bizarre to think that security can be found in bricks and mortar!? Many of us in the west don’t even know our neighbours, let alone invite them in to their homes, for some this must be a lonely existence. I can’t help thinking that the Africans have got it right, their homes are where their community is, they share everything with their friends and families, eating, sleeping, washing, even birth and death – to me it seems to makes much more sense.....although I don’t always think that at 4am when someone has decided to rearrange the cooking pots outside my bedroom!!!
In Ghana life is public, there seems to be almost nothing which you would be embarrassed or uncomfortable with others seeing, from men and women urinating on the street, to mothers breast feeding whilst selling street food, to my boss greeting me in his vest (it is worth pointing out that this was whilst working out of town in a hotel). One Sunday evening I was just finishing my washing up thinking that I would have an early night when I hear some shouts and knocks at my door...’Auntie Emily’... it was the ladies from downstairs, they were concerned that they hadn’t seem me for a few days so they had come to greet me. I was only wearing a wrapper at the time (a fairly large piece of brightly printed cotton, which is worn wrapped around the body like a dress, many women wear them in the house because it is so hot, I would never want to be seen outside in this!), I wanted to change before answering the door, but there was not time. I opened the door and the ladies were so happy to see me they barged past me and came into my lounge, needless to say they were wearing similar things themselves so it didn’t matter that I was wearing this, in fact it probably helped. The ladies sat and we talked about some ‘small’ things as they would say here, but talking was not their objective, neither was tea, they were happy to sit and just be in each other’s company – it was truly a special moment for me, the fact that they were happy to just sit and be comfortable with me in my space indicated I was starting to become part of the community....
I returned to my apartment to find that the hammatten had been and gone (winds bringing the sand down from the Sahara to west Africa) and had left a fine dust over everything, the mosquito screens and plastic slats I have for windows had not done much to shield the inside of my house so I spent the next day cleaning the place and getting settled back in.
I was delighted to find the women downstairs ready to great me and even insisted on carrying my suitcases from the car to my house for me, they told me about their Christmas break and were really pleased with the presents I had brought them, just some tea, biscuits, chocolates and some bits for the younger children. As I have alluded to before I am really happy in my apartment and the ladies that live downstairs certainly have a role to play in that. I live in a house, divided into 2 apartments, I Iive in the upstairs one which has 2 bedrooms and downstairs lives Agatha, Becky, Gladys and Sarah. Agatha is in her 30’s, Becky is 25 and Gladys is in her teens, they are all sisters and Sarah who is a very beautiful one year old belongs to Agatha. These ladies are always happy to great me, they look out for me and are concerned if I am later than normal or if they haven’t seen me for a few days, I often get a phone call asking if I am ok, or hear the younger girls calling at my door ‘Auntie Emily do you have...’. The sense of community in Ghana never ceases to amaze me, communal living is the norm, and people are always very surprised to hear that I live on my own. In the compound behind my house (which I can see directly into from my bedroom) live a number of families, or perhaps they are the same family, brothers and their wives and children. They live together in a small compound and from 4am (after I am woken by the call to prayer from the mosques in the nearby Muslim neighbourhood) you can hear them clattering around with pots and pans, peeling yam, feeding babies, washing clothes and rather annoyingly the men revving their taxis ready to start a day’s work, the way they live together is literally on top of each other but it almost makes me envious, perhaps that is the way we are supposed to live. In the west we tuck ourselves away in a little bolt hole which we may spent almost all our money on or spend years saving for a property for ourselves because someone once told us (and the media continues to tell us) that in this we will find security – how bizarre to think that security can be found in bricks and mortar!? Many of us in the west don’t even know our neighbours, let alone invite them in to their homes, for some this must be a lonely existence. I can’t help thinking that the Africans have got it right, their homes are where their community is, they share everything with their friends and families, eating, sleeping, washing, even birth and death – to me it seems to makes much more sense.....although I don’t always think that at 4am when someone has decided to rearrange the cooking pots outside my bedroom!!!
In Ghana life is public, there seems to be almost nothing which you would be embarrassed or uncomfortable with others seeing, from men and women urinating on the street, to mothers breast feeding whilst selling street food, to my boss greeting me in his vest (it is worth pointing out that this was whilst working out of town in a hotel). One Sunday evening I was just finishing my washing up thinking that I would have an early night when I hear some shouts and knocks at my door...’Auntie Emily’... it was the ladies from downstairs, they were concerned that they hadn’t seem me for a few days so they had come to greet me. I was only wearing a wrapper at the time (a fairly large piece of brightly printed cotton, which is worn wrapped around the body like a dress, many women wear them in the house because it is so hot, I would never want to be seen outside in this!), I wanted to change before answering the door, but there was not time. I opened the door and the ladies were so happy to see me they barged past me and came into my lounge, needless to say they were wearing similar things themselves so it didn’t matter that I was wearing this, in fact it probably helped. The ladies sat and we talked about some ‘small’ things as they would say here, but talking was not their objective, neither was tea, they were happy to sit and just be in each other’s company – it was truly a special moment for me, the fact that they were happy to just sit and be comfortable with me in my space indicated I was starting to become part of the community....
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
3 Months in....
Please note that this was supposed to be updated before Christmas..whoops! A new one will come very soon.....
3 months in....
I must start this post with an apology for the late blog entry, I realise that it is well over a month since I last posted on here, but as I started out with this blog I decided that I wouldn’t become obsessive over it , feeling like I HAD to put in an entry. The reason why I haven’t updated anything on here for a while is that I have been really busy, busy living life I guess which after 3 months in a new environment can only be a good thing!
I have thought long and hard about a suitable subject to write about, there are so many things that have happened, many new exciting and (some) frustrating things. There have been numerous parties, weekends away, trips to the market, outings to the beach, achievements and challenges at work, new people met etc. But since today marks my 3rd month in Ghana and I have been doing a lot of reflecting of late I thought it might be nice to look back to some of my thoughts before I came out.
Many of you will know that the thought of living on my own in Accra was not something that appealed to me so much; in fact I even went as far as to request that this wouldn’t be the case. As it happens my flat mate Julia has returned to Kenya and I am now living in a 2 bed apartment on Mango Tree Avenue on my own. I wondered how I would feel about this; it is not so much the security situation which bothers me, far from it in fact coming back to my apartment in the small hours feels perfectly safe to me which is amazing. My concern about living on my own was more about being lonely, having no one to talk to about my day, no one to just spend the night in with, no one to sit in the dark with when the lights go out, no one to complain about the lack of water or stifling heat! However nearly 6 weeks in to living on my own I can declare that I am really enjoying it, the house is always clean and tidy, I can have friends over whenever I want, guests to stay for the weekend...the truth of the matter is that I never seem to be at home..I am always out and about and when I am in, my apartment is here as my sanctuary where I can relax and be alone. As I came out to Ghana, I imagined many nights in thinking about big questions, reading books, learning the guitar and sleeping early. For my first three months my feet haven’t touched the ground, it has been a whirlwind of new experiences and challenges and it has been brilliant. As I sit here typing this blog entry and packing for the holidays I can only think that my life in Ghana is only just getting started........
One of my hopes before coming out was that I would make friends with many Ghanaian ladies...in reality this has proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. I know that I have alluded to the friendliness and hospitality of nearly every Ghanaian I have met in previous blog posts and this is certainly true. Meeting and becoming friends with the men here has not been a problem, in fact it is almost the opposite, it is almost too easy and everyone you meet in the street seems to want to ‘take you as a friend’! It has been a real joy and a privilege to get to know some of these people...Perhaps not the ones you meet on the street! And they have been so kind to me. The fact of the matter is that most young Ghanaian women are not free like there are in the west; there is limited freedom on the money they make and the way that they spend your time. The men go out at weekends, the women stay at home, the men sit and drink in a ‘spot’ women only ever seem to be there accompanying them occasionally. They don’t seem to go on shopping trips, meet each other for coffee etc. This has made it hard to build relationships with women, you meet them, get on well with them but then you cannot meet up with them again as it isn’t really possible. To say that I haven’t met women is not entirely true, the running club has been a great opportunity to meet ladies and the family living below me are all women...perhaps I will tell you a little more about them in my next posting...
3 months in....
I must start this post with an apology for the late blog entry, I realise that it is well over a month since I last posted on here, but as I started out with this blog I decided that I wouldn’t become obsessive over it , feeling like I HAD to put in an entry. The reason why I haven’t updated anything on here for a while is that I have been really busy, busy living life I guess which after 3 months in a new environment can only be a good thing!
I have thought long and hard about a suitable subject to write about, there are so many things that have happened, many new exciting and (some) frustrating things. There have been numerous parties, weekends away, trips to the market, outings to the beach, achievements and challenges at work, new people met etc. But since today marks my 3rd month in Ghana and I have been doing a lot of reflecting of late I thought it might be nice to look back to some of my thoughts before I came out.
Many of you will know that the thought of living on my own in Accra was not something that appealed to me so much; in fact I even went as far as to request that this wouldn’t be the case. As it happens my flat mate Julia has returned to Kenya and I am now living in a 2 bed apartment on Mango Tree Avenue on my own. I wondered how I would feel about this; it is not so much the security situation which bothers me, far from it in fact coming back to my apartment in the small hours feels perfectly safe to me which is amazing. My concern about living on my own was more about being lonely, having no one to talk to about my day, no one to just spend the night in with, no one to sit in the dark with when the lights go out, no one to complain about the lack of water or stifling heat! However nearly 6 weeks in to living on my own I can declare that I am really enjoying it, the house is always clean and tidy, I can have friends over whenever I want, guests to stay for the weekend...the truth of the matter is that I never seem to be at home..I am always out and about and when I am in, my apartment is here as my sanctuary where I can relax and be alone. As I came out to Ghana, I imagined many nights in thinking about big questions, reading books, learning the guitar and sleeping early. For my first three months my feet haven’t touched the ground, it has been a whirlwind of new experiences and challenges and it has been brilliant. As I sit here typing this blog entry and packing for the holidays I can only think that my life in Ghana is only just getting started........
One of my hopes before coming out was that I would make friends with many Ghanaian ladies...in reality this has proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. I know that I have alluded to the friendliness and hospitality of nearly every Ghanaian I have met in previous blog posts and this is certainly true. Meeting and becoming friends with the men here has not been a problem, in fact it is almost the opposite, it is almost too easy and everyone you meet in the street seems to want to ‘take you as a friend’! It has been a real joy and a privilege to get to know some of these people...Perhaps not the ones you meet on the street! And they have been so kind to me. The fact of the matter is that most young Ghanaian women are not free like there are in the west; there is limited freedom on the money they make and the way that they spend your time. The men go out at weekends, the women stay at home, the men sit and drink in a ‘spot’ women only ever seem to be there accompanying them occasionally. They don’t seem to go on shopping trips, meet each other for coffee etc. This has made it hard to build relationships with women, you meet them, get on well with them but then you cannot meet up with them again as it isn’t really possible. To say that I haven’t met women is not entirely true, the running club has been a great opportunity to meet ladies and the family living below me are all women...perhaps I will tell you a little more about them in my next posting...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
