I can’t believe it is March already. It seems only a few weeks ago the four of us
UK volunteers arrived in Sandema, with Festus, eager and excited to start a new
project. And now, 8 weeks later Jenna,
Poppy, and Will are on the countdown to departure day.
In the past 8 weeks, the team have visited 13 Chiefs and
their entourages of elders, and sub-chiefs; 4 women’s groups, 5 Disabled
People’s Organisations, 4 schools, spoken to many people at the District
Assembly, attended a local Feok festival, and met a famous (blind) guitarist
(well, famous in Builsa!). That doesn’t
include appearances on the radio or any of the things we have done that are
non-project related! The month of February disappeared in a blur, interspersed with
trips to sit on crocodiles and hang out with Elephants and Baboons in Mole
National Park. We have been sang to,
danced for, had our accents laughed at, teased for our names (Jenna means eggs
in Buli, and we are forever explaining that Poppy is not a small dog!), and had
our hands shook by hundreds of wonderful, and gracious people.
There are only 2 and a half weeks left to work on the
project (the last week will be spent debriefing, packing, saying goodbyes, and
travelling to Accra). We have a few
tasks remaining, including visiting St John’s Integrated Senior High School, in
Navrongo (a school which welcomes children with disabilities alongside their
able-bodied colleagues) and Gbeogo School for the Deaf, in Tongo,
Bolgatanga. As this team draws to a
close I am starting to think in more detail about the next team’s activities,
and so these visits to these schools will help formulate ideas and identify
ways in which we can develop Feok-based activities for people with disabilities
to participate in. I want the current
team to be involved in kick-starting this process so that there is some form of
overlap between teams; it will almost be like handing over the Olympic flame as
it journeyed across the UK, and visiting these schools will certainly help. This team have been instrumental in laying
the groundwork for the LIFE project, and will be key figures in the remaining
weeks in advocating for improvements to the festival, and more importantly, for
the inclusion of people with disabilities.
(The next team will (hopefully) build on this by introducing some
disability-friendly, and Feok friendly, activities to the Builsa district.)
Our main remaining task, then, is to bring all of the
Chiefs, Assemblymen and women, Disabled People’s Organisations, schools,
women’s groups, key opinion leaders, and inspirational people with disabilities
together and report our findings. This
is both incredibly exciting but also quite terrifying. On the whole there has been a great deal of
positivity directed towards the inclusion of people with disabilities from
everyone we have spoken to, and I don’t anticipate there being any resistance
from the Traditional Council and District Assembly to the development of
activities (I do anticipate them telling us we can do what we want, just don’t
expect them to pay for it!). However,
for there to be any point in including people with disabilities into this
festival, there are some issues regarding the festival itself that need to be
addressed. It is this bit that makes me
nervous.
The Paramount Chief of the Builsa District, until 2006, was
a man named Azantilow. He was incredibly
well-liked and respected, not only in the Builsa District, but across Ghana,
and around the world. The Queen and the
Royal Family were apparently big fans also.
There is a story that Azantilow refused to die until he had spoken to
the Queen one last time, and so an ex-pat NGO worker was drafted in to imitate
the Queen to give Azantilow her best wishes.
Some versions of this story say the ex-pat was made to wear a wig, but
Azantilow had gone blind in his last few years, so I’m not sure how true this
bit is. Azantilow, glad to have received
the Queen one final time, died the very next day, aged 106. Unfortunately, the
responses from our interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups suggest that
the Feok festival has never been the same again, and since Azantilow’s death,
there have been several disputes and conflicts between the current Paramount
Chief and the Builsa Community Chiefs.
Whilst we do not necessarily aim to address these issues at our meeting
in a few weeks, they are something we intend to raise and hope to set the
wheels in motion for resolving them. I’m
just not sure how happy the current Paramount Chief, Azantilow’s son, is going
to be when we raise them. Mum, I might
be home in a few weeks if the Chief doesn’t like what we have to say!
So, all the sections of the report have been written and we
are now in the process of editing it all together, and putting together our
conclusions and recommendations. Tomorrow will be a big planning day for the
meeting as we finalise venues, catering, guest lists and start work on the
meeting agenda! It might be the last two
weeks, but this team still have a lot to do!!
