Time flies when you're having fun!

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!!

Money makes the world go around?

Yes, financial aid is needed – I don’t think people can completely argue with that but is it the main solution? Arguably no. I can only talk of my own experience here in Sandema; mainly because our internet is pants so any sort of research is a no go but personal experience is more interesting anyway isn’t it?

We have now travelled to meet 13 chiefs in each of the Builsa districts; we’ve spoken to disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), women’s groups and schools. The one thing they all have in common? Their need for financial aid whether, it’s a dam, footballs, assistive devices or school uniforms, each and every group spoken to expressed a want or need for something material. I cannot disagree that all these things are needed, I also believe they would improve the lives of people who requested them but there is an argument for the power of speech; the power of knowledge. CBR, over the past few years has worked to set up these meeting groups and organisations where people can talk to each other and discuss their problems, this may be livelihood or health or depression, anything, a lot of these things can be improved just by talking and knowing you are not alone.

I look at our involvement in Kadema, as mentioned in a previous post the DPOs in Kadema were, for the first time, included in the local Feok festival. This didn’t cost any money, there was no financial aid given but this opportunity meant the inclusion into society for a group that has previously always been ignored. They were given an opportunity to showcase their crafts and in doing so improve their income. A proud moment for everybody involved, and nobody was required to pay for the experience. Enough of the dream world though, realistically money makes the world go round – money was needed for the implementation of the festival and was also needed for transport to get people to the Feok grounds. It’s a vicious cycle of needing something that isn’t always the answer.

Do people depend on and expect aid even if it’s not needed? We spoke to each group and clearly explained we are a research based project, we have no money to give and all we have to offer is our time and our findings. Each group still, in turn made their pleas for financial help and assistance. The children that live near us often ask for water, one girl even took a sneaky peak in our fridge and demanded mango. Are these people chancers? Do they believe us when we say we are just researching? Have people now begun to expect things off every NGO that walks into Ghana? I don’t know.  

We recently accompanied a screening in Bachonsa to try and determine and identify the early signs of disability in over 200 children. The eye specialist became quite irate with the headmaster upon handing out her umpteenth bottle of eye drops for eye infection. Why do these children not wash? It was the endless amounts of dirt in the children’s eyes that were causing these infections; these are so easily prevented if someone would just tell these children to wash! I’ve got a bit off track as I always seem to with these blogs but my vague/sitting on the fence point still stands. Yes, financial aid is key to ending global poverty but no, I don’t believe it is the single most important component in doing so, throwing money at charities can be a waste, having too much money thrown at some of the larger projects can be counter-productive. I see the fantastic work CBR does on such small funds and I can’t help but believe that passion and hard work is the main thing keeping CBR running and the main element in helping their clients.

- Poppy

We will learn from you, and you will learn from us

This week we have been finishing our visits to the local Chiefs and Elders in the various communities in the Builsa district.  The visits have been very interesting, and we learn something different from each Chief.

One of the most interesting visits has been to see the Chief in Siniensi.  As usual we asked him about the history of the Feok, the traditions and the activities that were involved in celebrating the Feok festival and the responses were relatively similar to those from other communities.  However, in Siniensi the conversation turned to the conflict between the Traditional beliefs of the Builsa people, and the prevalence of Christianity.

Beginning in the 15^th Century, Ghana was occupied by European colonisers from Portugal, Holland, Britain and Denmark in order to capitalise on exports of gold and the slave trade, and with these colonisers came Christianity and missionaries, who were instrumental in developing an education system in Ghana in order to facilitate the spreading of the Gospel.  One of the issues we have discovered whilst talking to the many Chiefs is that young people in the Builsa district are disheartened and disinterested with the traditional culture and beliefs.  The Siniensi Chief made an interesting, and probably quite a valid point that the youth of Ghana consider that Western methods and way of life will lead to success rather than the more traditional Ghanaian livelihood methods.  As a result, they are less interested in participating and performing in the traditional Feok festival and, according to the Siniensi Chief, the cultural traditions of the Builsa are slowly dying out.  

The Siniensi Chief strongly linked education with Christianity, and this opinion has been reiterated in several conversations we have had here in Ghana.  It is understandable then, that the cultural traditions of offering sacrifices to the Gods for a good harvest, as is customary during the Feok festival, are not taught or proclaimed in many of the schools in Ghana, where there is reportedly a strong Christian bias.  How true this is, is yet to be confirmed, and hopefully our visits to schools in the coming weeks will confirm or challenge this opinion.  Interestingly, our partner organisation is strongly linked with the Presbyterian Church and our project co-ordinator is an avid Christian who does not practice the traditional beliefs of his people, and yet he is the main instigator behind our project which aims to assist the Builsa people to retain their cultural heritage.  

This conversation started me thinking about the influence of Western ideas on recipients of development and humanitarian aid, and the problem of leaving, or enforcing, a Western footprint in aid and development bugged me throughout my recent degree. I think it is important that, as aid and development workers, we respect the traditions and culture of the country in which we are working, despite whether our own scientific and perhaps secular education disapproves.  I don’t know where the line is that brings development to Ghana without Westernising the country, but throughout my time here I will carry with me a message that has been repeated many times from the Chiefs we have met:

“We will learn from you, and you will learn from us”.  I see development as a mutual investment in the country, and hopefully by helping the region to preserve their cultural history we will also be able to help them move forward in their disability awareness.

- Tracy

An update on LIFE

In a world that is cruising to complete its orbit, it really has little time to waste on sluggers. Time as it is said waits for no man, but in our case I think we have kept the pace. Though I have lost the count of the days, weeks and months, I know we are on course. We are almost done with meeting chiefs, with only one more to go. It’s been demanding but my fantastic team has proved to be more than ready for the job. This week we will wrap up our meeting off chiefs, and meet women’s groups and get our questionnaire answered by the general public. I have had a great time working on this project especially its research aspect. The amazement in discovering what is previously unknown to you, the thrills of having to make people understand and cooperate with you and the challenge of coping with different personalities, opinions and ideas. What’s more, my interest for scenery and for sightseeing is gradually developing!

- Festus