Jason in Malawi...

Thanks once again to everyone who has posted and read my blog and supported me in one way or another in my work with engineers without borders. I am currently in Malawi and have recently started a new blog on my work and life in Malawi. Please check it out at:

http://www.jasoninmalawi.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for all the support,

Jason

August 31, 2005

Well my time in Ghana has come to an end (at least temporarily). I have learned a lot and hopefully helped out a bit. I will definitely never forget all the people I have met and the realities of their lives. I hope that I have been able to express some of the striking things that I have learned and that you have enjoyed following me along this journey.

The question that inevitably arises is what did I actually do and contribute while in Ghana? What impact did you make? This is a tough question to answer quickly without getting into all the background of the organizations, development approach, and people whom I worked with but I will give it a try. For a quick review of what I was doing up to in early June check out the post on June 19 titled “what i've been up to...”

I was working with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) on the Northern Region Water and Sanitation Project (NORWASP) out of Tamale in Northern Ghana. I was working with Wardrop who is the Canadian Executing Agency and is in charge of running the project. The NORWASP project is funded by CIDA and is a rural water project aimed at villages of 2000 people or less. I worked on several different areas within NORWASP including:

a) Visits to all the 7 NORWASP districts to learn and evaluate activities of all key stakeholder (District Water & Sanitation Teams, Partner Organisations, latrine artisans, area mechanics, community members, Water and Sanitation Committee within communities, and District Assemblies);
b) Engineering analyses of hydro-fracture data to determine success rate and boreholes that should be completed or abandoned;
c) A small investigation on fluoride effects in communities where previous test results have shown levels above Ghana Standard Board’s guidelines;
d) Verification of hand pump functioning and proper installation in one district; and
e) Facilitated a workshop for DWSTs to improve capacity and share findings and ideas between districts.

The major contribution was our workshop with the District Water and Sanitation Teams. I worked with all 7 of the District Water and Sanitation Teams to develop their capacity to monitor and develop POs and report to CWSA. As I previously mentioned the DWSTs are the long-term partner at the district level that are responsible for water and sanitation issues any improvement in their skills/capacity could have multiplying beneficial effects in the future. Specifically, during the workshop we ran sessions to address:

1. Community Mobilizing;
2. Partner Organisation Monitoring;
3. Latrines construction;
4. Fluoride issues;
5. Team building;
6. Planning; and
7. Community Monitoring.

We also had some fun energizers and activities mixed in including the EWB Water for the World activity! The workshop was facilitated to encourage open discussion between DWST members on areas we identified critical to program implementation. Overall discussions were lively and participation was high. Strong points were made and debated between districts and new insights were shared specifically in the areas of contributions, latrine completion and project planning. The workshop largely was a success because it served as a form of motivation, allowed districts to compare themselves to each other, discuss common problems and possible solutions.

Going back to impact again, overall the biggest impact was the one on me. This has been a life altering experience and a definite shift of viewpoints. I have learned so much and hope to share as much as possible back home.

I hope that I was able to convey at least some of the realities, challenges and beautiful things that are actually happening in the small portion of the developing world I was living in. I also hope that I have been able to demonstrate and portray some of the lessons that I have learned or reaffirmed and would like to share explicitly two of the majour lessons that will stay with me forever.

One person can make a difference and one voice does matter. We live in a smaller and smaller world and the interconnectedness between nations and people are growing stronger all the time. I believe that everyone has a role to play in poverty and that we are all responsible for the realities that are occurring in our world. Some of these realities are positives like our governments canceling the debt of highly indebted countries. Some of these realities are not so good, like the 15,000 people that die each day as a result of preventable diseases (AIDS, malaria, TB, etc), Canada (and the Canadian people) not holding true to our promise (made over 30 years ago and echoed again this summer) to increase foreign aid to 0.7% of our GDP, the “West” forcing countries to play in an unfair “free trade” market, or turning a blind eye to atrocities occurring in other parts of the globe. I believe that we are responsible for the good and bad both collectively and individually. When I heard about Canada and then the G8 relieving the debt of Ghana as well as other highly indebted countries I immediately thought of everyone back home and all their hard work campaigning and making people aware and then care about the issues. We should be celebrating the good things that are happening and feel that we played a part in them (anyone who signed the MPH campaign or talked to someone about the issues or got informed yourself should feel a victory in that Canada agreed to relieve the debt at the G8 summit). We should also feel responsible for the “not-so-good” and find ways to challenge these realities in our own ways and daily lives. Your voice and your energy can make a difference in small and large ways especially when we use our voices together. “Beila beila wabgu” Dagbani for “small small makes an elephant” or in my interpretation small contributions can build to big things. Let us all make great things together. Let us be the generation that makes poverty history.

Development is about actual people (or at least it should be). A lot of times a bunch of numbers are thrown up about what we need to do and how we need to “develop” the world. You have the development metrics used to measure progress, amount of development dollars donated by various countries and actual facts/numbers of people on the ground (ex. HDI, GDI, MDGs, etc.). These numbers and facts are good and they serve a purpose and are at least some means of measurement. But at least, I will never forget that there are actual faces behind these numbers. We should never lose focus of the actual people we are trying to work with and ask the tough questions in order to make sure our efforts are as effective as possible. I say “work with” because this is what I found in my experiences. People don’t want handouts but may need a bit of a hand up and people to work with them in order to get them out of the poverty trap. No one can tell me that a woman in Northern Ghana that works 16+ hours a day is waiting for a handout and not willing to work.

If you haven’t done so already please visit http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/ and sign the online petition. We have a great privilege in the west and to not use it for good is a crime. Everyone has a part to play and every contribution can add up to a great sum. We only need the will to act. I can only hope that we all have this will and the courage to follow it.

I imagine that this will be my final post on this blog so I need to send some recognition to the people who made this possible.

First of all to my wife Erin, I am eternally grateful and appreciative of all your love and support (all the time) and especially during this experience in our lives. Without your encouragement and trust none of this would have been possible. Although we may have been several thousand kilometers away I always felt you with me and it helped me get through some of the more difficult challenges.

I want to thank EWB Western Chapter for your dedication and trust in me and I look forward to working with all of you again. I can’t say enough about everyone at EWB head office what you guys do everyday is really amazing and inspirational thanks so much for everything. I also want to thank Krista Palen who was my EWB partner on this project. You were always easy to get along with and great to work with. You helped make the experience that more valuable.

I also want to thank everyone for all your hard work and generosity in fundraising. I especially want to thank our sponsors for being so generous in their donations, particularly our leading sponsors Western’s Faculty of Engineering and J-AAR excavating. Please visit our EWB Western sponsorship page at www.uwo.ewb.ca/sponsors.htm to view a complete list of all our donors.

Finally I want to thank everyone who actually read my blog, especially those of you who made posts. Once again I apologize for not being able to really respond to your replies very well but I read everyone of them (usually more than once) and they really helped to make a connection back home and to encourage me while overseas. It was something that I looked forward to everytime I checked my email.

To Rene and Trish my host family in Tamale who made the experience that much better and who I hope will visit Canada soon. And to everyone I met while in Ghana at CWSA, in Tamale, in the Northern Region, the market and everywhere else. Before I left for Ghana, I heard about Ghanaian hospitality and friendliness and for once was not disappointed. The helpfulness, friendliness and caring was really overwhelming and hopefully will spread to the rest of the world.

Take care and God bless,

Jason

“I will not forget … I will take action!”

blood, guts and a bbq...a day in the life of a butcher...

Recently I have befriended a street vendor in Tamale that prepares and barbeques guinea fowl, sausages and kabobs. There are plenty of “red” meat and kabob vendors but the guinea fowl option is really limited. To my knowledge he is the only one in Tamale. I discovered him through a colleague at work who was out to buy lunch one day and thought that I might enjoy some barbequed guinea fowl. He was definitely right I really did enjoy it and went back again the very next day for some more. Three days later, with the taste bud dancing thought of more lingering, I headed back to try and find their secret to success.

I soon met Saani who is the son of the owner and find that he is more than willing to explain how everything works. I arrived that first evening after work, the stall is located off the main road of Tamale near “Victory Cinema” which is surprisingly difficult to find at least for me and it took me a while to get there each time. Anyways by the time I arrive in the early evening the majority of the work has already been completed and all that really remains is turning the meat and watching to make sure it does not burn before someone purchases it. Saani suggests that I should come by on Saturday around lunch and we can work together so he can show me “start to finish”. I think I’m up for it and ask him what time the fowls arrive and when do we slaughter them.

His first reaction is to shoot a glance at his father who gives a nonchalant shrug then Saani turns back to me and asks “don’t you fear blood?”. (Well honestly I’m not too sure, I don’t think so but I guess I will soon find out.) I respond with a question to him and ask “should I fear blood?” His response is not so much of an answer to my question but a justification for asking his “you don’t have white butchers in your country, do you?” After a bit more of a discussion I find out that he believes that the majority of “westerners” don’t do hands-on or physical labour types of work like being a butcher or a farmer and we have either technology or “other” people for those jobs (insert non-western background). I’m not sure if he convinced or not on either our workforce or if I’ll show up on the weekend, but I leave that day with a date for Saturday morning with a dozen guinea fowl, a butcher and a knife. So I have pretty much set up for my last weekend in Tamale to be spent with a butcher learning.

Saturday eventually roles around and I am off to the butcher at just before 9 am. Of course for some strange reason I arrive early and stranger yet expect someone to be there by 9 am (the agreed upon time). Of course it is never that easy. I ask around a bit and eventual leave a message with a “watchee” woman that I will be back to see Saani in about an hour. I spend the time in an internet café catching up on some emails and work and check back at around 10. An hour later and still no one there but this time a young boy is sent to their house and I find out they will be at the stand within the hour. It’s about a quarter to eleven before everyone actually gets there and any real work starts. If this was during my first weeks here it would have drove me crazy but I have become quite comfortable with finding things to do in the “waiting for things to happen/why did you expect this to start on time/it’s raining out/where’s the tro-tro/something is spoiled” time.

Anyways, shortly after eleven we are elbows deep in cow, goat and sheep parts. Mainly vital organs or entrails that we are cleaning and cutting into smaller pieces to eventually make kabobs and sausages. The main slaughter house in Tamale “prepares” all the larger animals and a truck stops by periodically with about 50 lbs of liver, heart and intestines from goats, sheep and cow. Saani father the master butcher is the only one who cuts the liver and heart into cube sized pieces that we place on the kabob sticks (4 livers and one heart cube on the end). After all the kabobs are complete we season them and place them on the grill.

By now it is about 1:30 and the first farmer rides up on his bicycle with about 8 guinea fowl. After a bit of haggling about the price Saani’s father buys the lot for 30,000 cedis each (about $4). Saani grabs the fowl and we head to the back of the shop where he gets straight to work on them. He first shows me how to hold it and where to make the required incisions and then how to tie it up to let it bleed out. He only shows me on the first one them expects that I have it down. Well my first attempt didn’t go so well and I got a bit “wet” along with Saani. He demonstrates again on the third fowl and I refine my skill on the remainder. Eventually by the last one I have it pretty close (i.e. at least I’m no longer getting sprayed). At just after 2 pm we take a break for lunch a bit of watchee from the same women I spoke to in the morning. Of course we eat it communally and with minimal water and time to wash hands with there is still a bit of congealed blood on both of our hands but he doesn’t seem to mind so I just try and ignore it. If I was every going to convert to vegetarianism this was going to be it, but no dice. After lunch we continue to de-feather and dress the fowl and soon are seasoning and barbequing. The fowl are ready relatively quickly and soon enough patrons and arriving to purchase them and are equally interesting in my butchering abilities as their fowl. I find it very difficult to turn the meat as I haven’t developed the calluses necessary to turn a piece over that I feel is red hot. Saani has a good laugh at this and helps me with some and watches me struggle with others. So we sell the fowls for 40,000 cedis (about $5) which is only around a $1 profit margin. We sell about 12 fowl that day and there are 5 of us working. That is not very much to go around considering there is still the cost of charcoal, seasoning and supplies that need to be bought. I wonder if it is even worth it. Saani and his father work everyday of the week from about 11 am until all the meat is sold which could be as late as 10 pm. About an 8 or 9 hour shift for a dollar Canadian (kinda makes the job flippin burgers in Canada look pretty good). It’s amazing what perspective can do. At the end of the day I get wrangled into agreeing to help out again the next day and spend some of Sunday in the same manner. Overall pretty good learning experience and a good way to spend my last weekend in Tamale.

Who knows when I get back home maybe I’ll start up a little guinea fowl farm/bbq spot.

Take Care and God Bless,
Jason

THE Market

THE Market

Two weekends ago I wan in Kumasi which must be the economic and industrial centre for Ghana. First of all there are whole areas of the actual city, which is around 1 million people, dedicated to the manufacturer and processing of one specific commodity. For example there is one section that is totally devoted to auto parts and cars. There are rows and streets upon streets of nothing but car parts. One vendor will be selling nothing but hubcaps or fuel tanks or tires and this goes on and on in the district. Then there is the section where used clothing comes into town in huge bundles and stored to be shipped to the market. It is a street with shops packed from floor to ceiling with used western clothing.

Then there is the market.

Kejetia market is supposedly the largest market in West Africa. I’m not sure if this is actually true or not but regardless this market is HUGE. It is 10 hectares which is somewhere around 25 acres! There are stall upon stall of goods of all types and a buzz of constant activity. There are complete sections devoted to meat, used clothing, crafts, fabric, etc. When I mean complete sections I mean like a large department store sized section or larger. I don’t think there is any truly justifiable way to describe the atmosphere it is really something that needs to be experienced. Just the shear number of goods and people is astonishing. One weird part is that there will be stall next to stall of exactly the same goods, like 20 people in a row all selling the same multi-coloured plastic buckets followed by another 20 people selling the exact same selection of metal pot sets, or 100-200 people selling tomatoes. It is really remarkable. You could easily spend the entire day in the market. Food is easy to find as it travels by atop of a young ladies head shortly followed by a drink or fruit. It must to very tough to make living in this environment with plenty of competition and especially with stock that is perishable. There is also one section with used clothing that must be like every used store in Canada crammed into one spot. Everything from sports jerseys to business suits and everything underneath can be found. Really remarkable.

I would have liked to spend more time in Kumasi but I have to get back to Tamale to prepare for the workshop that we are running this week with the DWSTs.

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Just finished the workshop with the DWSTs it was two days of activities and discussions sharing ideas of best practices in the districts. The majority of it was the different members from the districts sharing ideas between themselves and working through some different ways to look at problems. It is pretty difficult to summarize the workshop here but it was great to see the participation and willingness of the team members and their effort to share ideas within districts. I am glad that I had some information to contribute and the investigations and studies we did in the field on the impact of the project and results in each district were very helpful. I had the chance to learn a lot about the interaction between districts and I hope that the workshop was helpful to all the districts. I believe that it helped establish a closer network between the different district teams and served as a forum for sharing ideas. I hope that the good energy displayed and lessons learned will be continued in the work they do in the districts.



Take care and God Bless,
Jason

Ps. Next issue will be a recount of my experiences as a butcher for a day and a half.

Crocodiles, Hippos and Goats

Well, I have been able to get around a bit more in the last few weekends and with more of a sense of urgency. It is really starting to set in that I will soon be making my final preparations for coming back home and I am already starting to go into some pre-Ghana withdraw. Less than four weeks and I will be back on a plane to Canada.

Two weekends ago I got the chance to go to Paga, which is the majour northern border town between Ghana and Burkina Faso. Paga is also known for its sacred crocodiles. The trip up to Paga through Bolgatanga was relatively painless. Since it is a majour crossing point there are plenty of tro-tros going up to Bolga and Paga. I only had to wait about 45 minutes before our tro-tro from Tamale to Bolga left. In the time waiting I got the chance to do a bit of reading and also found a new great snack in the tro-tro station. I imagine it has been here all along but I just found it recently. It is shredded coconut that is some how stuck together in balls about the size of a Timbit. They are really very delicious and a nice little snack. The only difficulty is trying to find the woman with it on her head. So far I have only been able to find her around the tro-tro station. Anyways Bolga is about 2 hours from Tamale and Paga another 30 minutes from Bolga. The first day I spent in Bolga searching the town and looking through their market. Bolga is known for their basket weavers and I spent a bit of time looking at all their crafts (Bolga is where I got the weaved hat I nearly always wear the first time I went through it for work). While in Bolga I was once again reminded at how trusting and safe it is at least in the Northern Region. We stopped in a restaurant to look at the menu but decided it was a bit too pricey and moved on to another one about a 35-minute walk away. After the meal about 2 hours later I noticed that I had “lost” my digital camera. The last place I remember having it was at the first restaurant so in a slight panic (“oh man Erin is going to kill me”) I pay and rush out to get back to the first place before it closes. It is about 10pm by now which is pretty late for here. I get into the restaurant in about 20 minutes and it is nearly deserted except for a few people enjoying some drinks at the bar. Immediately, I move over to the table I was at to check but the camera is gone. I am certain I am a dead man. In a last hope I ask one of the workers if they found a camera I had forgotten and am relived by the smile and the “we were wondering when you would be back” as she directs me to behind the bar where my camera was placed for safekeeping. Once again I am overwhelmed by the honesty of the people here and this is only just one example of it.

The next day I head out to Paga to check out the “sacred” crocodiles. I’m not sure how it developed but apparently the people of Paga have a relationship with the crocodiles where they do not kill them and the crocs will not kill a person. Apparently if a person kills a crocodile then a crocodile will kill a person soon afterwards. Anyways, at the crocodile pool I pay for a fowl that is to be used as a lure to get the crocs out of the water. The guide brings us to the edge and shakes the chicken and a croc lumbers out onto dry land. I wonder if a crocodile has been murdered recently as the reptile pulls itself out of the water and the guide encourages me to get closer. The guide ensures that all is safe as long as you don’t stand in front of the croc. Shortly after I have moved behind and am picking up the croc’s tail. Pretty cool experience for me but not so much for the fowl as the guide throws it into the air and the croc snaps his jaws on it. It turns and heads back into the water as I, still with the tail in hand, try and get out of his way. I spend the next little while walking around the pool and looking at some of the other crocodiles in the water and some guarding babies in the shallows. Afterwards, I check out some of the interesting housing, which in this more northerly part of the country are mostly square flat roofed mud buildings with painted walls. Overall holding the tail of a live crocodile pretty cool (even if it is habituated to people).

Next weekend the EWB Tamale crew (myself included) move up to Wa in the North Western region to visit some other EWB volunteers and try and get a glimpse of some wild hippos. Wa was really nice and we had a great time despite not seeing any hippos. However the search for the hippos was half the fun of this part of the trip. In order to get to the village where the conservatory is established I needed to take a bush taxis. It is basically a pick up truck converted to carrying people and cargo. The box has wooden benches fasten to the sides and a metal cage over the top somewhat like a camper. It takes about 40 minutes to travel from Wa to the Weichau where the office of the sanctuary is. The actual river is another 18 km from Weichau. We opt for taking the more scenic option and rent bicycles to peddle to the river. The terrain is pretty nice and quiet and the cycle is not too strenuous. It takes about 70-80 minutes to peddle to the river. At the river there are some more dug out canoes which we take to look for hippos unfortunately they apparently have moved and we don’t see any but get to peddle back the 18 km now in the hot heat of mid day. Despite not actually seeing any hippos it was nice to get out and see the countryside and the paddle on the river was fun also. Luckily it is Weichau market day and there are plenty of bush taxis going back to Wa. Once in the market we find one that is nearly full and should leave shortly so I hope in. I get the seat closest to the tailgate and all things considered am pretty comfortable with the other 12 people in the back of the pickup with all their goods from the market. What is not crammed in the back with us the driver is trying to strap to the roof so we can leave.

It is at this point when I notice a man walking straight up to us dragging behind him about a dozen goats. Of course he is coming along and without the slightest hesitation he starts passing goats up to the driver on the top of the cage. In about ten minutes all the goats are somehow on the roof except for one, which apparently there is no more room for. After a few more minutes of shifting around and debating the driver decides that there is just enough room for the goat between my legs. Once again without hesitation he picks the goat up and plops him in the box square between my legs. Not too sure which end of the goat I would like facing me but relatively sure they don’t bite I go for the end with the horns. A few more minutes pass and the truck is off and on our way back to Wa. As the owner of the goats does not get into the back with us I assume he on the roof of the truck watching over his herd. Less than ten minutes into our trip back the truck has to stop as the engine is overheating. Apparently there is a leak in the radiator and we have to keep stopping to fill it up with water. At the second or third stop I figure I have had enough of the bumpy road and the wondering of when this goat was going to make his move for freedom by butting me his horns and making a break for it so I step out of the box and make my way up to the roof for some fresh air. It is way more comfortable up on the roof (if your not a goat of course). Along with the 11 goats (actually 10 goats and 1 sheep) there are several huge sacks of charcoal and some other large baskets and Mohammed the owner of the goats. As the radiator is getting topped up I notice a man from the village we stopped at quickly move to the truck and take my seat in the box and I soon realize that I riding the roof the remainder of the way back to Wa. All things considered I think that the roof is definitely the way to travel. Mohammed filed me in on some of the local scenery and customs and the fresh air and legroom was much appreciated. The key was watching the road ahead to look out for bumps in order to find something to hold on to. Considering I was sitting on a bag of charcoal and had 11 goats with me it was really enjoyable. Mohammed explained how he continuously moves between Wa and Accra (at least a 20 hour trip but probably more like 30 or 40) buying goats in the north and selling them in the south. He makes less than $6 per goat on a trip that can take him a few weeks before he returns. Overall he is lucky if he makes about $2-3 per day by my calculations while for the majority of the time he is away from his wife and kids who live in Wa. Overall I am really grateful for the time spent on top of the bush taxis with Mohamed and his 11 goats and his willingness to share his story with me. As we pull into Wa about an hour later because of all the stops I realize that this could be the last time, at least for a little while, where I could share the top of a pickup with 10 goats and a sheep. Of course as we pull into the town the driver tells us to get off the roof as the police might not like it so Mohamed and stand on the bumper and hang on to the cage for the ride from the outskirts to Wa’s tro-tro station. As we pull in I wish Mohamed good luck and see him off and realize once again that Ghana is great!

Take care and God Bless,

Jason

Roads...

Roadways are very interesting here in the northern region.

I have continued to spend more and more time in the district interviewing communities and most recently looking into specific issues like high fluoride bore holes and faulty installations. The roadways have proved more and more interesting the further out they are from the regional capital and the further it is into the rainy season. Paved roads are the exception rather than the rule which is no big deal but if they are not paved it only takes one or two good rains before a passable road is deemed only passable by foot. This of course is assuming it was relatively well taken care of before the rains. Some communities are so far off the “main” roads that a foot path is the only real way to get into the village and this may mean a 1 hour hike.

Recently I was in a district near the Togo border and needed to visit a village on the other side of the River Oti. The river is quite large and there is no bridge over it in this district. Luckily the partner organization that NORWASP was working with had motorcycles and one of their field staff, Annas, was from the same village so he volunteered to take me there. So off I went on the back of the “moto” for about 45 minutes along a relatively well maintained dirt road until it suddenly stops at what appears to be a cliff. So I hope off and Annas edges the bike closer to the rim of the ravine that leads down to the river. Soon enough though a man who I later discover is a boatman arrives at the top and grabs the bike from Annas and lowers it down the very steep slope. At the bottom there are three long dug out canoes, two of which are loaded with bicycles and passengers and are headed across the river. On the other bank about 100 meters away I can see a few other travelers waiting to come the other way. The boatman, with some assistance, picks the moto up and balances it into the canoe then gestures for me and Annas to get in. I few other passengers load in and the boatman moves to his position at the back of the craft. Another boatman pushes the craft from shore and we make our way across the river. At about the midway point we pass one of the other canoes full of bicycles and travelers moving in the opposite direction. Soon enough the boatman beaches our canoe on the other bank and I hop out. Oh year along the way they are telling me of all the crocodiles that are in the water and that I should jump in and take a swim. I’m not sure if they are serious or just trying to get me going. Anyways on the other side they haul the moto out and ride it up the steep slope to the top of the ravine. We pay the set fare and promise to meet them on the way back out. I hope they keep their promise as they are the only way across the river. Another 20 minute ride and we are at the community. I do my interaction with them and on the way back it is basically the same experience. Overall it was really quite fun.

The next week I was even further away from Tamale in a district called Zabzugu. This district had the worst roads I have seen thus far it took about 2 and a half hours just to get to the district and the roads to the district capital were sign of interesting events ahead. The majority of them are questionably passable by truck or motorcycle. For one village I went to with a different partner organization we had about an hour truck ride across some “roads” I’m sure are deemed impassable and was sure more than once that we were to get stuck. This was some serious off-roading by Canadian standards. Then after we deemed we could not go any further another 45 minutes on the back of a motorcycle across a dirt foot path that I really wasn’t sure was there at times until we had to give up the moto. Then a 150 meter trudge through a thigh deep stream that appears during that rains. Followed by a 30 minute walk into the actual community. Then the same thing on the way out. Another fun experience overall.

Although for me it really seemed like an adventure it did highlight another majour struggle.

Imagine getting seriously sick in one of these communities?

More than likely you don’t have access to a motorized vehicle immediately and even if you did in the rainy season it way not help that much. It could literally take you hours or even days before you made it to a majour road or crossing to try and get a lift to the closest trained medical care. Infrastructure really needs to be improved to help allow access to better healthcare, access to education and markets along with many other things. Hopefully, with debt relief and the liberated income this generates, this can be one of the things that the government can work on improving. Of course, this is just my humble opinion on one thing that debt relief and the freed income generated can assist in I am sure much greater minds are thinking on this issue who are much more aware of the complexities of it all. Regardless, a simple thing like a safe and reliable road to travel on can provide so much more security. Improved access to food supply as travel is made more easy, improved education as teachers can now travel to more remote areas or will actually live there, and improved access to healthcare to name but a few. It is funny the things that we take for granted. In Ontario at least, you would be hard pressed to find a road that is impassable for 4 months of the year and only marginally passable the remainder. Even in the winter it doesn’t take long before people are complaining that no one has plowed there residential street of about 40 homes imagine if this were the case for the main arterial road?

Just something to think about.

Take care and God Bless,

Jason

Habituated…

It’s amazing how quickly we become accustomed to things. At first the wonder of the long summer days with sunlight till well after eight is a marvel but it quickly becomes the norm and we soon forget about the cold winter bite and shortened days. How at first my head would nearly double over trying to fathom how someone can balance a TV set on their head while riding a bicycle I now barely even notice them whizzing by even when they brush my shoulder. Acustomization, habituation, just plain getting used to the nature of things it’s really quite strange. Maybe that’s why I have found it a bit difficult to find something to write about lately (besides being even busier than before). Everything just kind of seems more normal now.

About a week ago I did see something very new though and that has been really thought provoking for me. While out and about I saw a glimpse of the Live 8 concert on one of the TVs facing the street. I stopped to observe a bit and it got me thinking. Bono, Geldof, Madonna, and other pop stars standing together challenging our officials to make some real change. It is all so new so invigorating so empowering. Then more recently the G8 summit and the “outcomes and initiatives” they are putting forward.

So I really wonder what the Live 8 concert will actually achieve. I hope that it will be more than just a great free concert and a lot of people getting together with good intentions. Good intentions are great and a place to start but what we need is action. After all 20 years ago we had a similar movement with Bono replaced by Bob Dylan called Live Aid. But twenty years later most people will agree that the gap between the poor and rich has widened and that many countries (especially in sub-Saharan Africa) are worse of now than they were 20 years ago.

On the face of it, making poverty history seems a straightforward task. We the people standing together will force our politicians to make change, real change that will actually help. Like making trade fairer (i.e. by removing agricultural subsidies for example), relieving the debt and delivering more and better aid. We will do this by standing together and one way we can show our solidarity could be by wearing the white “make poverty history” bands. But simply wearing wristbands is not going to do anything and it could fall into just a new fad of looking like you care. We need to use the power that all of us have to make change. Our voice is one of the most powerful weapons we have in the fight against poverty.

Oh yeah around 30 years ago Canada (amongst several countries) agreed to commit 0.7% of our GDP to international aid. We have yet to come through on this promise to our impoverished bothers and sisters around the world. Right now Canada is at around 0.3% one of the lowest actual values of the countries that have promised. Why have we never come through? There are probably a bunch of different reasons but one is definitely that we didn’t use our voice to let our politicians know that we support this idea and that if they want to stay in power they better perform the will of the people.

So now about 4 days ago we have once again “agreed” to certain initiatives to help the poor (through the G8). But promises are not action. We need not get accustomed, not fall asleep. Certain things should never become common place. And we need to continue to apply pressure to make more change.

The responsibility is on us each one of us as an individual and collectively to make poverty history. I know I feel the weight on my shoulders and I hope that I always will. I hope to never get used to the burden to always do what I can in what ever way I am capable. There are many different things that each one of us can make change we just need to have the will to look for how we can best make a difference and follow through with it. There is much work to be done in Canada that could have a huge impact to many more people than I will by coming to Ghana. One is by not forgetting our promise and not letting our elected officials forget these promises and let them know the repercussions if they do not follow through. One way we can do this is by signing the Make Poverty History petition at www.makepoveryhistory.ca and emailing our members of parliament to let them now how we feel. Canada will be coming to an election soon probably within 12 month this is a great time to keep the pressure on. We can also speak with our friends and family and ask them to do the same (that’s what I’m doing now). We can also become more educated in the issues and learn. But we must remember not to get accustomed to it and to keep persistent. This will take time but if we stick it through we can make change at home and abroad.

There is no doubt that the issues are complex and the road will not be easy but we can do our part by starting to use our voice more and reminding those in power what we want.

Take Care and God Bless,
Jason

ps. I think I figured out how to add images so next week hopefully I will upoad some things in the mean time maybe pass the word a long and start creating some pressure back home. Keep up the good work everyone.