Hierarchy and respect

Yesterday Edem pulled a chair, sat beside me and made the following question “if you would manage this place [the NGO] how would you do it?”. Immediately I thought that I had gained his respect once he wanted to have my opinion. So started sharing my points of view on how the NGO could be less fund-dependent, how it could manage the volunteers in a more efficient ways and what kind of activities it could run to have more impact in Hohoe and in the Volta Region.

Later, during the conversation he said “you know… I know you were President of AIESEC in Portugal (…)”. Out of a sudden all my happiness about having gained his respect fell apart and I started wondering: was he asking for my opinion because he valued what I’ve been doing here or just for the simple fact that I was President of AIESEC in Portugal?

Today I know why he asked for my opinion. The NGO director just entered my office room and said: “I would like to have a conversation with you later on. I heard you were President of AIESEC in Portugal so I want to have your opinion on how we can better manage the volunteers; I want us to create a strategy to make the program better and improve the volunteers’ experience.”

In fact I do have some suggestions to make but I wanted to be heard because I’ve proven I’m worth to be heard and not because I have a label saying “Former President of AIESEC in Portugal” – he doesn´t even know if I did a good job there.

I do know that sometimes the same happens back home but for sure not has much as here. The power distance is quite high in this country.

29/08/2012

Plan not to plan

This past weekend I’ve been to Akatsi, a district in The Volta Region, 3 hours away from Hohoe. Jenny and I went there with Theresa (Project Manager at the NGO) to check on the conditions of some communities once we needed that information to fill in an application form to get funds to build a new health clinic and to renew another.

The interesting thing is that we talked to Theresa and we planned to go to Akatsi during the whole week – from Sunday to Friday (last week). Theresa was supposed to go there on Saturday and we would join her on Sunday. The Friday before the NGO director said that she was not going there on Saturday anymore but on Sunday. That was ok as we were planning on going there only on Sunday.

It was Sunday and Theresa told us that she would only go there “maybe” on Tuesday. On Tuesday she said she was going on Thursday. On Friday we heard a “Saturday will be”. Indeed we did go there on Saturday but I think that happened mostly because Jenny was flying back to The Netherlands the Tuesday after.

This is one of the many situations where I’ve experienced planning something and ending up doing something completely different. That was the case when I arrived in Accra and we were supposed to leave to Hohoe at 2pm. We left at 4h30pm. The same happened to the other volunteers.

Every time we don´t have internet because we’re out of credit, the NGO Director says he is going to recharge it again “today”. One week later it is recharged.

Most of the times the NGO Director is not in Hohoe; he spends most of the time in Accra. Several times I’ve talked to him on the phone and he says he is coming to Hohoe “today” – he ends up arriving in Hohoe two or three days later.

It’s extremely hard to live based on a plan (as we do back home) when no one ever sticks to the plan. From what I understood that’s mostly because there is no long term thinking. Every decision is made according to how much satisfaction they will get in the short term - this concept of short term is not the concept we use in economics in which it might refer to months or years; short term here means few hours.

I guess I’ll plan not to plan.

29/08/2012

One of those stories we hear but we never think it will happen to us!

Today I had a worm inside my foot. Yes, a worm. As if it was not enough there were also eggs! Here goes the whole story.

During the morning me, the new German interns and Edem “went to the moms”. We’re running a pilot about child sexual abuse and the goal is to prevent child sexual abuse by breaking the taboo that exists about sex and teaching the children that there are certain things that no one is allowed to do with them. There is a book with some exercises that the moms have to do with their children and them we visit them to monitor the progress and to take key learning points.

When we were at a mom’s house I felt something in my foot; it was just a fly as most of the times. But when I looked at my foot carefully I saw a white thing under my skin and a black spot. I thought I had been bitten by some sort of strange animal so I started to squeeze it. Edem saw what I was doing and asked to take a look:

-          Ahahah you have something growing inside you! Ah it’s nothing, don´t worry – He added right after he saw the look on my face.

He said he was going to take care of it so we walked back home. We disinfected the place in my foot and he cut it open! A white thing came out right away. Disgusting!

Apparently this is some kind of flying insect that bites only the hard parts of our skin; that’s why it usually happens in people’s feet. This insect bites until it gets stuck under the skin. That’s when it starts putting eggs all over! Edem says that it’s really important to make sure that all the eggs are out when we cut it open otherwise worm will continue growing under the skin.

I really hope we took all the eggs out…

28/08/2012

Is the world actually flat?

While in Ghana I’m also looking for a professional international internship to do right after I get back from Ghana. On Monday I got an e-mail confirming that I had an interview scheduled for Tuesday; my first job interview was scheduled for the day after!

So what did I think of doing? Just what I think anyone would do: I would search on the internet for tips on job interviews and talk to some friends who have been in a few to get some advices. But what if there is no internet? I didn´t have internet access yesterday so I was “looking” everywhere but there was no one to support me on this because I was disconnected from the rest of the world. I felt like my hands were tighten and I couldn´t move; as if the space was too short for me.

Some years ago I read the book “The World is Flat” from Thomas Friedman. In short, the book analyzes globalization and it states that all competitors have equal opportunities around the world. One of the first things Edem asked me when I got here was if I had read the book. Then he asked me if I agreed that the world is flat. I thought “why not?!”.

Yesterday, for the first time, the world didn´t seem flat to me. I guess the world is flat in some parts but not everywhere. I have to agree that we are definitely on the right track but we’re just not there yet.

22/08/2012

Speechless

Today I was walking back from the internet café (because we didn´t have internet today) and I saw a girl grabbing something from the open sewers.  I stopped to have a better look:

She was inside the open sewers. 

She grabbed a plastic bag with fried flour that probably fell there – some kind of biscuit they eat here.

She opened it with her teeth.

She ate it.

20/08/2012

Social Status

Jenny, Sonja and I went to Akatsi for the weekend: the place where the Volta River and the sea meet each other!

We went on a boat to the Rum Island. Once there the chief of that community told us about the Rum he was responsible for; how it was done and its benefits. Apparently it is believed that Rum can cure diseases: it’s the best of all medicine. It “cures” colds, stomach pains, headaches, and, the best of all, it gives the so called “man power”. As the “man power” was followed by some proud laughs we understood those are the words for sexual performance ahahah!

At a certain point I was asking the chief about his family and about his children. He said he had 6 kids: two living in the island with him and the rest living in Accra. That’s when I asked:

-          Are they working? What do they do?

-          Oh no! The girls got married – he proudly said – and the boys are working, yes.

That’s when I become conscious about the fact that social status might be very different from country to country. My question was based on my perception of social status and his answer based on his concept of social status, even though probably none of us was aware of that during the conversation.

The simple fact that I asked if they were working and what they were working on shows that for me - and probably for most of people in developed countries – that is what defines that person’s success; his/her social status is based on the kind of job he/she has even though that happened  unconsciously for me. As for the Ghanaian culture getting married is the best social status once can get. That was pretty obvious not only by his answer but also from his body language.

Now I understand why I keep on getting marriage proposals J

20/08/2012

?!#$\?/&$#”!?

Today Jenny, Sonja and me organized a one afternoon activity for 20 teenagers aged between 14 and 18 about social entrepreneurship. The goal was to teach them about what it is but more than that we wanted them to understand what kind of skills are required – we focused on critical and creative thinking and group decision making.

Briefly, we introduced the concept of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship by inviting two local people who are entrepreneurs (one of them was Marcus, the painter) to share their experience. After that we made them indentify social problems; we clustered them in three main problems and then they had to decide, as a group, on one to work on during the afternoon. Once this was done they should divide in three groups and find a solution for the social problem that was found – in the end we had three different solutions. As last exercise they had to decide which solution was the best (considering social impact and resources).

When we designed this exercise I must say that I was quite relaxed because this is a very simple thing to do. But I have to say it was a very intense experience and not at all what I was expecting. Definitely this was the day when everything came together and now I understand what I didn´t before.

Critical thinking is definitely something that is not promoted at all here. They don´t know how to have a conversation in order reach consensus. They don´t know how to build arguments to defend an idea or to make a decision; there is definitely lack of logical thinking.

At a certain point during this afternoon we clearly told them that one important skill that an entrepreneur must have is to be able to make group decisions so we wanted them to decide as a group which of the three social problems they were going to focus on. Right after that a boy wrote the social problems in a paper with a “yes” and a “no” and made the paper rotate by everyone. In the end, the one with more “yes” was the chosen one. The amazing thing is that all of them were totally comfortable with the process so I guess that’s how they were taught to make group decisions.

Kids know what they hear and that’s it; they repeat the exact same words as they learned it just like when a kid says the alphabet. They don´t learn to think for themselves. I never thought this could be so easy to understand through a simple interaction.

Yesterday some kids showed up in the office saying that they “wanted to learn”. So we grabbed some exercises about child rights and sexual transmitted infections. At a certain point a kid was drinking water and when he finished it we saw that he threw the water sachet away. We brought them together and asked: “what do you do to your water sachets when you finish them?”. They all answered at the same time as if in a school choir: “we put them in the pocket and then in a trash bin when we get home”. So they all know the theory but minutes before one of them had thrown it on the floor; and just as this one did all the other do it.

These kids know a lot about malaria, about social problems and some of them knew more about sexual transmitted infections than all of us (the interns) – in this case they were aged between 10 and 13!! When I realized that I was extremely impressed. But now I’m not anymore. They know the theory but they never apply it. They have standard sentences that they all say in the same way. If we talk about social problems they all use the same verbal construction in their speech. It’s just absolutely insane.

Another clear example of this was what happened when we told them they had to find solutions for the social problem that they had chosen. The idea was to create a social business out of it. One of the immediate presented solutions for the lack of access to education due to lack of financial resources was “the government should create feeding programs for schools (so that kids can eat for free)”. When I told them that it had to be something that they could do; something that depended on them, then the exercise became harder; simply because I made them think for themselves. Note: they were aged between 14 and 18!

The thinking process is automatic. It looks like as if the most used teaching methodology is memorization. It’s simply unbelievable!

And examples go on and on. The NGO that I’m working at has a child right center which they are very much proud of: “kids have a safe space there to learn about their rights”. There is even a logo saying “safe space”. But then the NGO director doesn´t like to have kids around… Edem says that parents beat and shout at the kids all the time and that it is wrong but then he shouts at the kids all the time…

Actions don´t match words. Ever. The speech is beautiful. The actions that are supposed to follow it just  don´t happen.

The simple fact that this post doesn´t have a consistent structure proves that I’m still astonished and a bit lost trying to understand the pillars of this society.

So yes: !#$\?/&$#”!? I don´t know what to think…

16/08/2012

Short hair & immaturity

I’ve been noticing that most of the young girls use their hair short, just like boys. Yesterday I learnt why.

Every young girl who is in a government school should have her air short otherwise they will “do grown up things” and the government doesn´t want that. Besides that if girls have long hair they need to take care of it which takes money. If they can´t afford it (which happens in most communities) their hair starts creating dreadlocks; the government doesn´t want that either because that’s associated with drugs.

From this small detail it’s quite simple to draw some conclusions about the education system and the principles and values that it is based on: they are not taught how to make decisions for themselves; they do not learn to be responsible for themselves and for their decisions or to take risks. That’s why I think most people here tend to be much more immature than what I’m used to back home. The other interns and I have noticed that when it comes to maturity levels a teenager here is 3 or 4 years “younger” than one back home with the same age.

16/08/2012

Home!

Today, after dinner me, Jenny and Sonja went to a bar to have an Alvaro (local drink). Jenny was saying that Hohoe feels like home. And it’s actually true.

I leave the house and 5 or 6 kids shout “Yavô, how are you?” right away. Some steps further I say “Beatriz, efoa?” and I get a “Constança! ee mefon!” back which means “How are you” and “I’m fine” in ewe, the local language of The Volta Region. Beatriz is one of the thousands tailors here.

By lunch time the lady across the street laughs when I say “watse” (rice and beans) because I’m a “yavô” pretending to speak ewe.

In the afternoon I just walk in the street and stop to talk to Marcus or to Kofi. Marcus is a very nice guy who does paints for living. Kofi owns a small shop with souvenirs. One day we stopped by and he thought us how to play “owari” – a game played in some developing countries.

On the way back home I hear a “Constança!!” and then Edem (not the one who works in Care Net; this is a 10 year old kid) shows up with his big smile together with Kobi (his friend). Because it’s holidays they hang around most of the time.

In the days that I eat Anita’s food I get home and I hear a big “Constançaaaaa!” followed by a big laugh. I usually sit in the kitchen while Anita cooks and we just talk. She laughed at me the first time she saw me eating with my hands – usually “yavô’s” don´t do that J

In the days I don´t get Anita’s food I buy kenkey. As soon as I enter the place I hear also “Constança!”. She immediately knows what I want so she just confirms the quantity of kenkey: “deka?” and I say “ee” (yes).

After dinner, I go to a small shop to get the next day’s breakfast: “ma fle botato abolo”. I get a “nenie?” back and answer “cedi deka” – “I want to buy butter bread”; “how much?”; “one cedi”. The quantity of some of the things we buy here is defined by the amount of money. So if I want to buy beans I might ask for 50 pesewas, 75 pesewas or 1 cedi and the quantities are in accordance to that. After that I say “mea do go echó” – I’ll see you tomorrow.

I like it here J

15/08/2012

 Note: some of the ewe words are written as I hear them not as in their local language.

Internet

Since I got back from Cape Coast on Monday last week, we don´t have internet. Considering that I’m currently of the phase of research on the internet for the project I’m working in (building a new health clinic in Akatsi – a small town in the Volta Region) I haven´t done any work so far this week.

We’ve been doing random things to fill in our days.

I’ve done laundry; I’ve explored a bit more of Hohoe with Jenny; we’ve been to the tailor several times; we’ve been to Marcus’ store just talking to him (he is a painter); we met Kofi, a man who sells souvenirs who taught us who to play an African game; we’ve watched the President’s funeral on TV; I’ve read about Ghana in my guide book as well as a novel; we’ve walked around trying different street food; I’ve been listening to music and just talking with the girls.

That’s how the days look like here when the tools that are essential to work are not in place as usual – internet and/or electricity. No wonder the rhythm here is a bit different from what I’m used to.

13/08/2012

President Milles’ funeral

Today started the President Milles’ funeral. Funerals usually take place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but once it’s the former President’s funeral it’s carried on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Since Monday every city has been preparing for it: there are posters all over the place as well as black and red ribbons in the buildings. Cars and bicycles also have these ribbons. Even in Hohoe, which is a small town, they are in every place.

Today we can see several people in the street dresses in black and red to show some respect to the former president. There are even printed red t-shirts with the President’s picture.

The funeral has been going on the national TV for the entire day. As it was the first day of the funeral it was the time to visit the body which is officially dressed and lying in a glass chamber so people can see him. In the morning it was time for official visitors and in the afternoon and tomorrow is time for Ghanaian people to visit their former President. The body is then buried on Friday which will be a public holiday.

08/08/2012

Trash

Yesterday I spent the whole day in a tro-tro on my way back from Cape Coast to Hohoe.

Tro-tro stations are crowed, noisy and dusty. We must look for the tro-tro that heads our final destination and enter. We wait until it’s full and when that happens we leave. While we wait inside the tro-tro lots of people sell food through the tro-tro’s windows.

I had been curious for a while to try fried plantain so I bought it - it’s quite similar to chips but with plantain instead. I ate it and in the end when I was going to put the plastic bag inside my backpack to later put it in a trash can the guy next to me, who had been trying to handle a conversation, hold the plastic bag, throw it to the tro-tro’s floor and said:

-          Don´t put it in your backpack; put it the floor – they’ll pick up latter.

-          No! – I grabbed the plastic bag and put it in my backpack – I’ll put it here and when I get home I’ll put it in a trash can.

-          Why? They will pick it up later.

That’s when I thought “right, and then they will just throw it somewhere on the floor like everyone always does here”.

-          How would you do if you have something liquid?

-          If it was back home I would put it in a trash can because they are all over. Here I would do the exact same thing – I showed him that I also had a water bag inside another plastic bag.

-          Hum… ok, I understand – He didn´t seen that much convinced.

I can count the number of trash bins I have seen around – most of them are in touristic places. Usually people just throw the trash away so it’s all over; I even saw it at the beach in Cape Coast which is quite sad because the place is really beautiful.

Some people (the more educated ones from what I understood) keep it at home and then burn it usually either early in the morning or later in the evening – we can smell it quite often.

From what heard there is one trash company but when I asked Anita (the cook) she said she didn´t know of anything. Probably it operates only in Accra; but I’m not sure.

I can now see the importance of education even on the things I used to take as granted – I never actually thought about the fact that I (and the rest of the country) was educated to put the trash in trash bins; it’s like there is not even another way of doing it; it’s automatic.

07/08/2012

Gospel

I met Gospel in Cape Coast.

Gospel studied until he was 15. After that he decided he didn´t want to study anymore: we wanted to start his own business. So for 5 years he was selling paintings at the entrance of Cape Coast Castle. During that period he kept his savings at the bank so he was able to get a loan.

With that loan he started his business: he sells watches, trousers, shoes, etc. He goes to Togo, buys everything at the cheaper price that if he would buy it in Ghana and then sells it at a higher price.

Five years have passed since he started his business and he has paid the loan already. He managed to get his own house and he is very proud of what he managed to achieve.

06/08/2012

Being Portuguese in Africa

Margo and I went to Cape Coast for the weekend. As any tourist we’ve been to the tourist places: Kakum National Park, Cape Coast Catle and Elmina Castle – that’s when I realized that being Portuguese in Africa is quite different than being Portuguese in Europe.

Elmina Castle holds the status of Africa´s oldest European building. It was built by the Portuguese explores in the 15^th century when they discovered the rich gold lands of Western Africa Coast. In the 17^th century the Dutch took control over it and later in the 19^th it was time for the British to hold it.

Back in Portugal when the Portuguese negativism and pessimism takes control over us there is always someone who says “Came on, we were great back in the 15^th century; we discovered great part of the world! We should be proud of it”. And we are. I am. Or I was. Now I don´t really know…

At Elmina Castle we heard about how life was back then and how the Portuguese, Dutch and British had great life conditions and how they treated the slaves – very cruel and brutal ways.

I didn´t feel like saying that I was Portuguese if anyone had asked…

Should I or shouldn´t I be proud of the Portuguese discoveries?!

06/08/2012

Electricity

Today there was no electricity during the entire day.

I woke up at 7h30 as usually. Took my breakfast that here for some reason takes 30min (at home it would take 10min!) – I guess we just enjoy every single thing we do here.

At 9am I was at the office but without electricity. So I waited… and waited. Then I decided to do some work that could be done just with a notebook. It took me 20min and then there was nothing I could do again so I went home.

I couldn’t use my laptop because there was no power; I couldn´t use my phone to play because it was run out of battery. So I decided to read. But eventually I got bored. So I decided to take some time to reflect (something that doesn´t happen often back home once there is never time for it!). But again I got bored at the certain point. I wanted to go for a walk to get to know a bit more of Hohoe, but it was raining. So I decided to just listen to music once my Ipod had battery! That was when I realized how much we depend on electricity to do everything.

Eventually the rain stopped so I decided to go for a walk around Hohoe so I was out for about 2 hours just randomly walking. I had been wondering why was it that people seemed to randomly walk on the streets. Now I get it – it’s not necessarily because there is no electricity (because there usually is) but because they don´t depend that much on these kind of devices once most of the people in Hohoe cannot afford it.

02/08/2012

Somehow uncomfortable

I’ve been around and trying to get to know you for two weeks already.

Curiosity has taken control over me. I think I’ve never asked so many questions or observed so much. I’ve been trying to understand how you think, how you act… who you are.

I guess curiosity has also taken control over people here. I can´t walk on the street for 2min without having to answer a “hi!” back; or without listening an “I want to be your friend” just because I’m white! I can´t hide myself here; everyone can see me; everyone notices me!

I don´t want to be noticed. It’s like my privacy has been stolen…

I need to think about everything I say, everything I do, every movement I make – “Is it normal here?”; “Is it a tabu here?”; “Am I offending anyone by doing/saying this?” It’s like I cannot be spontaneous; it’s like I can´t do things without thinking; it’s like my mouth, legs, arms, hands are tight; it’s like I can´t be me…

I now understand that a big part of what we are is what surrounds us. But if what surrounds us is not there anymore then what are we?

1/08/2012