Well here I am, the end of one journey and the beginning of another. On Monday I finish my work placement in Besease and begin the travels east into French Africa...I can hardly believe that I've already finished my placement. It has gone so quickly, but I can feel in my spirit that I am ready to leave - I feel tired, spread thin, and need a break. Living in the orphanage is hard work, like being mother, teacher and friend to 24 children around the clock!! But the journey has been a rewarding one and I do feel that I have accomplished something during my time and set in place some systems that will help future volunteers, and, more importantly, provide the home and the children more structure and routine in their daily lives. Aside from the volunteer manuals, experience books and roster system, we have developed a link with the Ahmadiyya Muslim hospital in the nearby village Asokore who have agreed to see the children for free, including providing free medicine! Which is so generous of them in a country where there is no free public health care, emergency or otherwise. My study group is gearing up for their exams in April - I have arranged a local man from the village to take over running the group and teaching in exchange for a few English lessons! So the rest is up to the universe and I have to trust that the systems put in place will be continued. I'm meeting the director of Child Aid today for a debriefing - the weekend will be spent with the children and Monday morning I will head to the Volta region to meet up with Hedy, a Dutch volunteer who I will travel east with over the next few weeks... we will cross the border to Togo on the 7th of March - the day after Ghana's independence day (50 years since independence this year!)
Last week I took two days off and went to visit the "Hand in Hand" project, a home for disabled people in Nkoranza. It was simply wonderful! The project was started 15 years ago by a Dutch doctor and a Ghanaian man to care for intellectually disabled children who are otherwise alienated from society here. Traditionally disabled children were thought to be either the return of a punished ancestor or the rape of the mother by water spirits. Therefore the children were feared and cast out from the community - traditionally being left by the river for the water spirits to "take back". In modern times children are more commonly left under bushes, or on the roadside to die of dehydration. There is no social welfare here and no support for disabled people. A number of children with intellectual disabilities are kept in psychiatric hospitals with adults suffering from chronic mental illnesses like schizophrenia. The Dutch doctor (Ineke) saw this huge problem and so bought some land from a local chief and began the project to care for disabled people. Slowly orphanages began to bring disabled children to the project and some were transferred from the state psychiatric hospitals and the community began to grow - it's situated on the outskirts of a farming-based village but feels like a wonderful oasis in the desert of poverty and struggle. It is a large compound, neatly walled with many bright bouganvillea trees and fruit trees, a big security gate with a security guard, paved walkways, tame donkeys who roam around grazing on the grassed areas, four big friendly labrador dogs and a medley of chickens and cats. The children live in round huts - three to one full time caregiver who also lives with them - there are about 40 adults and children living at the project, the majority of whom suffer from cerebral palsy. There is a set of houses that are semi-independent for the adults who can care for themselves to some extent and they have set up "sheltered workshops" for the adults to carry out meaningful work and obtain training - they make beads from recycled plastic and glass and thread beautiful bead necklaces and bracelets - there is also a kente cloth weaving workshop where a few of the older men have been taught to weave kente. It is a process which takes them an immense amount of time as their muscles do not work properly, but the joy on their faces as they work is immense. In a country where any paid work is hard to come by, the opportunity for disabled people to work and generate income is amazing. The younger children and those who are so disabled as not able to work at all are cared for throughout the day in a seperate area, with a play ground and swimming pool where once a day all the children and adults swim. The energy of the place was overwhelmingly positive. They have also set up three small guest huts where visitors can come to stay and observe the project - visitors are encouraged to get involved and to swim with the children, to assist in their care and to assist in the workshops - and it works so, so well. The children (and adults) love the visitor's involvement and it feels very genuine, very meaningful. The entire compound is clean and bright and well cared for - there is even a retired priest who was invited to come and spend his retirement there - he spends his days walking with the children and doing gardening. In the visitor rooms a copy of the annual report for the project lies on the bedside table with every dollar accounted for and open to public viewing - I have never seen such transparency and openess in any development organisation anywhere. It was incredibly refreshing and inspiring. The cloth and jewellery that the children make are sold, both to visitors and through a disabled persons co-operative in the Netherlands. All of the profits are put back into the project, and it shows! I am going to try to set up a link between Trade Aid and this project as I think that these beautiful creative jems would be perfect for the NZ market! I hope to return to the project and stay for longer, perhaps on my journey back through Ghana from Burkina Faso... The contrast between this project and the orphanage at Besease is huge though, and I felt saddened to think that the orphanage in Besease could share the same energy, the same positivity and creativity if only it was managed in a constructive and honest way. I shared my thoughts with Child Aid who have made a commitment to bettering the home in Besease and are already using the donation funds to finish off the kitchen building and to rewire the home so that there are lights for all the rooms. They have also agreed to send volunteers on a regular basis, and so hopefully I am the first of many...
As I prepare to leave the home, and Ghana, I am becoming more reflective of my time here and what I have learnt - about the nature of giving, of receiving, of patience and of care. About the complex patchwork of issues that surround development work and the nature of life for Africans. My Buddhist teacher said to me before leaving that the biggest piece of advice that he could give me was to give (money, time, energy, love) with no expectation of anything in return - not even an expectation of acknowledgement. He said to give with no acknowledgement and to want to continue to give is a sign of true loving compassion. I can't say that I have mastered this and some of the behaviour of children (and adults) here is quite hurtful, but I have definitely begun to understand this idea... as for Ghana in general, several things have disturbed me quite deeply - the absolute disregard for the environment and the absolute disregard for the lives of animals. I don't know if I can justify poverty as an excuse for this behaviour in my mind but if anyone has a theory, I would love to know.
Last week I took two days off and went to visit the "Hand in Hand" project, a home for disabled people in Nkoranza. It was simply wonderful! The project was started 15 years ago by a Dutch doctor and a Ghanaian man to care for intellectually disabled children who are otherwise alienated from society here. Traditionally disabled children were thought to be either the return of a punished ancestor or the rape of the mother by water spirits. Therefore the children were feared and cast out from the community - traditionally being left by the river for the water spirits to "take back". In modern times children are more commonly left under bushes, or on the roadside to die of dehydration. There is no social welfare here and no support for disabled people. A number of children with intellectual disabilities are kept in psychiatric hospitals with adults suffering from chronic mental illnesses like schizophrenia. The Dutch doctor (Ineke) saw this huge problem and so bought some land from a local chief and began the project to care for disabled people. Slowly orphanages began to bring disabled children to the project and some were transferred from the state psychiatric hospitals and the community began to grow - it's situated on the outskirts of a farming-based village but feels like a wonderful oasis in the desert of poverty and struggle. It is a large compound, neatly walled with many bright bouganvillea trees and fruit trees, a big security gate with a security guard, paved walkways, tame donkeys who roam around grazing on the grassed areas, four big friendly labrador dogs and a medley of chickens and cats. The children live in round huts - three to one full time caregiver who also lives with them - there are about 40 adults and children living at the project, the majority of whom suffer from cerebral palsy. There is a set of houses that are semi-independent for the adults who can care for themselves to some extent and they have set up "sheltered workshops" for the adults to carry out meaningful work and obtain training - they make beads from recycled plastic and glass and thread beautiful bead necklaces and bracelets - there is also a kente cloth weaving workshop where a few of the older men have been taught to weave kente. It is a process which takes them an immense amount of time as their muscles do not work properly, but the joy on their faces as they work is immense. In a country where any paid work is hard to come by, the opportunity for disabled people to work and generate income is amazing. The younger children and those who are so disabled as not able to work at all are cared for throughout the day in a seperate area, with a play ground and swimming pool where once a day all the children and adults swim. The energy of the place was overwhelmingly positive. They have also set up three small guest huts where visitors can come to stay and observe the project - visitors are encouraged to get involved and to swim with the children, to assist in their care and to assist in the workshops - and it works so, so well. The children (and adults) love the visitor's involvement and it feels very genuine, very meaningful. The entire compound is clean and bright and well cared for - there is even a retired priest who was invited to come and spend his retirement there - he spends his days walking with the children and doing gardening. In the visitor rooms a copy of the annual report for the project lies on the bedside table with every dollar accounted for and open to public viewing - I have never seen such transparency and openess in any development organisation anywhere. It was incredibly refreshing and inspiring. The cloth and jewellery that the children make are sold, both to visitors and through a disabled persons co-operative in the Netherlands. All of the profits are put back into the project, and it shows! I am going to try to set up a link between Trade Aid and this project as I think that these beautiful creative jems would be perfect for the NZ market! I hope to return to the project and stay for longer, perhaps on my journey back through Ghana from Burkina Faso... The contrast between this project and the orphanage at Besease is huge though, and I felt saddened to think that the orphanage in Besease could share the same energy, the same positivity and creativity if only it was managed in a constructive and honest way. I shared my thoughts with Child Aid who have made a commitment to bettering the home in Besease and are already using the donation funds to finish off the kitchen building and to rewire the home so that there are lights for all the rooms. They have also agreed to send volunteers on a regular basis, and so hopefully I am the first of many...
As I prepare to leave the home, and Ghana, I am becoming more reflective of my time here and what I have learnt - about the nature of giving, of receiving, of patience and of care. About the complex patchwork of issues that surround development work and the nature of life for Africans. My Buddhist teacher said to me before leaving that the biggest piece of advice that he could give me was to give (money, time, energy, love) with no expectation of anything in return - not even an expectation of acknowledgement. He said to give with no acknowledgement and to want to continue to give is a sign of true loving compassion. I can't say that I have mastered this and some of the behaviour of children (and adults) here is quite hurtful, but I have definitely begun to understand this idea... as for Ghana in general, several things have disturbed me quite deeply - the absolute disregard for the environment and the absolute disregard for the lives of animals. I don't know if I can justify poverty as an excuse for this behaviour in my mind but if anyone has a theory, I would love to know.
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