Throughout our time with International service in Ghana,
this was the most exciting and culturally diverse week so far. The Tolon cohort
enjoyed many social and community events, such as financial workshops organized
for our IGG (Income Generating Group) members, a social games night, and some
of our volunteers even had traditional garments made!
On Monday we all woke up with a sense of determination as we
were just about to start week 4. When we got to the office we were discussing
and planning the event that would happen on Wednesday, this was the training
session we were providing for all our IGG’s on finance, so we were organising
different aspects of this event such as chairs, Motor King’s, lunch for
everyone, the venue and to get people from two banks to come in to talk to them
through all they needed to know about finance. We carried on planning the event
through to Tuesday as well to make sure everything would work like clockwork.
Unfortunately, it didn’t as on Wednesday we still didn’t
have some chairs, so the events team had to organise another chair provider,
and whilst this was happening the rest of us were setting up the venue. We were
all set up and ready for the event, but there were no IGG’s here yet. Most of
them turned up between two to three hours late to the annoyance of the banks.
Apart from these small hiccups the event worked really well and the IGG’s left
feeling more informed about the importance of opening a personal bank account.
 |
| A crowd outside the Chief's palace |
Later that day, three of our volunteers were walking along the road
past the Chief’s Palace and a huge crowd from a nearby town had gathered
outside. It was explained to the volunteers that a woman had been accused of
being a witch. As the three volunteers were passing by, the Chief invited them
into the crowd to sit with him and the elders. They were sitting only a meter
or two away from the accused, and a woman who was twitching and shaking was
unable to look at the accused. The chief kindly translated to the volunteers
what was going on; the woman next to one of our volunteers had been cursed by
the accused and was there to testify that she actually was a witch! Some
Dagbani was spoken by the Chief, by some elders and by the cursed lady - all
towards the woman on trial. After about 15 minutes the crowds dispersed and the
three volunteers went home. It was decided that the accused would be taken to
see a more powerful medicine-man who would prove if she’s a witch or not. If
she was proven to be a witch, she would be taken to a powerful shrine to
confess, and after that she would be banished.
 |
| Natt in his traditional wear |
After this the group then collected another volunteer to go
and pick up their traditional garments from the tailor which some volunteers’
host dad specifically chose to make their garments. Getting the clothes
tailored was a lovely experience, buying traditional fabric and getting shirts,
tops, and hats tailored helped the boys integrate into the Ghanaian culture and
society, as community members appeared pleased at their effort to fit in with
the local dress code.
On Thursday in the office we collected the week’s findings,
calculated how much we spent, produced a video and started planning next week’s
research trip. One of our team leaders
also organized a games night at the chief’s palace one evening where we played
Irish Snap, Spoons (but with pens) and a traditional Ghanaian game called
Owari.
On Friday we continued to plan the trips next week, this
went well and we all completed our work efficiently.
Finally it was
Saturday and in the evening we organized a little movie night for us, we were
trying to get a projector to watch films but were unable to get it for the night.
However, we watched Big Hero 6 on a laptop at our team leaders’ home and hope
to get a projector for future events. Overall, we had a very productive and
interesting week, and look forward to the next few weeks in our new home,
Tolon!
By Natt Johnson and Matthew Knowles
No comments:
Post a Comment