God I love Ghana

Post By: Sam Briggs

Life in Ghana follows like this; Eat... Sleep... Pray... Repeat.

Living in Ghana has shown me that above all else religion is the most important aspect of the Ghanaian way of life. 

As part of our relationship with NFED we are working with small rural communities with little influence from the outside world. As the expected sign of respect and custom, our meetings will always start with a prayer and finish with a prayer as the belief of change and prosperity are gifts from God. We aim to help these Income Generating Groups of female dominated members to have a fighting chance in a world where the odds seemed stacked against them, and I believe this is a fight we can win with the awareness and support these women deserve. During this fight the first step of combating this battle is underway as me and the media team have grasped onto the likely prospect of a monthly radio broadcast due to the goodness of Simli radio station, to raise awareness and gain support.

But this is only the beginning of many changes that will come. With media coverage these groups have a much stronger chance as villages and towns all over the northern region can learn about the group’s struggle and many will be able to  show empathy with their situation as this is a struggle that is widespread in many areas, this empathy will hopefully lead people to support the NFED programme and spread the word. Every radio show will give us a better chance of being noticed by large NGOs and charity organisations that I hope will answer these strong people’s prayers.

When people go to work they will drop their work for prayer times, people will temporarily close their small businesses to go pray and people will close their laptops and stop reading blogs to go pray. 

This links with the idea of how above all over aspects of life their religion is priority. This is something to be expected with a country that is one of the most religious world and the percentage of atheists are dropping while beliefs in God are rising. It is interesting to see a country with such a powerful belief that influences everything from politics to not talking while in the shower, especially as I come from a country where religion plays little to almost no influence in life.

In so many ways I respect and almost envy the complete love and dedication these people have to their God. Despite the hardships many suffer and the stress of life many will face they will never blame their God, they will only blame the real reasons like the corruption and unemployment that cripples the citizens of Ghana. I’ve never fallen victim to the lies of the UK press that demonizes Islam but I never expected the opposite to be so true. Christianity and Islam here both teach peace and the people of this fine country hold that virtue to its highest standard. They will not treat you as substandard for having a different belief or a different way of doing things, they wont hate you if you even disagree with a certain belief, they see you as one of God’s children and will treat you accordingly. Many times I have wandered around the streets of Tolon and people will invite me to share their food. One of my Ghanaian counterparts told me if a person who is starving and in need of food goes to a market and asks for charity they will receive it, such is the teachings of these religions. The brutal fact is if a homeless man came to the doors of a thriving business in the UK and asked for scraps they would be turned away and left to fend for themselves in fear of legal action because ‘they might get ill and sue us’. So many people in the UK have fallen into the belief of how religion causes so many problems in the world and it is better off not existing but how can this be true when the vast majority of these followers take their religion in its truest form, kindness, charity and love.

I believe that without religion the poorer people in northern rural Ghana would have little hope of anything, imagine living in a poor rural area where everyday life is difficult and you have little hope that external influences are there to protect you and care for you. With religion though these people find happiness and something to bring their community together to make them stronger and more likely to tackle their issues. The belief of a fatherly figure watching down on them brings them a feeling of content and hope that even though they are suffering now, they won’t always suffer, how could anyone even think of trying to take this away from them. Imagine being a believer of a religion and letting this be a source of peacefulness in your life and your passion for doing something good in this world and only trying to use your religion as a force of good in the world. Imagine how that person would feel when their religion is shone in a negative light when all you’ve ever done is try to be a good person for your God. No religion is evil, religion is peace.

God, I love Ghana.

Nawu ni labsina.

Ami!

Superstitions

Blog By: Harry Parfitt

Textbooks and exams in Ghana seem relatively similar to those in the UK. The math questions include the same range of dull algebra, and devilish geometry. Geography requires knowledge of rainforests, rocks, and regional capitals, all of which is as you might expect. Other questions in a mock test paper my host brother was going through, one might not expect. What is superstition? Ok, no problem, it is an irrational belief. Why do superstitions exist? Well, they arise because of tradition, old stories and a need to explain the seemingly unexplainable. All this my bro Sule agreed with wholeheartedly. All good then; perfectly rational answers to what seemed like slightly random questions… in my opinion. Another question focused on which bodies or individuals were responsible for enforcing the law. The answer, so Sule informed me, was the Chief. This I found unlikely. Surely the Chief is not responsible for upholding the law? Certainly he is powerful and important, but he has no legal authority? To this Sule explained that in the case of a witch being identified, it was the chief who would be responsible for banishing her.

Right…

“So, do you believe witches exist?”

“One hundred percent yes.”

“But that’s just superstition isn’t it?”

“Yes, but I believe it.”

The contradiction seemed to have passed him by. He had explained only 2 minutes earlier that superstitions were irrational beliefs, which have no place in modern Ghana, and yet he confesses to hold just such beliefs. I struggled to comprehend this, but the full impact of this only hit me the next day, when, whilst writing about Sule’s ‘confession’, I asked my fellow volunteers, who mostly come from Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana whether witches were real. All answered emphatically: “Yes.” To clarify, all have at least the Ghanaian equivalent of college education, and most have attended University. These are not members of the rural illiterate, amongst whom one may expect superstition to be rife, but are well educated and intelligent Ghanaians… it was then that I understood how deep rooted such beliefs were in Ghanaian culture. Despite years of influence on Ghana by the Global North, I began to see that some pre-colonial traditions were very much alive.

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I am in Ghana working with women’s income generating groups (IGGs) in exceptionally rural communities, and this work, with the Non Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ministry of Education, has heightened my awareness of just how little some people in Tolon district are living on each week. Those in the most rural communities we have visited have no access to electricity and have to walk upwards of a mile in searing heat (38°+) to collect visibly dirty drinking water. To be clear the superstitious beliefs that I have encountered in Tolon are not limited to witches. The illuminati, devil and, of course, witches (who can be male, I was pleasantly surprised to learn), can be blamed for everything from car crashes to harvest failures. What the impact of this is, I cannot really assess. That a question on superstition was even in Sule’s paper demonstrates how established such traditional beliefs are in mainstream Ghana. Belief in the supernatural may be very traditional but it is a belief held by many living in modern Ghana, for most this confidence in beings and instances that I would never have seriously considered go beyond mere tradition, and have many religious and spiritual root also. Nonetheless, I would like to hope that our work with NFED makes a tiny indent into the effect of superstition on the profitability of the income generating groups we are supporting.

As the first ICS cohort working in Tolon District, we have been undertaking research into the current practices of the IGGs, and have drawn close parallels between the cause of key problems affecting the group and the permeating superstition in Ghanaian society. Instances such as bad harvests or a lack of rainfall, can be seen as a punishment for the actions of few as opposed to a consequence of soil erosion and deforestation. Another key obstacle to the progress of the group is that many members are not aware that they regularly fail to make any profit. Due largely to the combination of the extended period of time between purchasing raw materials and selling the finished goods and a lack of financial records. The majority of IGG members do not have a formal education, the negative effects of which are being combated by NFED – who provide literacy training in Dagbani (the local language) and a small amount of numeracy.

That is not to say that the members of our income generating groups do not understand the concept of soil erosion or the idea that there are factors beyond the control of Wayamba community for instance, that lead to reduced rainfall and therefore a shortage of drinking water. Only that these traditional, cultural and spiritual beliefs held by the community in the 21^st century are playing a larger role in answering the questions “Why can’t I grow more maize” more so than I ever would have expected before arriving in Ghana. Nor is it assumed that the people we are working with do not understand the core issues facing them and their children, on the contrary; lack of education, access to clean water and electricity and the damaging aftereffects are often citied.

However, as the innocence towards the unprofitability of their businesses demonstrates, some members of the IGGs are yet to fully grasp the root causes behind their problems, and without this, people cannot hope to find solutions. What we are here to do as volunteers is to support NFED in providing training to the group in order to help them find for themselves, the factors which prevent them from generating profit, thereby helping them  to discover solutions for their problems. The skills NFED are yet to train them in are; basic book keeping, simple math, and problem solving – to name a few – though these sessions will be focused on business, they’re also applicable to life generally.

I wonder however, after the ICS-NFED partnership is concluded at the end of 2017, if I were to come back to Tolon district and visit some of the members of the Income Generating Groups… will they have left the superstitions behind? Or will these traditional beliefs and cultural ideas still have a place in their world?

Travel and See

Post by: Ayisha Seidu 

For me Ghana is a country rich with culture and wonderful people, this may be a biased opinion as it is my home country, but in my experience of traveling throughout the Gold Coast the learning never ends. However from what my UK companions have told me this is very different from the snapshot of Ghana they would have seen. When asking any British 18-25 year old about what snapshots they may have since, this could range from the short life-span Ebola had in Ghana, the One Direction Comic Relief music video or even an Azonto song or two. Yet for me, my snapshot of Ghana would be the hospitality… and I’ll explain why.

Snapshot 1: Host Homes

In my host home the members of the house always make sure that we are happy and also provide us our needs. Even though in the most northern regions the issue of scarce water exists, our host family makes sure that we always have enough. In fact I cherish my host home some much that even on our days away from work, I rarely like going out from the host home. I can never forget my host home. This experience would paint the most beautiful picture of the hospitable nature of the community. I urgently encourage anybody who wants to come, to come and experience this. I even more urgently would encourage everybody to travel, because most definitely when you travel, you will learn more.

Snapshot 2: The Communities

My travels with ICS International Service have brought me to Tolon, to work with NFED to improve the capabilities of their income generation groups (IGGs). The NFED have formed literacy classes for various communities throughout Tolon district as a part of the national functional literacy program, at the completion of these, they form an income generation group and our cohort of volunteers have to pleasure to work with a few. This has open the opportunity to us to learn from and also exchange knowledge with not only the IGGs but the entire community. The Non-Formal Education Division is helping to improve opportunities for the IGGs, who all whom have their individual aims and objectives to achieve. I hope this work will have even a minuscule of an impact on poverty in Ghana, on poverty for one person, or one group.

The benefits of travel stretches far beyond that of the individual, it can also have a positive impact on the nation in general, notably enriching the local economy thorough local spending and the tax generated from various tourists centres. Whilst travelling the traveler can exchange skills and knowledge with the people they meet along the way and perhaps make a positive impact on the places that they had visited in additional to acquiring new knowledge for themselves.

Travel and see… TRUST ME... this will help you to learn so much about the world, about different people from different parts of the globe. I have travelled to many places but my travel to Tolon community has helped me to learn new things altogether. The people of Tolon community are hospitable in a way that I can’t explain. When we came to Tolon, they were open hearted and gave the International Service-NFED partnership an official welcome to the community [a durbar]. But that was only the beginning…

Transparency in volunteering with ICS: Volunteering in the spotlight

Post by- Iddrisu Issahaku 

Sitting on the waiters’ seat at the cafe, every second was like an  hour, counting the second hand of the clock, I could tell the time off-head without watching the clock as the ticking on the clock was as if its powered by my brain. My hope of getting access to a client computer was getting slimmer and slimmer as all the clients kept ordering for more time in hours. The only option was to go back home and bring my own laptop to the café. This trauma was to account for my eagerness to file my interest to volunteer with International Service on the ICS program.

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The birds had gone back to their nests; the only dominating sound was passing-by vehicles and flying bats. After having done with my daily routine, I was at the roadside relaxing and chatting with friends hoping for a chance to see the most beautiful vehicles of the tamale metropolis. I heard the sound of my phone in the midst of the several sounds of the evening. Guess who it was?

A land line, recognized by my phone as strange; which came with a lady’s voice.
It said; "Good evening! Am I speaking to Iddrisu Issahaku?"

I said yes. 

"I am calling from International service. Congratulations! You have been selected for interview/assessment on the 19^th November 2015, 8:00am at GNAT Hall. Please do come with any valid identification card and your criminal report form"

After this interview, I was now hoping that what I presented should be convincing enough to pave me the way to formal volunteering with International Service. Finally, this time, (not with a lady’s voice) was a message congratulating me and inviting me for further assessment and training at the same venue and time on the 22^nd December 2015. However, the venue was later changed to the Resource Center Tamale.

All I had was my effort, all I had was my interest, all I had was my faith and desire resting within my chest, where nobody could see or feel it, with nobody anywhere near the high seats of the universe. Unbelievably, I was astonished because it is one of the best in fairness and transparent events of my life. An assessment that you don’t need to know anybody anywhere to help you get through, once you have what it takes to be on board, you are set to go. I was amazed how ICS could easily get me through without any protocol. I think ICS has proven to me that there is still a number of programmes that  goes by merit, Hence, a reason to be hopeful without protocol access.

We had a two-day assessment/training where we were told in detail about ICS and what its objectives are; things we knew already and others that we had just heard. There was much expectation and hope on the faces and hearts of almost all the potential volunteers regarding placements with various partner organizations that existed. Little or none of us had made provisions to be placed at the new project an extremely rural area called Tolon. So needless to say there there was mass-disappointment when our placement as volunteers in our various project were communicated to us. The best way of defeating any disappointment is to accept the situation as if that was the desired result; so, I accepted it in good faith and pledged to put in my best at my newly discovered placement, Tolon NFED.

The next stage was the final assessment and training that was to take place as a goodbye to us and to get all volunteers (UKVs and ICVs) together to present us with important details of everyone's various pairs and host homes, team leaders, etc. This took place at the GILBT training Center and lasted for 3 days. We departed to our various placements after the 3^rd day.
 

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Volunteering in the spotlight
  

I think accountability can only be sought if the populace is aware of the responsibilities of those in steering positions across the world. With ICS, I have inculcated the habit and importance of knowing more about the nitty gritty of whatever is going on both nationally and internationally. This I think will put our leaders on their toes to give us what is due of us as a people, as we are getting more aware than ever.

Volunteering is one of the most momentous yet less-recognized means through which public services get to the poorest and most marginalized communities, this is because I have just got to know of formal volunteering and wish I could volunteer through my life as I am ready to go anywhere to serve.

Through the world there is extensive infrastructure of schools, hospitals, security services, and even social protection schemes, but poor people do not get access to them. I think volunteers can play a significant role in helping to bridge this gap; adding in numbers and experience to the existing public service workforce and helping to ensure the purpose of these services to the communities they have been set up for.

More so, there is an increase in the need for the involvement of young people in development and planning of developmental issues. This is evidenced by the words of the UN general secretary, Ban Ki Moon "We need young people’s participation more than ever. Their energy and idealism can help make up for lost ground and achieve our development goals in full and on time."  I think this is achievable with volunteering.  

Volunteering is also a win-win activity, because an Australian study has shown that for every $1 spent or invested on volunteering you gain $4. Therefore I think countries especially the global south countries should embrace volunteering as it can also serve as a workforce supplement.

Hmmm, I don’t want to say goodbye, but ……….. I think that's it for now... until next time.