1st of December - Colin

I think that the over-riding picture of our most recent trip to Northern Ghana (one that would in fact apply to most of Africa), is the image of the ‘big village tree’. We have been visiting a lot of rural communities, and meeting with a lot of groups. The villages in the mainly Moslem communities of Northern Ghana are tidily arranged in a series of circles of family huts, with the cooking, etc, in the middle of each family circle. In each village, the centre of life is the big tree, sometimes more than one, with broad spreading branches, under which every community activity in the village takes place. We saw the school classes being held there, with the chalk and blackboard, and the teacher with a little stick in hand; there were meetings of the village elders, and of course the women’s group meetings, which we were attending. They were also a good place for the young men to rest and relax – I am not sure that the same privilege is extended to the women, because they are expected to be working the whole time!

All the community groups that we met within the area were women’s groups, that Judi’s organization, ICA, has been training and advising for more than 5 years, developing their self confidence, their ability to improve their roles in the community, and various income-earning activities to enhance their independence and to pay for their children’s school expenses. Time is not a major factor in anyone’s life here, so our plans often got off schedule; we would turn up a couple of hours late, and the women would gradually assemble from the fields, bringing in a number of benches on their heads, from their huts. Since the midday temperature in the North at this time of year is close to 40 degrees, the spreading shade of the tree was always very welcome, after the heat and dust of the car, let alone the fields. What was always striking was the mass of colour of all the batik and print dresses – no-one seems to know what black or white are except for funerals – it really is a pity that the Western world does not have, or has lost, its sense of colour. It is now so foreign to a western environment, that we would automatically reject it, if it were transplanted! Why? – We can’t exactly blame it on the rain (or current snow) of Vancouver, because more colour might even cheer that up!

The groups really functioned well, and after initial shyness, they were very open in answering and posing questions. Their situations really hit home, when we realized that none of the women in any of the groups had had any schooling - every group had to co-opt a man from the village to act as Secretary for the group, recording decisions and plans, and in our case acting as interpreter, since the languages spoken were not ones spoken by ICA Ghanaian staff. Even in the space of 5 years, it was clear that big cultural shifts were taking place in these communities, with changes in gender roles within the families, and while by no means yet equality, at least a voice for the women; the big hope for the future of course being the importance now placed by them on education, not only for the boys, but also the girls.

This trip to the North was a diversion for me from my work with Pro-Link, but it was also part of our attempts to help build co-operation and partnerships between some of the NGOs that American Jewish World Service (the New York based organization that sent us out) is helping in Ghana. Judi did a wonderful job, a week ago, facilitating a 2 day meeting between three of these groups, who are working in similar or overlapping fields, but who had never had the chance to explore ways of working together before. I am sure that Judi will mention more about it, but all the participants seemed to be both surprised and delighted at how much came out of the meeting. This is wonderful, but of course only a tiny step – the big question being whether they are able to follow up on the cooperation. Judi and I can keep pushing with our two NGOs in Accra, but the 3^rd and largest one is based in Tamale in the North, so we were lucky to be able to have a follow up meeting with them, to help pin down some concrete actions.

We are both missing seeing the rapid growth of our new grandson, Aidan, and of course had great interest in the endless babies being nursed by the mothers at the meetings. My interest is more in the next stages as Aidan gets bigger, but some of the downside of that was brought home when we visited a crèche run by another NGO as an anciliary part of their vocational training school. 35 two-five year olds in an enclosed space are definitely able to make their presence felt. We had just come from a 2-hour fast drive on a rutted dusty dirt road, in a non-air-conditioned car, in 40 degree temperature, but I think that any prolonged exposure to that number of small kids would be the more tiring of the two experiences!

Actually, the roads in Ghana are generally in good condition, much better than Uganda. However they are so good that they have now started to introduce speed bumps in the villages. Not surprising, but their effectiveness does depend on the driver (not us, I would hasten to add). On our last 2 trips, we have been driven by Isaac, a driver from ICA, who revels in getting the maximum speed out of his vehicle. To Judi’s dismay, he sees speed bumps as ideal acceleration points, and places to overtake all the other vehicles that actually slow down.

Another interesting feature of the driving is the approach to ‘No Entry’ signs in Accra. There are a number near where we live, and they all look brand new. They are a recent introduction, and are universally-ignored! When this is pointed out to drivers, the story is that a mistake was made in their introduction. On the first day, there was absolute chaos (not unusual on the streets of central Accra anyway), with half of the drivers following them and the other half ignoring them. The drivers then informally made the decision that this was the government’s fault, and that the government should train everyone before re-introducing them. This apparently makes them feel totally justified now in ignoring all these signs!

Being a driver is a good job here, and the drivers are a great source of information. On my way to my office, I pass a major junction, where there are a number of huge trees, literally coated with birds. The density is almost eerie, and the birds are only there until about an hour before sunset, and apparently only for a couple of months of the year. As I return from the office, the birds are often leaving the trees in vast flocks, so one day I asked a taxi driver about why these few trees, and why for only a couple of months. The explanation is very straightforward: ‘A few years ago, the senior chief of the Ashanti tribe, the dominant group in central Ghana, fell ill, and was moved from his region to the big military hospital on this crossroads. On his journey, he was accompanied by a huge number of these birds. Unfortunately, he died in the hospital, but ever since, all the birds come back each year to commemorate his death’. As good a reason as any!

Even more interesting was the commentary that I heard on the radio in one taxi. Soccer is extremely popular here - a number of Ghanaians are stars for big European clubs, and the National team is certainly better than the Canadian one, and on a par with that of the US. The commentator was mentioning that two of the major soccer teams in Tanzania had just been fined by the soccer league for match – fixing. Apparently, it had been shown that they had both tried to put spells on the opposing teams! It is not that many urban people necessarily believe in the spells, but that they don’t dare to actively disbelieve, just in case. Interestingly, the commentators were surprised, not about the spells, but about the fines, because they said that it happens all the time in Ghana!

Best from Colin