Two placements

Now I am well into my time in Ghana, so I thought I should tell you a bit about where I have been working and what I am trying to do.  Anecdotes about tro tros are all very well, but..........

I have two projects currently on the go.  The first, Young People we Care, works to promote the interest of young people and to enable their participation in a range of global issues, as well as educational projects on issues like human rights, HIV........no small undertaking.  We currently have a number of 'big' projects in the pipeline, and I'm trying to get the budget process going for these - at the same time to clean up some reporting issues that are lingering from a few months back.  I have drafted a set of policies that (I think) cover all the day to day areas of finance that need to be maintained, so I am keen to see that this will be picked up and implemented before I go.

YPWC is lucky to have a hugely dedicated and enthusiastic team - representatives from all over Ghana, as well as an increasing network of contacts across Africa and around the world.  The volunteers and staff directly working for YPWC joined us all in Kumasi last weekend for the staff retreat, a great opportunity for me to finally put some names to faces and emails - also good to meet Emmanuel again.  Last time I saw him was in Accra - shortly before 'that' bus journey.  I think it's fair to say I might not have been at my most coherent last time we met (I'd been travelling for around 18 hours, at which point he immediately imformed me that I had many more to go).  I hope I gave a better account of myself this time.

The Kumasi Street Children project is run by Sister Josephine from Nigeria.    Each morning starts with a meeting where all the staff discuss what happened the previous day and what, if anything, needs to be done as a result.  It struck me straight away how calm and patient the atmosphere was in this meeting - so often, I've seen staff meetings where people are mostly tense and impatient, keen to get the discussion out of the way so that they can get back to 'real work'.  But here, everyone took the time to listen, understand and share what they were working on.  One of the things you have to realise about this kind of placement is that learning works both ways.  While westerners can teach people here about financial controls, Excel reporting and many other skills associated with 'development' and 'progress', a less often reported side of volunteering is how much the developing world has to teach us.  Taking the time to talk to people, greet them, sit and spend time together is very much part of the way of life here - skills and values that have all too often been lost back home, in busy schedules when the next deadline is looming, every second must be used productively, documented and accounted for.

Today I visited the creche, where very young children are to be looked after in a safe environment while their parents are working or in education.  I would like to report an uplifting, inspirational experience, but found quite the opposite.  The creche is in the middle of Racecourse, a slum area of Kumasi.  Most of the buildings here (including the creche) are now marked with a red X, the date 18/02/11, and in most cases, the word 'remove'.  The Racecourse settlement, as well as being illegal, is a clear social problem which the authorities are attempting to tackle head on.  As I visited, the staff were carrying out anything salvageable - the toys, chairs, the water tank and even much of the building wood was being carefully stacked and carted away before the bulldozers arrive in the morning.  The creche had been built by the Street Children Project, and they now have to find a new site - and start again.  The area is being 'developed' - into what I'm not sure, but I saw many people sitting in their marked homes, obviously making no attempt to pack and leave - what is not clear is exactly where these thousands of people will go.

Somewhere behind all of this fits the role of the accountant.  I think I said in one of my earlier blogs about how the aim of the game is to build capacity, to enable and facilitate, rather than simply to do the accounting work myslef.  This is often challenging - language barriers, cultural differences (time limits and deadlines don't quite carry the same weight here that they do at home) as well as the working hours (not usually 9-5, more often 'as and when') mean that a great deal of adjustment is required by me.  And although there's a huge amount of capability in both organisations, I need to keep remembering that, while it may be obvious to me why a budget statement and reconciliation is a good idea, that might not always be immediately obvious to everyone here.

So that's it.  Six weeks (nearly) - two jobs, and a huge amount of work still to go.  Am I making a difference?  Who knows.  What have I achieved?  I can list everything I've done, but what will the lasting impact be? Anything?  I certainly hope so.  And what will I, and my new colleagues be saying about this placement in six months, a year, two years? Will it all have helped?

That, I think is a question for another day.

Owabi Wildlife Park

Last week I went to Owabi wildlife reserve, probably the least visited nature reserve I've ever been to.  I guessed correctly that I was the only visitor on that day.  As we were getting ready to walk round the trails I commented casually to my guide 'You don't seem to get many visitors'.  Not so, I was assured.  'One day last week, we had 3.'

"You wait here", I was told "I get some things".  When he came back with the 'things', I realised that I was about to walk off into deep undergrowth with a moneybelt and expensive camera, alone with a man carrying a machete with a foot-long blade.  And yes, I hesitated, if not for long.

Generally, the best time to see animals is early morning or late afternoon when it's cooler and they tend to be a bit more active.  So what exactly I was thinking of heading there shorlty after 1.00 I don't know.  As expected, it was fairly quiet, though briefly, about half way round the trail, we saw some shaking branches in the tops of the trees - a group of monkeys had been resting in a clump of bamboo by the path and were scurrying to safety higher up.   Apart from this the park, as well as being free of tourists, was very tranquil and peaceful. The lake sits behind the Owabi Dam, apparently built by the British sometime in the 20s, and where most of our water in Kumasi comes from.

After walking along the top of the dam, we headed back to the park office.  'If you have money left you can give me some dash,' the guide kindly offered, presumably anticipating my appreciation at the machete only being used on branches.  If you have money left?  Well I will have money left, but I might need some of it....................still, fair's fair, so I paid the entrance fee of 5 cedis and gave 2 cedis as a tip.  Inexplicably I then received five receipts for 10 cedis each, though I declined to lecture about audit trails and proper accounting controls.  It didn't seem the right time, although if AfID want to add Ghana Wildlife Parks as a partner I suspect they could use some help. I walked the mile or so back to the last village and found a 'classy' blue Chevrolet tro tro to take me home.

Getting to town

The whole how to get to town thing, I've decided, has been blown out of proportion.  I have been hearing rumours since I arrived along the lines of "You will never find your way around without an escort......"  "You need a crash course in local language and a bewildering array of place names..........." "Transport is a problem in Ghana" etc etc.  But as of this week I beg to differ.  After a couple of trips into town, I decided that the route looks learnable, and determined that I would bravely give it a go.

Getting in to town is easier than getting back.  As you wait by the main road and a tro tro stops, if the driver's mate shouts 'Kejetia Kejetia Kejetia Kejetia' this means he is going your way.  You then push your way into the tro tro, or often I use my Obruni Privilege Pass which entitles me to sit in the front.  A tro tro, in case you were wondering, is a kind of Toyota van, usually, it appears, a scrappage or accident write off from Europe (tip: don't lean on the doors while you're going along, they tend to fly open as you go round corners).  They are designed to comfortably carry 10-15 people.  Generally in Ghana they'll squeeze in a few more.

Gettting back needs a little more care, as not all the tro tros will be going in the same direction.  This was the nut I really felt I needed to crack.  On Monday afternoon, I was in the centre of Kumasi, and my opportunity arose.  I ambled arond the tro tro station for a bit, wondering how to find a car for Abuakwa (the direction I needed to go in).  It would have been cheating, I decided, to call any of my Ghanaian friends and pass the phone to a hopeful looking driver - private taxis, by the same token, were equally off limits.  That said, a taxi driver did try to quote me 10 cedis to take me home when asked for directions.   How I laughed - you think I'm a mug? "Too expensive," I scolded,  "share taxi".

"OK then you stand in line" he countered, his enthusiasm for my custom mysteriously lessened.  So I did stand in line and after 10 minutes or so, clambered into the next tro tro for Abuakwa.  "Apatrapa" (where I needed to get out) I confidently announced to the driver's mate as I got in, and some 20 minutes later was strolling down the road to my front door.

Will 1, Kumasi Transport 0.

There's something a bit pathetic, I know, about someone my age swaggering in delight at being able to use public transport.  They're only buses FFS, and I'd been here nearly 2 weeks before I dared to try this.  Admittedly, I'm also aware of pride coming before a fall.  Having posted this, there is now NO WAY at all I can afford to get lost in Ghana's often chaotic transport network.  However, if a later blog opens with the words "I'm posting this from somewhere (I think) in Ghana - but to be honest I'm lost", you'll know what's happened, and jeering rights will be granted accordingly.

I'll let you know if it happens

Graduation Ceremony

On Staurday of this week, Young People We Care's Finance Officer, George, received his degree from the University of Kumasi.  A proud and exciting moment, witnessed by many of George's family and friends.

Set in a pleasant open area in front of the main buildings, well shaded by trees and canopies, the ceremony started, according to the program, at 10.00 prompt. The 'prompt' was undoubtedly to indicate an actual clock time as opposed to a Ghanaian 'sometime' - if that had been the understanding, chances are we'd still be there now.  To my surprise, 'prompt' seemed to work and we got underway only a few minutes after 10.  Maybe 'prompt' is the magic word to get something to happen on time here.  I'll try it sometime.

After various formalities, including a procession of dignitaries, professors and visting speakers, we all settled down to the main business of the morning - speeches.  Lots of speeches.  To say that these were long and drawn out would be like calling the Sahara 'a bit sandy'.  Frequently, a speech would continue for 10-15 minutes, you'd be thinking 'this one must be nearly done' and then the speaker would 'introduce' the actual speaker.  After an hour and a quarter, I checked the programme notes, and saw that we were on item 7 of 15.  At one point, shortly after 12.00, the audience burst out into a spontaneous round of applause and cheering.  I assumed they had been roused by something the speaker had said, until George Senior leaned over and explained to us.  It turned out that this was the Ghanaian way of dropping polite hints to their honoured guest speaker, the Rev Dr Fred Deegbe, that he might like to speed things up a bit.  Quite.  To his credit, he took the hint with semingly good grace and left the stage.  The succession of speeches was alleviated by occasional displays of drumming and dancing from a local cultural group, and some shrill renditions of chorale-like music from the college choir, with a booming synth-organ accompaniment.

Finally, at around 12.45 - 1.00, they decided to award some degrees.  As each name was read out, you could tell how many supporters the student had (and where the family was sitting) by the level and location of cheering that broke out in response.  Having sat through the morning so far, I doggedly kept my place in the program, determined that George would be well represented for his few seconds in the limelight.  We didn't let him down.

As each student got their certificate, they wandered away from the presentation area, and as the announcer implored them meekly to return to their seats, everyone took the opportunity to mill around and take photos of the new graduates with their friends and proud families.

We then spent a very pleasant afternoon socialising with George and his college friends.  First of all, we went to an upmarket hotel for a chinese meal, ate quietly, looked through the fence at the swimming pool, and then drove on to another friend's house for some drinks, more food, and more photos.  Finally, we rolled home at the civilised hour of 7pm.