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.