As I wake each morning, leave my home, and go out into this still foreign world, I wonder what experiences should I share? What moments have changed me and my thoughts, and by passing them on may initiate a change in you.
Shortly after arriving in Ghana I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. It's the story of a young shepard boy searching for a treasure, but while on the journey he discovers the real treasures are within. There are many moments throughout the story that I have identified with along my own journey, especially this one:
"He was learning a lot of new things. Some of them were things that he had already experienced, and weren't really new, but that he had never perceived before. And he had never perceived them because he had become accustomed to them."
There's thunder in the distance and as I reflect on my week, I imagine many people would be very happy with the arrival of some rain. The EPC,G (who I work for) has within it an NGO called the Evangelical Presbyterian Development & Relief Agency, and there are many branches throughout the agency. One of the branches is the development of six agricultural sites in Eastern and Northern Ghana. This week I was able to visit two sites. The first, Ho Farms, is focused more on animals, and training people how to raise healthier, stronger animals; there is a small mango field and also a building where they cultivate mushrooms. The second site, Vekoleonu Farms, is focused more on agriculture. I was given big, black rubber boots, two sizes too big, and proceeded to walk through 12 acres of corn, mango, cassava, palm, and orange fields.
Both days I was able to talk directly to local farmers, about the process of farming different plants and breeding different animals. Especially in the fields, the most interesting thing I realized was the primitiveness of the farming: the men go into the fields with machetees in hand--to weed and maintain the growing plants. The men and women go into the fields to pick the ripe fruits and vegetables, and they of course, carry the full, heavy baskets on their heads. There is no irrigation system--the irrigation system consists of trusting the rains will come and sadly they have not. A farmer told me "If you trust the rains, you will fail." The next step to improving the farming was to raise the funds to build a pond and then buy a pump to transport the water... This will probably take years.
What does this mean for you? I hope that you will simply be more aware of the advancement of the US. The farmers kept telling me, "We are not like America, we don't have irrigation systems, we just have to wait, and hope the rain will come."
What else?
--more than 50% of the nation makes less then 20,000 cedis a day (about $2)
--the average person does not have indoor plumbing, so there are public restrooms (usually holes in the ground) throughout the villages and cities
--clothes are hand washed and line dried
--there is no trash disposal program, so either you burn your trash or take it to a common area in the community (this includes toilet paper); we burn our trash beside the house
--all water must be purified and/or filtered before it can be drunk
--the electricity goes off every three days in an effort for the government to conserve energy
--air conditioning and internet are rare, luxuries
--sheep, goats, and chickens roam the street, they say each knows where to go home to at the end of the day
The farmers speak truth when they say, this is not like America. But I hope that through sharing this you will not have pity for Ghana or it's people. Rather I hope you will learn something about life in another corner of the world, and you will be challenged by the differences... By simply burning my trash I have become directly connected to my actions, and by purifying my water I have been connected to my needs. While living in Ghana I have faced the reality of the demands of my life, and through my perceptions I have learned a lot of new things because I have not yet become accustomed to these experiences.
