So today was our second day all the groups were working at our agencies. I promised I'd get some more information to you from our agency orientation day, when we had a presentation on the Agbogbloshie Slum, where a lot of the SISS trainees live.
Over 70,000 people live in Agbogbloshie in unsanitary and dangerous conditions. Children play on the banks of a waste-filled ravine, and fire is always a threat, as the burning of old electronics is a major source of income for inhabitants (Agbogbloshie is a major dumping ground for first world electronic waste). People from the poor rural northern regions come to Accra to find work, but without skills many end up in Agbogbloshie, working poorly paid manual labor jobs and using their money "hand to mouth". It is particularly hard on women because they have the added risk of getting pregnant. They are then in more financial need, unable to do intense physical labor, and unable to go back to their families. Many turn to unsafe abortions (abortions are illegal in Ghana) that are often fatal for the woman.
SISS (Self-Initiative Support Services) provides a variety of services to help these people. They have a three month job training program in either computer skills, catering, batiking, or beading. They also provide microloans and provide trainees financial and safety education, and do workshops on health, hygiene, and safe sex. They didn't present a glamorized version though. Yes, sometimes people come back after getting the loans, unable to repay, or never come back at all. That's why they generally give loans to people who have taken some initiative on their own, and need the loan to fuel an already started plan.
Yesterday was our first day of the workshops and most of my group members felt good about it, but I was feeling discouraged. I had been stressing a lot the night before because I felt we were unorganized and were lacking direction. I finally realized it was because we had been presented the project in terms of a long term partnership, and now it just felt like a week of workshops and giving a lump of money at the end. A couple of my group members talked to me about it, and I didn't want to negatively affect the group so I tried to relax. We have also had some financial issues with the money we fundraised (we did reach our goal of about $1000, so thank you for your help). Dr. Gilbert had wanted us to make shirts for the women to build a sense of community between them, and they ended up costing more than we thought. Also we learned that we needed to pay the women lunch and transportation fare, plus a little extra since they would be missing a day of work to attend our workshops. Also, since we were presented in reproductive health, we were giving them condoms, but we didn't want to just hand them out so we put together little gift bags, which also of course cost money. I understood our need to spend money on these things but I kept seeing our microloan money dwindle down, and I was frustrated because that is what we were really fundraising for.
The first day it was good to start getting to know the women, but there was some communication barrier between us (even though we both speak English our different accent make it difficult). Also, it was a little frustrating on both ends I think because we had some extra time, but we did end up working out a better schedule, so that was good. I was still feeling a lot of the same frustrations though.
Today our presentation was on reproductive health and pregnancy prevention. We had all been a little nervous about this topic because we had been told that talking about sex in Ghana is taboo. However, I am happy to say the presentation went really well. The women were really engaged, asked lots of questions, had dialogue with each other, and I feel we had the chance to explain the falsehood of a lot of misconceptions. Some of the financial and structural issues were worked out today as well. Dr. Gilbert came at the end of the day and we had a meeting with the two directors of SISS, Ms. Selina and Mr. Asante. We talked decided the program would pay some of the fee for the shirts (so the money will come from the program fee, not our fundraising). Also we talked a lot about decision making for who will receive the microloans and plans for our partnership with SISS in the future, both of which I had felt really needed to be addressed. We have more of a plan now, and I came out feeling a lot better. I still adjusting to a lack of structure (something I realize I really need, or feel the need to create when it is absent) and uncertainty that comes with working with several different people and groups, but I have hope that with the effort of all parties, we can work to make this partnership better.
Stuck in a rut of frustration and discouragement, I happened to run into Kwame on Monday night. I told him about how I was feeling, and he shared that a lot of the groups were dealing with the same issues, as they all had in previous years as well. He told me how it had a lot to do with a mentality that foreign=money, so most people in Ghana think that anyone foreign has loads of extra cash lying around, and if they don't they're just being lazy not to get it (as my professor pointed out, this is comparable to how Westerners generally think all Africans are poor and living in huts). When DeAnna tried to explain that poverty exists in the U.S., one woman replied "everyone in the U.S. has money, and if they don't, they can just use credit cards". Kwame talked about how this mentality, and the dependency it leads to, comes from years of colonialism and foreign aid. He told me how his country shouldn't be poor, they have the resources and ability to carry themselves, but political corruption and foreign intervention keep the country undeveloped and its people poor. I could barely stand listening to such a kind-hearted person talk about the injustice he is surrounded by and seemingly helpless to. What do you think the answer is? I asked him desperately, as I have many others I have had the chance to have this conversation with. He mainly articulated an end to polictical corruption, but he also talked about how their are people like us, honestly wanting and striving for change. It may not be big, he said, but the little things we can do do make a difference. With the feeling of pure goodness he poured out of his kind eyes and hopeful smile, I couldn't help but believe him. Maybe somehow if I hold onto that feeling, I can keep doing the little things, and maybe with enough people, we can make a big difference.
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