Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The North: Part Two

After spending time in Yendi, we drove a few hours west to Tamale (TAH-ma-lay). Throughout our time in Tamale (Wednesday, October 7-Saturday, October 10), we visited a number of Non-Governmental Organizations. The first was an NGO called GILLBT that works to translate the Bible into many of the local languages in Ghana. There are over 60 languages spoken in Ghana, and so far, the Bible is only fully translated into 10 of these languages. There are 23 New Testaments translated as well, and this NGO is working to translate the Bible into more and more languages! We also visited World Vision, CRS (Catholic Relief Services), and CCFC (Christian Children’s Fund of Canada). These three NGOs are all working at coordinating and funding similar programs including water sanitation and hygiene, heath (especially women’s health during and after pregnancy), micro enterprise (like B.I.R.D.S. in Yendi), agriculture, and education. These visits were all very interesting but left me with more to think about than I ever thought possible...

Development is something that I have been interested in for a long time but don’t know much about. No wonder there is a whole major devoted to the study of International Development—it is so complex! NGOs approach development in very different ways. Some go into communities with a Western agenda because they believe that they know better than the locals what is best for them. Others believe that development should begin in a community (grassroots development) with initial ideas that come from the local people. This way, the people have a say in want from development. This said, what is the objective of development? What is the best approach? Is it more meaningful for people from the community to lead development initiatives? What role do I have in international development as a Westerner? As a Christian? Should development go hand in hand with evangelism? Should it not?

I have a lot to say about World Vision. I had an unexpected, frustrating, and mind-opening experience. World Vision basically tells people they are giving a monthly contribution to one child when in reality (and in the fine print) they are giving the money to a whole community. At first, I felt pretty deceived by this marketing scheme. However, after being here it is very clear for numerous reasons that giving one child or one family money would not be beneficial for anyone. African culture is incredibly community oriented. Focusing on individual children or families would be problematic. Although using this marketing method World Vision procures the funds they need, it bothers me that it plays into the ignorance of the average Westerner. We write our monthly checks, not really knowing or caring about how our money is really being spent based on the community and cultural needs of the people. We feel good about ourselves for having a picture of a sad looking poor child on our fridges…but it rarely goes further or deeper than that. The desire to truly learn and know about the people who live like this in the world isn’t there. So much to think about!

In Tamale, we stayed in a place called T.I.C.C.S. It stands for Tamale Institute of Cross Cultural Studies. It is a place that educates people—especially foreign missionaries—about Ghanaian culture and languages. The institute offers classes and immersion programs to learn local languages. Through this immersion program after 2 months in a Dagomba village in Northern Ghana, participants have the vocabulary of an 8 year-old! Our conversations with the director who is Polish, studied in Rome, and has lived in Ghana forever were incredibly interesting. He gave us a lot of insight and information you may be interested in:

-8 out of 10 people in Northern Ghana live below the poverty line (on less than $1 per day). Hi. That’s a lot.
-32% of females and 65% of males go to elementary school in the North and the gap is widening. If a family can afford to send a child to school at all, they will almost always send a son before a daughter. Girls just get married young anyway and most don’t work outside the home at all—why pay to educate them?
-Fonio is delicious! It is a very tedious and difficult to harvest food crop which is only found in Northern Ghana. It’s a lot like cream of wheat or oatmeal and is usually eaten for breakfast. It is called “The Hungry Man’s Food” because it lasts up to 12 years when stored in a cloth. Nothing spoils or eats it!

Our favorite part about staying at T.I.C.C.S. was the Jungle Bar. You heard me, they have a Jungle Bar. Where we actually never drank. Ironic. The Jungle Bar is a tiny outdoor restaurant/bar with jungly furniture and jungly plants for decoration. It reminded me of Ecuador. They had good food and an incredible atmosphere for open-air, tropical, relaxed socializing. Wednesday, the first night we were in Tamale, Anica, Miranda, Grace and I had dinner in a somewhat secluded corner of the bar. While we were there, a Ghanaian guy about our age named FT came and sat by us. He asked us to teach him about ourselves and our insights after being in Ghana for a while. It turned into a great conversation and eventually his friends Iddrisu and Osman joined us. Anica went to bed early, but the six of us that were left had a very enjoyable evening talking with these guys.

FT, Iddrisu, and Osman are all in their early twenties and have all gone to technical school in Tamale. They had such unique views about marriage and women’s roles—they want their marriages to be about true love, respect, and sharing. They said that they hated that women have set expectations in the house: they are expected to cook, clean, and care for the children. This is troubling for these guys and they don’t want that kind of marriage. Iddrisu (who graduated from art school and may be the only vegetarian in Ghana) and Osman now work for a place that teaches drumming and dance (we found them in our Guide Book!). Apparently they (the instructors) also perform and are the best Dance Crew in Northern Ghana. They taught us some rhythms, which Miranda and I loved! We also played games with them, including BS, which they were horrible at. Those boys just couldn’t lie well! We made shadow puppets on the wall and laughed hard. It was so much fun that we made sure to plan on meeting up the next night.

The following evening, Thursday, we met in a gazebo near the Jungle Bar and they brought a bunch of drums with them. So for an hour or so, we played the drums together. Grace was the first one to get roped into dancing. After a while, we were all dancing together in this little gazebo—traditional African dances, salsa, dances made up on the spot, and silly children’s dances. This wonderful time of cultural exchange and fun is an experience I will never forget. The next night (after possibly the most touristy waste-of-a-day ever: driving 3 hours to sit on a crocodile and pretend to cross the border into Burkina Faso when we were really in "no man's land.") we met again for dinner and goodbyes. We were sad to leave Tamale. Our friends still call us every week and beg us to come back for a visit. Maybe next time I’m in Ghana. Iddrisu promised to mail me one of his paintings once I get home—I hope he does! I have come to the realization that I enjoy the company of artist/musician/thinkers.

On Saturday afternoon we drove to Mole (Moe-lay) National Park—a few hours west of Tamale. On the way, we stopped at the oldest mosque in Ghana (or in Africa? I can’t remember) in a town called Larabanga. It’s a really strange looking mosque.

We spent Saturday and Sunday at Mole. It is a huge National Park and besides the little motel, restaurant, and pool, it is completely uninhabited. It is so beautiful there!!! The pool overlooks a huge valley and we saw 15-20 elephants from up above. So cool. And there were tons of Pumbas (worthogs) right outside of our rooms. We went a long safari walk on Saturday during the heat of the day. Oh my WORD it was hot. The hottest it’s been so far…over a hundred for sure. We saw antelope, Rafiki (baboons), elephant footprints, and BEAUTY!

Sunday we had an amazing little church service with our group in one of our hotel rooms. The acoustics were breathtaking when we all sang together. In the afternoon, we swam in the pool because it was too hot to do anything else. Around 3:30 seven of us rode in the back of a pick-up truck for a driving safari. It was so gorgeous!! And sort of like a roller coaster. I stood up most of the time. This added to the adventure and kept the Tsese Flies from biting my entire body. Those little things are vicious. After the safari, I had an incredible dinner: mashed yams (like mashed potatoes) and a whole grilled tilapia. It was so good. It was really nice to have some reflection/relaxation/vacation time to conclude this thought provoking trip. I loved Mole and want to go back there some day.

I’ll conclude with a quote from my journal:

"It seems that everything we saw and talked about this week was two-fold. There is good and bad going on in most situations—unhelpful and helpful, selfish and selfless, frustrating and encouraging, hopeless and hopeful, destructive and beautiful. I don’t know where or how to begin thinking about that. It seems that the only conclusion I can make from my experiences, insights, and education so far on this semester program is that there is no conclusion. There is no human initiated grand scheme or way to fix it. How do I fit into that? What will this disorienting feeling feel like when I get home? What skills do I have to offer and be valuable in further the Kingdom of God? Is it God’s point that the only thing I have left to lean on for assurance is HIM?”

What an amazing week!

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