On Saturday, Alex and I traveled to Anloga for the internet. Since we now have to make a trip every time we want internet access, it gives us an opportunity to reflect on things and participate in some good discussions. This particular instance, we were talking about identity, how it is created, how it is sustained, and how we, as people, create ourselves.
The realization is that here, or in any unfamiliar place, one must re-negotiate their identity. How well they do this, will determine the quality of their experience and their perception of their travels. What people naturally do is define themselves by things, materialistic, substance lacking, things. For example, I love coffee, I enjoy going Starbucks to read my book and enjoy my tasty iced beverage. I love going to the gym, working out, exercising. I eat certain foods at certain times of the day. I like to dress a certain way, keep my home looking a certain way, listen to specific artists. The list goes on.
What happens when you place yourself in completely unfamiliar, not previously experienced, surroundings? All of these prior sources of identity, familiarity and comfort are stripped from us until we are nothing but our pure un-contaminated selves. We have nothing to fall back on, no point of reference. I cannot meet someone new and tell them my favorite Starbucks beverage and have them understand. Starbucks? What is that? I cannot talk to someone, and tell them in my conversation that I love going to the gym. The gym? The gym does not exist here.
I also cannot hold on to my previously understood expectations. I cannot expect that anything comprising ‘life’ here, in a new community, location, country, system of beliefs and norms, will be anything like the individual parts that comprise ‘life’ for me in the United States. If I were to hold on to my old expectations I would encounter nothing but disappointment and frustration. My time would be ruined, because I would not be able to let go of everything I thought I was, and discover just who I really am without those materialist things.
You like buses to run on a time schedule? You like to eat yogurt for breakfast? You like people to work on deadlines, and get things to you on time? You expect that A causes B, B causes C and D will proceed E? Wrong. F follows K, Z comes before A, nothing is the same. As soon as you let everything go and understand this, you will become completely comfortable, satisfied, and fulfilled with the life around you.
What happens when you are able to let yourself go, completely open yourself up to an entirely different way of life and way of being… existing… is a complete influx of knowledge and shift in perceptions. Your mind will be opened and you will begin to make connections, find similarities, with what you once knew, and what you now understand.
You will make discoveries that hit the root of pure human nature. You will begin to see how different surroundings have the power to mold us humans into different actions. You will see how different surroundings make possible the formulation of different materialistic things, with different inbred meanings, depending on their context. And then you will see, we are really all the same.
Everyone, everywhere, struggles. Everyone everywhere, needs to eat. Universal truths. My own struggle is not any different than anybody else’s. But, my own struggle will be worse if I lead myself to believe that I am alone in it.
So what must we do? We must let ourselves go. We must understand that when we define ourselves with material we are insulting who we really are beneath it.
The faster I let my own ‘material’ go, and let myself understand another cultures ‘material,’ the faster I will understand the meanings that underlie this material. I will then be able to assimilate, relate, and be at peace.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Final Exam Day
Final exam day for client business training classes was on Friday. What a day! Everyone had to take a ten question oral exam and pass with a 70% or more in order to be eligible for a loan. Clients were also finishing up their business plans from class on Thursday. Their business plans are written in their groups, so one plan per group, and they are then given to the Anlo Rural Bank for their loans.
We started our morning by printing off the final exam questions and going over them all with our teachers. We had to be sure that the questions would translate well into Ewe, and we also gave them 14 possible questions, of which they chose the best ten. After we had done this, I went to one of the morning classes in order to help them finish their business plans. There were only about two people in the class who understood any English at all, so I had one of the young boys in the village translate for me.
On a quick tangent. There are three boys here that have been absolutely wonderful to our team. They will spend entire days at a time translating for us, doing tedious and exhausting surveys over and over again with clients. They are all in school, but lucky for us they are on summer break right now. As a result we have three of the brightest kids in the village working for Lumana… I cannot even imagine what we would be doing without them.
Alright, so here I was standing in front of a class with Gadzito by my side, teaching savings plans. Somehow, perhaps by the grace of God, we were able to do the entire savings plan portion of the business plan with the whole class. This portion of the business plan has each group come up with a personal, business, and emergency savings goal. For example, their personal goal might be to save for their children’s school, or to build a new room on their house, their business goal might be to purchase a new hairdryer (in the case of the hairdressers), and their emergency savings goal is two weeks of personal expenses.
We start by taking the final amount they need to have saved, and then they tell me when they want to have it saved by (6 months, one year, two years?), and finally we calculate how much they will need to set aside each week in order to reach their goal.
This seems like a simple task. But then you think about it from a different perspective. You are trying to teach an entire class of people to make three different savings goals. Most of them have never participated in any sort of savings, much less divided their goals into different categories. Once you explain the concept of categories (through your translator of course), you must then communicate that they need to pick a particular item to save for, not just an arbitrary amount of money they would like to achieve for that ‘account.’
Once we accomplished this it was wonderful to see each group get excited about the prospect of having that thing which they decided to save for. By breaking it down into a weekly amount that they would need to set aside, the goal became much more tangible in their minds. There was a new energy of empowerment flowing through the room. They all realized how capable they are of actually reaching the goals that they set for themselves. What an experience!
After my lunch break I went back to the school to help the afternoon classes. Both of the afternoon classes had been able to finish their business plans the day before, but we still needed to administer the oral exam. Our four teachers were overwhelmed trying to process everyone, because our ten question exam was taking about 15 minutes per person.
I set myself up in a classroom, this time with Victor by my side to translate, and began giving oral exams. I gave exams for about two hours, all the way until we had processed every last student.
This was Lumana’s first time doing an oral exam, and there were good lessons learned in the process. Our team debriefed after the day and brainstormed ways to make the questions better understood once they are translated into Ewe. We also brainstormed how we can alter the questions so we are sure to be testing not terms, but application of the concepts. By applying all of our changes, the exam can be administered quicker in the future, and it will also be easier to translate, especially for the boys that are helping us. (One common issue I had was Victor telling me “by clarifying what this question is asking I am essentially giving them the answer.”) I ended up making up a few questions on the fly to remedy this problem. The process will be streamlined and uniform for our next round of clients.
This week we have our graduation ceremony for clients… and Patience, our loan officer, will be filling out loan applications with every group. We will then process all of the loan applications, decide on the final amounts, and make the money available for our clients in the bank. How exciting!
We started our morning by printing off the final exam questions and going over them all with our teachers. We had to be sure that the questions would translate well into Ewe, and we also gave them 14 possible questions, of which they chose the best ten. After we had done this, I went to one of the morning classes in order to help them finish their business plans. There were only about two people in the class who understood any English at all, so I had one of the young boys in the village translate for me.
On a quick tangent. There are three boys here that have been absolutely wonderful to our team. They will spend entire days at a time translating for us, doing tedious and exhausting surveys over and over again with clients. They are all in school, but lucky for us they are on summer break right now. As a result we have three of the brightest kids in the village working for Lumana… I cannot even imagine what we would be doing without them.
Alright, so here I was standing in front of a class with Gadzito by my side, teaching savings plans. Somehow, perhaps by the grace of God, we were able to do the entire savings plan portion of the business plan with the whole class. This portion of the business plan has each group come up with a personal, business, and emergency savings goal. For example, their personal goal might be to save for their children’s school, or to build a new room on their house, their business goal might be to purchase a new hairdryer (in the case of the hairdressers), and their emergency savings goal is two weeks of personal expenses.
We start by taking the final amount they need to have saved, and then they tell me when they want to have it saved by (6 months, one year, two years?), and finally we calculate how much they will need to set aside each week in order to reach their goal.
This seems like a simple task. But then you think about it from a different perspective. You are trying to teach an entire class of people to make three different savings goals. Most of them have never participated in any sort of savings, much less divided their goals into different categories. Once you explain the concept of categories (through your translator of course), you must then communicate that they need to pick a particular item to save for, not just an arbitrary amount of money they would like to achieve for that ‘account.’
Once we accomplished this it was wonderful to see each group get excited about the prospect of having that thing which they decided to save for. By breaking it down into a weekly amount that they would need to set aside, the goal became much more tangible in their minds. There was a new energy of empowerment flowing through the room. They all realized how capable they are of actually reaching the goals that they set for themselves. What an experience!
After my lunch break I went back to the school to help the afternoon classes. Both of the afternoon classes had been able to finish their business plans the day before, but we still needed to administer the oral exam. Our four teachers were overwhelmed trying to process everyone, because our ten question exam was taking about 15 minutes per person.
I set myself up in a classroom, this time with Victor by my side to translate, and began giving oral exams. I gave exams for about two hours, all the way until we had processed every last student.
This was Lumana’s first time doing an oral exam, and there were good lessons learned in the process. Our team debriefed after the day and brainstormed ways to make the questions better understood once they are translated into Ewe. We also brainstormed how we can alter the questions so we are sure to be testing not terms, but application of the concepts. By applying all of our changes, the exam can be administered quicker in the future, and it will also be easier to translate, especially for the boys that are helping us. (One common issue I had was Victor telling me “by clarifying what this question is asking I am essentially giving them the answer.”) I ended up making up a few questions on the fly to remedy this problem. The process will be streamlined and uniform for our next round of clients.
This week we have our graduation ceremony for clients… and Patience, our loan officer, will be filling out loan applications with every group. We will then process all of the loan applications, decide on the final amounts, and make the money available for our clients in the bank. How exciting!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Tragic Loss Of A Cellphone
How does one lose their cell phone? I will tell you…
On Friday, my groupmates and I decided to take a trip to Dzita (pronounced Jeeta) for a bit of R and R after a long week. Dzita has a wonderful little hotel resort called ‘Meet me There’ on a lagoon in front of the ocean. It was founded as an NGO, and they reinvest all of their profits into the community. They come complete with a bar, lounge chairs, a diving platform, and a monkey (yes, a monkey).
So, after a nice afternoon in Dzita we were getting ready to head home to Atorkor so we could make it in time for dinner. We piled six of us into a small cab on the way there and then we got the cab drivers number so we could just have him bring us home as well. We easily could have caught a tro tro home, or another cab instead, but we liked this guy so we wanted to give him our business again. In addition to that, his car seemed as if it was about to fall apart… and we all seem to have a bit of a soft spot so we gave him a bit of sympathy business.
Well we called our driver about thirty minutes before we needed to leave so he could make his way over. In the meantime, a large group of locals from Keta showed up to ‘Meet me There,’ they were on their way home from a funeral (funerals are a huge deal here). Somehow we got some of them to start taking tots with us (shots). I was a spectator in these activities, but it was hilarious. Funeral goers are good partiers, and some of the men were definitely able to throw down. PJ and Eric were able to make the shots ‘on us’ as they only cost about 15 cents each.
These were very lively and drunk people. They had us walk out to the street with them and were attempting to get us to crawl into the back of their pickup truck so they could take us with them. In the midst of this chaotic exchange complicated by a language barrier, an old man was also trying to find out where we were living so he could come back tomorrow and take me out to dinner or something…
Despite all the chaos, we managed to escape their grasp and wish them well as they went on their way. I did not escape without a kiss on the cheek from this unnamed old Ghanaian man, and Sammie barely escaped the very forceful and strong hold of a Ghanaian woman that would have really enjoyed taking her home.
After this whole exchange we were laughing at the thought of what the result might be of them over consuming as opposed to us over consuming. We can imagine the possibility of one of us waking up after a crazy night in the states and wondering ‘Oooh no, how many people did I decide to treat to a drink last night…?’ Whereas their norm would be something more like waking up in the morning with Yavoo’s on their floor and thinking, ‘SHOOT! We hijacked some Yavoos again guys…”
Moving on…
Our cab driver finally arrived and we piled into the car for our trip home. We ended up finding out that the cab drivers name was Oscar. Now, there are a lot of speed bumps that one must drive over in order to get from Dzita to Atorkor. Poor Oscar’s car, run down and weighed down by 6 crazy yavoos, could barely make it over these speed bumps without dying. Our crew seemed to think it would be helpful to cheer Oscar on over every speed bump. So here we were, driving through a village, chanting “OSCAR! OSCAR! OSCAR! WHOOOOO!!!!” Over every speed bump. We reduced ourselves into a state of hysterical laughter at this, a completely contagious and hysterical laughter. Eric was in the front seat with Karin on his lap, his head falling backward with every laugh attack. Alex was on my left and every time she saw Eric laugh she started up again, because he was such a sight. Meanwhile I was laughing at Sammie, who was on my right and fighting not to snort every time she laughed. I can still see the image of her holding up her hand in the air and waving it up and down exclaiming “I just can’t stop!” I am not sure what PJ was doing in the midst of this. Probably had the window down so the wind could blow through his long Yavoo hair…
Just as our attacks were dying down we hit the bad part of the road, one that just a few week ago was completely blocked off due to the sand that was washed over it during a storm. There was another car driving on the road coming from the other direction, and they obviously did not understand that they should be the ones yielding for us. Thus we were pushed sideways into a ditch of sand, and poor Oscars car was stuck.
No problem! Out jump the Yavoos to push out the car! And the Yavoos save the day. We must be a strong bunch… the car was out in less than 30 seconds. But here is where things start to go downhill… somewhere in the middle of this getting out of the car and getting back in it Samantha’s purse fell sideways and a bunch of stuff came out.
Here starts the sad story of our little Nokia phone. When we were getting out of the taxi back in Atorkor we collected everything we saw that had fallen onto the floor of the cab. I checked the side I was on, and Sammie checked hers. Unfortunately, it was dark outside and we could have easily not seen something that was underneath a seat. We went in to dinner, and about 30 minutes later realized there was no Nokia.
We tried calling the cab driver, but to no avail. As Felix (our local friend) says, once a phone is forgotten in a cab it is gone forever. Thus the fate of Nokia. Gone forever.
Good-bye Nokia, you treated us well…..
On Friday, my groupmates and I decided to take a trip to Dzita (pronounced Jeeta) for a bit of R and R after a long week. Dzita has a wonderful little hotel resort called ‘Meet me There’ on a lagoon in front of the ocean. It was founded as an NGO, and they reinvest all of their profits into the community. They come complete with a bar, lounge chairs, a diving platform, and a monkey (yes, a monkey).
So, after a nice afternoon in Dzita we were getting ready to head home to Atorkor so we could make it in time for dinner. We piled six of us into a small cab on the way there and then we got the cab drivers number so we could just have him bring us home as well. We easily could have caught a tro tro home, or another cab instead, but we liked this guy so we wanted to give him our business again. In addition to that, his car seemed as if it was about to fall apart… and we all seem to have a bit of a soft spot so we gave him a bit of sympathy business.
Well we called our driver about thirty minutes before we needed to leave so he could make his way over. In the meantime, a large group of locals from Keta showed up to ‘Meet me There,’ they were on their way home from a funeral (funerals are a huge deal here). Somehow we got some of them to start taking tots with us (shots). I was a spectator in these activities, but it was hilarious. Funeral goers are good partiers, and some of the men were definitely able to throw down. PJ and Eric were able to make the shots ‘on us’ as they only cost about 15 cents each.
These were very lively and drunk people. They had us walk out to the street with them and were attempting to get us to crawl into the back of their pickup truck so they could take us with them. In the midst of this chaotic exchange complicated by a language barrier, an old man was also trying to find out where we were living so he could come back tomorrow and take me out to dinner or something…
Despite all the chaos, we managed to escape their grasp and wish them well as they went on their way. I did not escape without a kiss on the cheek from this unnamed old Ghanaian man, and Sammie barely escaped the very forceful and strong hold of a Ghanaian woman that would have really enjoyed taking her home.
After this whole exchange we were laughing at the thought of what the result might be of them over consuming as opposed to us over consuming. We can imagine the possibility of one of us waking up after a crazy night in the states and wondering ‘Oooh no, how many people did I decide to treat to a drink last night…?’ Whereas their norm would be something more like waking up in the morning with Yavoo’s on their floor and thinking, ‘SHOOT! We hijacked some Yavoos again guys…”
Moving on…
Our cab driver finally arrived and we piled into the car for our trip home. We ended up finding out that the cab drivers name was Oscar. Now, there are a lot of speed bumps that one must drive over in order to get from Dzita to Atorkor. Poor Oscar’s car, run down and weighed down by 6 crazy yavoos, could barely make it over these speed bumps without dying. Our crew seemed to think it would be helpful to cheer Oscar on over every speed bump. So here we were, driving through a village, chanting “OSCAR! OSCAR! OSCAR! WHOOOOO!!!!” Over every speed bump. We reduced ourselves into a state of hysterical laughter at this, a completely contagious and hysterical laughter. Eric was in the front seat with Karin on his lap, his head falling backward with every laugh attack. Alex was on my left and every time she saw Eric laugh she started up again, because he was such a sight. Meanwhile I was laughing at Sammie, who was on my right and fighting not to snort every time she laughed. I can still see the image of her holding up her hand in the air and waving it up and down exclaiming “I just can’t stop!” I am not sure what PJ was doing in the midst of this. Probably had the window down so the wind could blow through his long Yavoo hair…
Just as our attacks were dying down we hit the bad part of the road, one that just a few week ago was completely blocked off due to the sand that was washed over it during a storm. There was another car driving on the road coming from the other direction, and they obviously did not understand that they should be the ones yielding for us. Thus we were pushed sideways into a ditch of sand, and poor Oscars car was stuck.
No problem! Out jump the Yavoos to push out the car! And the Yavoos save the day. We must be a strong bunch… the car was out in less than 30 seconds. But here is where things start to go downhill… somewhere in the middle of this getting out of the car and getting back in it Samantha’s purse fell sideways and a bunch of stuff came out.
Here starts the sad story of our little Nokia phone. When we were getting out of the taxi back in Atorkor we collected everything we saw that had fallen onto the floor of the cab. I checked the side I was on, and Sammie checked hers. Unfortunately, it was dark outside and we could have easily not seen something that was underneath a seat. We went in to dinner, and about 30 minutes later realized there was no Nokia.
We tried calling the cab driver, but to no avail. As Felix (our local friend) says, once a phone is forgotten in a cab it is gone forever. Thus the fate of Nokia. Gone forever.
Good-bye Nokia, you treated us well…..
The Lumana 20 Promises (For you, Dad)
I think I recieved a special request from dad about the 20 promises! Here they are!
Lumana 20 promises: these are 20 specific promises that the groups can keep and commit to upholding in their lives. They must pledge to uphold the Lumana 20 Promises at the beginning of each and every weekly group meeting.
1. I will set achievable goals every day- What do I want to accomplish today?
2. I will clean my house every morning and evening
3. I will sleep under a treated mosquito net every night
4. I will keep myself and my children healthy
5. I will make personal hygiene a daily priority – for example, I will wash my hands with soap after the toilet or before cooking.
6. I will visit a public toilet rather than going free range
7. I will make my loan repayments regularly to Lumana through Anlo Rural Bank
8. I will attend meetings regularly and will be on time
9. I will make regular contributions to my savings account
10. I will treat members of my cooperative equally and encourage them (unity, friendliness, respect)
11. I will contribute my token (Easter levy and welfare dues)
12. I will participate in communal labour and attend meetings regularly and promptly
13. I will ensure that my children are regular at school
14. I will properly feed myself and my family
15. I will ensure my family takes treated water always
16. I will drink at least 3 litres of water per day (6 sachets)
17. I will rest at least 7 hours at night
18. I will make sure all of my current children are adequately fed and taken care of before bringing another into the world.
19. I will visit friends, family and my group members when they are sick
20. I will assist other group members (financially or otherwise) when they are in need
These were at the suggestion of our local teachers, and address many local needs. A lot of the topics here will be covered in the LLL's (Lumana Life Lessons) which I am writing. These are the 26-week lesson plans which consist of one lesson for every weekly repayment meeting that clients attend. The lessons are a more holistic approach to education and cover topics such as preventative health, general wellness, and community development.
Until next time!
Maresa
Lumana 20 promises: these are 20 specific promises that the groups can keep and commit to upholding in their lives. They must pledge to uphold the Lumana 20 Promises at the beginning of each and every weekly group meeting.
1. I will set achievable goals every day- What do I want to accomplish today?
2. I will clean my house every morning and evening
3. I will sleep under a treated mosquito net every night
4. I will keep myself and my children healthy
5. I will make personal hygiene a daily priority – for example, I will wash my hands with soap after the toilet or before cooking.
6. I will visit a public toilet rather than going free range
7. I will make my loan repayments regularly to Lumana through Anlo Rural Bank
8. I will attend meetings regularly and will be on time
9. I will make regular contributions to my savings account
10. I will treat members of my cooperative equally and encourage them (unity, friendliness, respect)
11. I will contribute my token (Easter levy and welfare dues)
12. I will participate in communal labour and attend meetings regularly and promptly
13. I will ensure that my children are regular at school
14. I will properly feed myself and my family
15. I will ensure my family takes treated water always
16. I will drink at least 3 litres of water per day (6 sachets)
17. I will rest at least 7 hours at night
18. I will make sure all of my current children are adequately fed and taken care of before bringing another into the world.
19. I will visit friends, family and my group members when they are sick
20. I will assist other group members (financially or otherwise) when they are in need
These were at the suggestion of our local teachers, and address many local needs. A lot of the topics here will be covered in the LLL's (Lumana Life Lessons) which I am writing. These are the 26-week lesson plans which consist of one lesson for every weekly repayment meeting that clients attend. The lessons are a more holistic approach to education and cover topics such as preventative health, general wellness, and community development.
Until next time!
Maresa
Saturday, August 29, 2009
A New Beginning
Saturday afternoon. It is almost lunch time and I am incredibly content to be sitting in the Okudzeto House instead of at the IT Centre. I have felt like since we got here it was GO GO GO! We not only moved twice in the first week, but we also spent a few days away in a neighboring village, another day making a trip to the market, and we then spent the entire weekend in Accra and Cape Coast. This week has marked the first entire week that I have stayed in Atorkor.
Our new house, the Okudzeto House, is an improvement from our last. Still, it has some strange oddities that are just a simple reminder “this is Africa…” From the outside the house appears large, two story, and rectangular. Around the entire circumference of the house, upstairs and down, are blue shutters. It looks estate like. Our team occupies only the upstairs, with no way of getting into the downstairs. Still, the appearance of the house is one of the nicest you will find in this village.
Once inside one will have a simple yet unanswerable thought, “Why?” Growing up with a dad who builds houses, this question is even more prominent in my mind. To explain: When you open the door to the inside of Okudzeto, you will find that you have been tricked. You will realize that your living space is actually much less than you imagined it would be, because there are really only three small rooms. These small rooms are in the middle of a hallway that goes all the way around the entire upstairs. People in Africa must love doors and windows, because the three rooms, which are in a line, all have doors into one another. They also have doors on both sides into the outer hallway. In addition to the doors, our rooms have shutters as well. Shutters which simply open into the outer hallway. Thus, in order to get the musty smell out of the house, and the light into the rooms, we must open two layers of shutters, the outer ones to light the hallway, and then the inner ones to (hopefully) light the rooms. To get a breeze is difficult. There are no screens on the outer windows, but some of the inner windows do have screens. Unfortunately, due to poor planning, the screens block the locks that close the shutters to the inner rooms. Thus, windows that do have screens all have two large holes in them, one on top, and one on bottom, to enable a person to unlock and open them. These also enable the bugs to join us and keep us company.
Enough about our residence. We have beds to sleep in and a roof over our heads. We have dry cereal to eat in the morning and a pot to boil water for coffee :)
This week was a whirlwind of activities. We finished collaborating with our four local teachers on Monday, finalizing our orientation + 10 course lesson series for our new clients. This allowed us to gain a local perspective on many aspects of our lesson plans. What are the best real life examples we can include? In what order should we introduce certain concepts? Realistically, how long will this take to explain? The list goes on.
Not only did our teachers help design the very lessons they will be teaching, they also created the ‘Lumana 20’ The Lumana 20 is a list of 20 promises that we will endorse in the community and throughout our loan cycles. They include items such as ‘I will keep a clean home,’ or ‘I will feed my family and children at least two full meals a day,’ or ‘I will use designated areas when I go to the bathroom.’
On Tuesday we had orientation day. Although we thought we had a pretty good idea of how many people would be there (Everyone who was invited to orientation had been through two interviews) we had a flood of new potential clients also arrive. We ended up not only doing the orientation, but also doing many more interviews. As a result, we have reached our capacity of 80 clients for this education and loan cycle, and have at least 20 more on a waiting list for our next cycle.
We took Wednesday off, since it is market day for most of our clients and they will be away at market selling their goods. On Thursday, lesson 1 began. Many of our clients opted to create their own cooperative groups, and we thus had to re arrange everyone into new classes with different teachers.
We decided as a team that we should always let our clients choose their own groups, as they are ultimately responsible for everybody’s loan in their group. To explain, if one person in their group defaults, they are ALL liable for the repayment of the loan. This acts as a type of collateral for their loans (social collateral), since they do not have financial collateral. We know that people will only create a group with others who they trust, and this acts as the first qualification clients will have to meet before receiving a loan. If no one in their own community trusts them, they will ultimately not ever have the chance to receive a loan. This is one way in which Lumana is protected from defaults due to irresponsibility.
Not only did we rearrange classes, but we also decided to do both morning and afternoon sessions. This helps us to accommodate the different professions within the community. Two teachers now hold their classes from 10-12, and the other two hold their classes from 1-3.
I sat in on classes Thursday and Friday, taking a desk in the back of the room and listening to our teachers give their lessons in Ewe. I could not understand what they were saying, but it was a great experience to see them draw the illustrations on the blackboard that we had discussed during our collaboration. In this way, I was able to follow what was going on. They all did a great job engaging clients and answering their questions. We take Saturday and Sunday off, and lessons will resume on Monday.
The Lumana Team is really excited about our next loan cycle, and we are all keeping busy on individual business related projects in whatever spare time we can find. (Accounting, Finance, 501©3 paperwork, expansion proposals, newsletters, etc.)
Last night our crew had an exciting ‘evening in.’ We all put on some comfortable clothes and gathered in the small common room of the Okudzeto house. We then hooked up the projector and Eric gave us a finance lesson. He described all of Lumana’s different financial statements, how they are connected, and what they can be used to describe. Sammie was particularly excited to learn about ratio’s while Karin and I could not stop laughing as we went over the budget. What kind of crazy people spend their Friday nights learning about budgets… and enjoy it???
Another week in Atorkor.
Our new house, the Okudzeto House, is an improvement from our last. Still, it has some strange oddities that are just a simple reminder “this is Africa…” From the outside the house appears large, two story, and rectangular. Around the entire circumference of the house, upstairs and down, are blue shutters. It looks estate like. Our team occupies only the upstairs, with no way of getting into the downstairs. Still, the appearance of the house is one of the nicest you will find in this village.
Once inside one will have a simple yet unanswerable thought, “Why?” Growing up with a dad who builds houses, this question is even more prominent in my mind. To explain: When you open the door to the inside of Okudzeto, you will find that you have been tricked. You will realize that your living space is actually much less than you imagined it would be, because there are really only three small rooms. These small rooms are in the middle of a hallway that goes all the way around the entire upstairs. People in Africa must love doors and windows, because the three rooms, which are in a line, all have doors into one another. They also have doors on both sides into the outer hallway. In addition to the doors, our rooms have shutters as well. Shutters which simply open into the outer hallway. Thus, in order to get the musty smell out of the house, and the light into the rooms, we must open two layers of shutters, the outer ones to light the hallway, and then the inner ones to (hopefully) light the rooms. To get a breeze is difficult. There are no screens on the outer windows, but some of the inner windows do have screens. Unfortunately, due to poor planning, the screens block the locks that close the shutters to the inner rooms. Thus, windows that do have screens all have two large holes in them, one on top, and one on bottom, to enable a person to unlock and open them. These also enable the bugs to join us and keep us company.
Enough about our residence. We have beds to sleep in and a roof over our heads. We have dry cereal to eat in the morning and a pot to boil water for coffee :)
This week was a whirlwind of activities. We finished collaborating with our four local teachers on Monday, finalizing our orientation + 10 course lesson series for our new clients. This allowed us to gain a local perspective on many aspects of our lesson plans. What are the best real life examples we can include? In what order should we introduce certain concepts? Realistically, how long will this take to explain? The list goes on.
Not only did our teachers help design the very lessons they will be teaching, they also created the ‘Lumana 20’ The Lumana 20 is a list of 20 promises that we will endorse in the community and throughout our loan cycles. They include items such as ‘I will keep a clean home,’ or ‘I will feed my family and children at least two full meals a day,’ or ‘I will use designated areas when I go to the bathroom.’
On Tuesday we had orientation day. Although we thought we had a pretty good idea of how many people would be there (Everyone who was invited to orientation had been through two interviews) we had a flood of new potential clients also arrive. We ended up not only doing the orientation, but also doing many more interviews. As a result, we have reached our capacity of 80 clients for this education and loan cycle, and have at least 20 more on a waiting list for our next cycle.
We took Wednesday off, since it is market day for most of our clients and they will be away at market selling their goods. On Thursday, lesson 1 began. Many of our clients opted to create their own cooperative groups, and we thus had to re arrange everyone into new classes with different teachers.
We decided as a team that we should always let our clients choose their own groups, as they are ultimately responsible for everybody’s loan in their group. To explain, if one person in their group defaults, they are ALL liable for the repayment of the loan. This acts as a type of collateral for their loans (social collateral), since they do not have financial collateral. We know that people will only create a group with others who they trust, and this acts as the first qualification clients will have to meet before receiving a loan. If no one in their own community trusts them, they will ultimately not ever have the chance to receive a loan. This is one way in which Lumana is protected from defaults due to irresponsibility.
Not only did we rearrange classes, but we also decided to do both morning and afternoon sessions. This helps us to accommodate the different professions within the community. Two teachers now hold their classes from 10-12, and the other two hold their classes from 1-3.
I sat in on classes Thursday and Friday, taking a desk in the back of the room and listening to our teachers give their lessons in Ewe. I could not understand what they were saying, but it was a great experience to see them draw the illustrations on the blackboard that we had discussed during our collaboration. In this way, I was able to follow what was going on. They all did a great job engaging clients and answering their questions. We take Saturday and Sunday off, and lessons will resume on Monday.
The Lumana Team is really excited about our next loan cycle, and we are all keeping busy on individual business related projects in whatever spare time we can find. (Accounting, Finance, 501©3 paperwork, expansion proposals, newsletters, etc.)
Last night our crew had an exciting ‘evening in.’ We all put on some comfortable clothes and gathered in the small common room of the Okudzeto house. We then hooked up the projector and Eric gave us a finance lesson. He described all of Lumana’s different financial statements, how they are connected, and what they can be used to describe. Sammie was particularly excited to learn about ratio’s while Karin and I could not stop laughing as we went over the budget. What kind of crazy people spend their Friday nights learning about budgets… and enjoy it???
Another week in Atorkor.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Atorkor, Accra, Larteh, Cape Coast
I made a trip to the village of Larteh on Thursday. It was quite the experience. Sammie, Eric, Karin and I took the tro tro from Atorkor to Accra where we split into two groups in order to divide and conquer. Eric and Sammie stayed in Accra where they had meetings with Literacy Bridge and the Accra West Rotary. Karin and I hopped on another tro tro which took us to the place we were meeting our contact, R.O., in order for him to take us to Larteh to survey it for Lumana expansion opportunites.
Karin and I arrived about 20 minutes late to our meeting, as travelling in Africa always takes longer than it should, but R.O. was patiently waiting with his driver. We got into his car and began the drive. R.O decided that Accra traffic would be better avoided by taking the back roads, and thus Karin and I got a very good look at the slums of Accra. As I saw in Sierra Leone, the contrasts of Accra are just as severe. Here, there seems to be a complete and utter lack of city planning, and thus, sheds and mansions sit across the street from one another. Stands line almost all of the roads with people selling food, provisions, or whatever they can afford to carry on their heads. Most of these stands are nothing more than converted metal storage containers branded on the outsides with ‘Coca Cola,’ or‘MTN,’ or ‘Vodafone.’
Larteh sits on top of a large hill, and our driver took us up the backside, cutting back and forth as we climbed higher and higher, until we finally made it to the top. By the time we had arrived my motion sickness was quite severe; my head was spinning and my stomach was turning. Luckily, Karin was on the top of her game and kept the conversation going with R.O. like a pro.
The driver took us all the way down the streets of the village inorder for us to have a more complete look, as R.O. informed us that Larteh has 26 different churches, a few schools, and a medical center.Most amazing was the 26 churches, there was a different one on almost every corner, with representation of just about every denomination. We then circled back around, parking at R.O.’s house in the village. Although he lives in Accra, his father came from Larteh, and the house sits there unused, except for the kids that sometimes occupy its courtyard.
We toured his home as someone pulled out a table and chairs for us in the courtyard. They took a drink order and Karin and I requested Fanta (which seems to hold a monopoly here), while a large Star beer was delivered to R.O. It was here that we were able to ask many of our survey questions about the village in order to assess its receptiveness to our program. This survey included cultural,technological, and educational questions, in addition to basic census data, among other things. If R.O. did not have an answer for us, he pulled out one of his two cell phones (I guess one is a work phone,the other personal) and phoned someone who would know, be it the chief of the village, or a friend.
Ghana has rural banks in a lot of villages; their implementation was a measure by the government that was meant to improve peoples economic condition by allowing them access to savings accounts and banking in general. Karin and I noticed that Larteh has it’s own rural bank and we began inquiring about their micro credit program. From my previous research I was aware that this is one of the services they provide to rural communities. R.O. did not have the answers to our questions, so instead he took us to the rural bank and got us an interview. It was wonderful; we talked first to a general employee, who then directed us to the man in charge of the micro credit program.
Basically, we were concerned that with the locality of the rural bank there would not actually be a demand for our services in Larteh. We found, instead, that the rural banks are not targeting the same demographic as Lumana, as they are not reaching the poorest of the poor. They require six weeks of savings by clients before they are even eligible to receive a loan, meaning clients must have enough income to be able to save some extra. Many of our clients rest at the subsistence level, meaning this would be an impossible requirement tofulfil. Their interest rates are higher than our own, though not completely ridiculous and their groups are more like 30 people, as opposed to our 5-8. They do not provide any education.
R.O. was not concerned as we were about the need for us in his community, but the meeting was good, as it was incredibly educationaland we acquired a even more knowledge than I just typed out. The banks are public institutions, and R.O. likes that we are privately owned. He says that they do not reach the people that need it most, which is true.
Now for a bit of background on this R.O. character. Richard (this is his actual name, I cannot remember right now what the ‘O’ stands for right now), is an Accra Rotarian. His father has passed, and after he did Richard went through all of his old documents. What he found was a proposal that had been written by his father and a few friends about 70 years ago, for a type of educational savings/scholarship program for people in Larteh. The program was never implemented. Richard decided that this was a torch he would like to carry on, and is now committed to giving something back to the people of Larteh, in the name of his father. Over the lunch he treated us to, he inquired about how much it would cost to bring us to Larteh to start our program. He also offered to pay thefare that we paid to get from Atorkor to Accra (5.5 cedi), but we refused.
We went down the other side of the hill on our way home, making a full circle. The driver brought R.O. home first allowing us to see his home and meet his wife and one of his daughters. His driver then brought usto where we needed to be, the internet café in Accra, in order to meet the rest of our team. Karin and I waited for everyone there, as Sammie, Eric, PJ, and Cole had gone to search for a place for us to sleep for the night. PJ and Cole had taken the bus with the girlscouts who are in Atorkor right now to Accra because they stayed back in the village in the morning to do some more interviews and teach a lesson to our ‘supercoaches’ (the locals we have hired to do our entrepreneurial training) in the morning.
It was a very long day. We were up at six in the morning to catch our tro-tro to Accra, and then we were with R.O. from 11-5. Our team was able to find a place for us to sleep located basically in the middle of the Accra market. You do not want to know what a hotel is like in this part of town. We had two dingy rooms with one double bed in each. There were smears of dirt, and other unidentifiable things on the walls, and no toilet seats on the toilets. We gave Karin and Eric their own room, Cole and Sammie slept on the bed, PJ had the little couch, and I was on a mat on the floor. The mat had an unknown source, but I am pretty sure it was just the cushion off of a lounge chair. I think you could call it a ‘rent a room by the hour’ type of place. We all paid the equivalent of about 5 US dollars to stay there.
I think it is also illustrative of the situation to describe the sewage system in Accra. The sewers are basically open, with garbage and waste flowing through trenches like streams through the city.These trenches go through the middle of the market, creating a stench that combines with the hot and heavy humidity to infect the surrounding air. This smell greets you as you step outside into the market....
Well. Safe to say we all made it out of this experience just fine. We woke up in the morning, purchased some breakfast in the market, and then met the girl scouts so we could hitch a ride on their bus to Cape Coast for the weekend. We rode in style... hopefully the Cape Coast update will come soon. (Slave castles, rainforest canopy bridges and more!!)
Karin and I arrived about 20 minutes late to our meeting, as travelling in Africa always takes longer than it should, but R.O. was patiently waiting with his driver. We got into his car and began the drive. R.O decided that Accra traffic would be better avoided by taking the back roads, and thus Karin and I got a very good look at the slums of Accra. As I saw in Sierra Leone, the contrasts of Accra are just as severe. Here, there seems to be a complete and utter lack of city planning, and thus, sheds and mansions sit across the street from one another. Stands line almost all of the roads with people selling food, provisions, or whatever they can afford to carry on their heads. Most of these stands are nothing more than converted metal storage containers branded on the outsides with ‘Coca Cola,’ or‘MTN,’ or ‘Vodafone.’
Larteh sits on top of a large hill, and our driver took us up the backside, cutting back and forth as we climbed higher and higher, until we finally made it to the top. By the time we had arrived my motion sickness was quite severe; my head was spinning and my stomach was turning. Luckily, Karin was on the top of her game and kept the conversation going with R.O. like a pro.
The driver took us all the way down the streets of the village inorder for us to have a more complete look, as R.O. informed us that Larteh has 26 different churches, a few schools, and a medical center.Most amazing was the 26 churches, there was a different one on almost every corner, with representation of just about every denomination. We then circled back around, parking at R.O.’s house in the village. Although he lives in Accra, his father came from Larteh, and the house sits there unused, except for the kids that sometimes occupy its courtyard.
We toured his home as someone pulled out a table and chairs for us in the courtyard. They took a drink order and Karin and I requested Fanta (which seems to hold a monopoly here), while a large Star beer was delivered to R.O. It was here that we were able to ask many of our survey questions about the village in order to assess its receptiveness to our program. This survey included cultural,technological, and educational questions, in addition to basic census data, among other things. If R.O. did not have an answer for us, he pulled out one of his two cell phones (I guess one is a work phone,the other personal) and phoned someone who would know, be it the chief of the village, or a friend.
Ghana has rural banks in a lot of villages; their implementation was a measure by the government that was meant to improve peoples economic condition by allowing them access to savings accounts and banking in general. Karin and I noticed that Larteh has it’s own rural bank and we began inquiring about their micro credit program. From my previous research I was aware that this is one of the services they provide to rural communities. R.O. did not have the answers to our questions, so instead he took us to the rural bank and got us an interview. It was wonderful; we talked first to a general employee, who then directed us to the man in charge of the micro credit program.
Basically, we were concerned that with the locality of the rural bank there would not actually be a demand for our services in Larteh. We found, instead, that the rural banks are not targeting the same demographic as Lumana, as they are not reaching the poorest of the poor. They require six weeks of savings by clients before they are even eligible to receive a loan, meaning clients must have enough income to be able to save some extra. Many of our clients rest at the subsistence level, meaning this would be an impossible requirement tofulfil. Their interest rates are higher than our own, though not completely ridiculous and their groups are more like 30 people, as opposed to our 5-8. They do not provide any education.
R.O. was not concerned as we were about the need for us in his community, but the meeting was good, as it was incredibly educationaland we acquired a even more knowledge than I just typed out. The banks are public institutions, and R.O. likes that we are privately owned. He says that they do not reach the people that need it most, which is true.
Now for a bit of background on this R.O. character. Richard (this is his actual name, I cannot remember right now what the ‘O’ stands for right now), is an Accra Rotarian. His father has passed, and after he did Richard went through all of his old documents. What he found was a proposal that had been written by his father and a few friends about 70 years ago, for a type of educational savings/scholarship program for people in Larteh. The program was never implemented. Richard decided that this was a torch he would like to carry on, and is now committed to giving something back to the people of Larteh, in the name of his father. Over the lunch he treated us to, he inquired about how much it would cost to bring us to Larteh to start our program. He also offered to pay thefare that we paid to get from Atorkor to Accra (5.5 cedi), but we refused.
We went down the other side of the hill on our way home, making a full circle. The driver brought R.O. home first allowing us to see his home and meet his wife and one of his daughters. His driver then brought usto where we needed to be, the internet café in Accra, in order to meet the rest of our team. Karin and I waited for everyone there, as Sammie, Eric, PJ, and Cole had gone to search for a place for us to sleep for the night. PJ and Cole had taken the bus with the girlscouts who are in Atorkor right now to Accra because they stayed back in the village in the morning to do some more interviews and teach a lesson to our ‘supercoaches’ (the locals we have hired to do our entrepreneurial training) in the morning.
It was a very long day. We were up at six in the morning to catch our tro-tro to Accra, and then we were with R.O. from 11-5. Our team was able to find a place for us to sleep located basically in the middle of the Accra market. You do not want to know what a hotel is like in this part of town. We had two dingy rooms with one double bed in each. There were smears of dirt, and other unidentifiable things on the walls, and no toilet seats on the toilets. We gave Karin and Eric their own room, Cole and Sammie slept on the bed, PJ had the little couch, and I was on a mat on the floor. The mat had an unknown source, but I am pretty sure it was just the cushion off of a lounge chair. I think you could call it a ‘rent a room by the hour’ type of place. We all paid the equivalent of about 5 US dollars to stay there.
I think it is also illustrative of the situation to describe the sewage system in Accra. The sewers are basically open, with garbage and waste flowing through trenches like streams through the city.These trenches go through the middle of the market, creating a stench that combines with the hot and heavy humidity to infect the surrounding air. This smell greets you as you step outside into the market....
Well. Safe to say we all made it out of this experience just fine. We woke up in the morning, purchased some breakfast in the market, and then met the girl scouts so we could hitch a ride on their bus to Cape Coast for the weekend. We rode in style... hopefully the Cape Coast update will come soon. (Slave castles, rainforest canopy bridges and more!!)
Sunday, August 16, 2009
PJ ALMOST DIED
After a long day of work, our team walked through the darkness to our humble rooms, ready to kick back and get ready for bed. Eric and Karin retired to their room, leaving PJ, Cole, Sammie and I. Sammie settled herself on the top bunk reading ‘Creating a world without poverty,’ sporting her headlamp, and sheltered beneath her mosquito net. Cole also sat himself on his top bunk, commenting on the strange creaking noises it had been making the past three nights. I emerged from our doorless bathroom after brushing my teeth just as Cole pondered ‘let me try something really quick, this bed just seems sketch.’ He then proceeded to lift himself up and sit down on the bunk with a bit more force, causing the wood and mattress to collapse onto the bed below.
The diagonal manner in which it collapsed most certainly would have seriously hurt, if not killed PJ, had he been in the bed below. You see, the corner of the wood frame landed straight in the middle of his pillow, in the perfect position to take out his nose, his eye, or hit his temple.
After this demonstration PJ and I stood motionless, staring at the scene in front of us. I peeked over to ensure Cole was still okay as he had not yet spoken, most likely out of shock. PJ reached toward the windowsill and commented “hold on, I need to put on my glasses.”
“HOOOOLY SHIT YOU GUYS. PJ ALMOST DIED!!!”
After the initial shock wore off we investigated, only to find poor bunk-bed construction, and wood slabs that were not properly fitted across the bed. With weight in the middle the wood would bend slightly, causing it to shorten enough to slip off of the supports it was supposed to be held up by.
We then double checked the other bed to be sure Sammie would not kill or seriously injure me in the middle of the night, but our bed seems to be somewhat more soundly constructed. Even so it makes some horrendous creaking noises with even the slightest movement.
Well, we moved Cole to the other room to sleep for the night, and my sleep was disturbed at the thought of being collapsed upon during the middle of the night. PJ said his sleep was also somewhat disturbed as he was scared for me.
The hope is to secure a new residence, as we now not only have spotty electricity, no doors on our bathrooms and no hot water, but also faulty beds.
T.I.G.H you guys… This is Ghana
The diagonal manner in which it collapsed most certainly would have seriously hurt, if not killed PJ, had he been in the bed below. You see, the corner of the wood frame landed straight in the middle of his pillow, in the perfect position to take out his nose, his eye, or hit his temple.
After this demonstration PJ and I stood motionless, staring at the scene in front of us. I peeked over to ensure Cole was still okay as he had not yet spoken, most likely out of shock. PJ reached toward the windowsill and commented “hold on, I need to put on my glasses.”
“HOOOOLY SHIT YOU GUYS. PJ ALMOST DIED!!!”
After the initial shock wore off we investigated, only to find poor bunk-bed construction, and wood slabs that were not properly fitted across the bed. With weight in the middle the wood would bend slightly, causing it to shorten enough to slip off of the supports it was supposed to be held up by.
We then double checked the other bed to be sure Sammie would not kill or seriously injure me in the middle of the night, but our bed seems to be somewhat more soundly constructed. Even so it makes some horrendous creaking noises with even the slightest movement.
Well, we moved Cole to the other room to sleep for the night, and my sleep was disturbed at the thought of being collapsed upon during the middle of the night. PJ said his sleep was also somewhat disturbed as he was scared for me.
The hope is to secure a new residence, as we now not only have spotty electricity, no doors on our bathrooms and no hot water, but also faulty beds.
T.I.G.H you guys… This is Ghana
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