Something that I have really been struck by since arriving in Ghana is that it is totally acceptable to throw garbage anywhere Out the lorry window, in the open sewer, on the street corner or even on your front step. Due to the overwhelming (at least to me at first) amount of animals that roam about, throwing out food waste does not have a huge effect because it is eaten right away by any number of animals, from birds, cats, dogs, goats, sheep, pigs and even donkeys and cows. Unfortunately, everything else just piles up. Aside from just throwing ones garbage anywhere, another commonly used method is to collect up your garbage and burn it. This is a more popular choice with volunteers, because often if you throw your garbage with your families, if they do not burn it, you are running a high risk of children picking through what you see as waste. To them, since you are different and exciting, anything you have touched is exotic, and even what you see as waste, they could see as treasure. This can be embarrassing and sometimes dangerous, so it is really important to be mindful of what you are throwing out. Things such as used razor blades and batteries are better to save and wait until you head to a bigger city. For me, this will not be until the end of August. In Tuna, most people just toss their garbage. I choose to get rid of mine in the middle of the night so that the children around me do not see. It is at times frustrating to do this, but has become a routine. This is one of the many challenges that each overseas volunteer has to find their own best practice for. Now, I do not want you to think that Ghanaians are lazy or dirty. They are in fact a very clean people, who bathe 2 or 3 times a day. If I choose to only bathe once, I am laughed at by my family. They just do not have many options to waste removal. There is no-one coming around picking up tidy bags of waste at ones door step. The government is trying to improve this. They have hired a private company called ZoomLion that travels around towns and cities with trucks and bicycles (As you can see in the photos) picking up waste. A number of questions I have about this but have not yet found answers to are:
- What do they do with the waste they collect? Apparently it is sent to the bush and left there.
- How are they training people to prevent waste from piling up? There does not seem to be a formal program happening to do this
- What kind of effort does the government have planned for more rural villages that are not located on main roads? The waste they may be less because more natural resources are used, but it is still piling up somewhere or burning into the air.
I think that the government is on the right track, but I think that they need to ask themselves how the methods they are taking can be more sustainable. An exciting event that took place here in Tuna a week ago was Arbor Week. The local Catholic Church has a series of events including presentations, community clean-ups and tree planting sessions to emphasize caring for Mother Earth. I think this is awesome! It was especially targeted at the school children of the area, which is vital to Tuna and Ghana in the future. An interesting point that the priest gave when he was telling the parish about these events during mass and what a success they were was one that really got me thinking. He talked about all the people who cut down trees for firewood and to make charcoal to sell. This is their livelihood. How can we tell them to not cut down trees and take care of the earth when that is how they feed and take care of their families? For me, poverty and its effects on the environment was something I didn’t spend much time thinking about. Now it has gotten my brain asking different questions and gives me an area to learn more about regarding development! Exciting isn’t it? I hope that those of you in the MUN chapter will think about this and share what you know and try to find out more. I am looking forward to having a discussion about it when I come back.
Until Next Time….
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