Faces of Ghana

A profile of some of the people I interact with on a daily basis:


Raphael (on the left)
Raphael is my boss and the Project Manager for TUWODEP. He is 45 years old, and has completed a university program in Agricultural Studies. He has two children, Tobias and Sofia and his wife Monica is a teacher. His family lives in Wa because his wife was able to get a better teaching position there. He spends his time between Tuna and Wa. Raphael is a strong, passionate and devoted person. He has been a strong support for me throughout my placement. He has been working with women groups in the area for over 15 years now. Through his drive, he has been able to start many projects and build up a strong enthusiastic network of women groups around Tuna. Some of Raphael’s biggest frustrations are with the local government and how it does not listen to the needs of its people. We went to meet the District Chief Executive here and the office was full of flat screen computers, marble floors, leather furniture and air conditioning. Tuna does not even have Phase One electricity! He also gets frustrated with dealing with donor organizations that want the priority of projects to be physically measurable results, instead of what will be the biggest benefit for the beneficiaries (yeah that’s right, this man is a true warrior for Dorothy!). One of his personal goals for the future is to attend the Coady Institute in Canada to gain knowledge and experience about development and from others in the field around the world to bring this back to Ghana and broaden revitalize his efforts here in the community.

Anastasia
Anastasia is my counterpart and co-worker. She is my best friend here in Ghana, half mother, half counter part, half co-conspirator to take the afternoon and go to the farm and then for a mineral. She is one of the strongest women I have ever met. She works for TUWODEP as the project assistant and also has a farm, brews pito and rears goats, pigs and fowls. She gave birth to four children but sadly only one lived. Her son, Josiah has just completed high school at age 18 (which for Ghana is young to be completing high school, especially in the Northern part of the country). He is waiting for his results to find out where he can apply for university. Her husband, Thomas is a carpenter and has his own business. They are strongly involved in the Catholic Church and Anastasia is involved in a variety of committees here in the community. She is thoughtful, caring and a genuinely nice person. She is incredibly hard working, going from 5:30 in the morning until 9:00 p.m. every night with her various commitments. She is also a great teacher, seeing as she has helped me get over a number of big hurdles I have faced since arriving in Tuna, including doing my laundry, keeping my room free of dirt and bugs and where to buy the things I need. She also helps support a number of her brothers and sister who live in surrounding communities. I met one of her brothers in the market one day and he proposed to marry me. After telling him flat out no because I have someone wonderful in Canada, I asked him how he thought he could ever afford to think of marrying me, because I would require 25 cows, 100 goats and tiger (which is interesting since they do not live here…) and he said from his sister’s support. Well at least I said no… But she is a pillar of strength in her family and the community. She is always greeting people with a caring smile and nice words. She sees unity and communication as keys to improving development work in Tuna. For the future, she hopes the further her education here in Ghana and also learn stronger computer skills.

Christina
Christina is my housemother. She is 30 years old and has two children, my little house sisters, Augustina who is 5, and Joyce who is 10. She has been married to Richard, my housefather for a number of years, but Joyce was born before she was married. She works to support her family through brewing pito (which she does very well, I have to say!), making cakes to sell and farming. Richard used to have a job driving trucks around West Africa, but stopped because he wanted to be with his family. He recently got work in the Upper West Region with the company that installs electricity in communities, but he has come home to help with the farming season, so currently Christina is supporting the family. She brews pito and sells it Sundays, Mondays at the local market and Thursdays. For me this has been a great way to meet people because they are always around our compound those days to have a drink and chat. Christina can speak a little bit of English and she has been my teacher over the past few months with help from my house sisters to teach me the local language. She often tells me about her struggles; from the money she has to come up with for school fees, medicine when the children or her or Richard are sick (which has been more and more now that the rainy season has begun), feeding the family (which includes her, Richard, his brother Titus, the girls, Rena who is Richard’s niece and myself) and having the start-up for the materials for pito. She also tells me how she misses her remaining family in Jirapa and how sometimes she wishes that she lived closer to them. However, this woman who has become my Ghanaian mother and taken such good care of me will never turn someone away from our compound for a meal or give someone small money if they are in need, even though she is struggling to get at times herself. She is giving, sharing and caring and I consider myself very lucky to be living with her and learning from her. She has taught me how to cook, put up with my struggles to wash my clothes and constantly comes to defend me from the variety of insects that seem to find my room some kind of sanctuary. I asked her what she would say to my family at home and she answered that she would send her greetings and God’s blessing for happiness. What a woman!

Rebecca
This woman represents for me many that I have met over the summer. She is a widow with two small children, who recently lost her husband. She has found strong support within the other women in her group in the village of Bombalanyuro. They have helped her financially, and emotionally to manage to get back on her feet after her husband’s death. She is now the sole breadwinner for her family, which includes farming, caring for her home, washing and feeding the family, caring for their livestock and participating in other income generating activities. She told me through my boss, that without the group’s support, she does not think she would be able to survive. She thinks that poverty would overcome her and she is thankful to God o be able to depend on the other women. To me, this is Dorothy. One of the many I have met, her story tugs at my heart. She inspires me to learn more, and work harder in development, to do my part, however small it may be to try and make a difference in her life.