"There are villages, but no villagers".... What is poverty?

As we transition into the Dry season in Ghana, I felt compelled to step back and examine what I have learned in the past months living in Wamale.
I ask myself: What is poverty?

A very broad, esoteric question- one you'd think I'd already have the answer to, considering the fact that I am here, in Ghana, motivated and driven by a desire to reduce this big word we call "poverty".

I wanted to live in a village to gain a deep understanding of rural life and poverty. That was my main motivation- and the other benefits, like having a loving, fun family around, were simply cherries on top.

However, I didn't intend to live with the Chief's family. Due to hierarchy and cultural formality, we first had to meet with the Chief to discuss that I wanted a place to stay in Wamale. I later found out that Chief took it upon himself and said that if I was to be in Wamale, I should live with them to ensure my safety and happiness. I am blessed to live here and am exceedingly grateful.
But at times I would ask myself- is THIS poverty? Being the Chief's family, they are the "wealthiest" in the community, and more importantly, they receive great prestige and honour- even the children have special privileges in the community because they come from "Chief's Palace".

Chief is an excellent farmer and manages to support a family that it too large to count (imagine 4 wives, plus 26 children, plus countless grandchildren and even great grandchildren- I am still very confused and longing for a family tree).
Nevertheless, I would say they are still in poverty. But you know poverty is not what you may think- it is definitely not what I had thought. Even after having been in Ghana previously, and working in development for the past years, studying and reading about it, only recently- amazingly- it truly struck me just how complex poverty really is.

I'm sure we can all sit back and picture EXTREME POVERTY: the type that is sickening and disturbing- people literally starving to death. (Please: I don't for one second intend to claim that extreme poverty does not exist in Ghana, that it is not an atrocity of our times and an issue that should have been adequately addressed decades ago- but for the sake of this post, I will remain focused on the poverty that I encounter face to face.)

If you came to Wamale, one of the first things you might note in your head is that my mothers are fat and the family eats well. The family is very well-fed, no one is going hungry. Ever. Another perception I had was that many "villagers" would be going hungry, but I've observed that because most "villagers" are farmers, the problem is often not food but capital- actual cash.

You look at a village like Wamale here, and you will understand what my colleague told me "Robin, there are villages, but there are no villagers".
Though you find many, many people sleeping in mud huts with thatch roofs, you will be hard pressed to find any village here that does not have it least one person with a cell phone. I was amazed one day when my Chief was talking about Global Warming. And the name/face of Barack Obama plasters shirts, bracelets, and even school notebooks across the region. My family in Wamale- due to radio and even a television in Chief's room, and proximity to Tamale- are very exposed to the outside world and technology, though they are in a village with no running water. Though they have never used one, they know what a laptop and IPOD are. Further, nearly every village will have it least one English speaker, and a swarm of children who can shout HOW ARE YOU!?

I look at my family in Wamale, well-fed, no car or moto but a few bicycles, a few cell phones, a TV, radio, and many children in school, and I can question whether THIS is poverty... but then I remember that this same family doesn't have money for toilet paper, tooth brushes, tooth paste, hand soap... things I have always taken completely for granted in Canada.

I look at someone like Mustapha, who went to harvest his field, slept there 3 nights to complete it before returning, and realized he didn't even have enough money for food or to pay for a taxi to return home. So he sold his cell phone for 25 Ghana cedis.

I think of my younger brother here called, Abie. I told him about a cell phone promotion where if you buy 2 cedis of credit you get triple the talk time. He became very excited. But then asked, what if you buy only 1 cedi? I said no, the promotion is for 2 cedis. His face sunk. "Oh, well I'll never have the money to buy 2 cedis at one time. Even 1 cedi would have been hard".

Sometimes, in mid conversation, as they are speaking to me very casually I stop for a moment, and tried to imagine what it would be like to sit down and realize that I have no money- I have to sell something on my person, or that I don't have even 2 cedis.

I think about one of my elder sisters who sits all day, if she tries to walk she uses a cane. She has been to a doctor. They know the problem. They know the solution: an operation. But due to lack of funds, she sits, all day every day, without reprieve.

I think of the alarming number of incidences of malaria in my family (weekly, it least one person has malaria) and the fact that I have yet to see a single one enter a hospital or a doctor.

I think about my brother who was playing football, 5 days a week, without football boots.

My other brother who missed a week of school because his uniform was torn and he didn't have money to buy more cloth and sew a new one.

I think of a farmer who expected to get 15 bags of maize from his field and, due to rains and flooding, only got 4. Can you imagine? Can you imagine working all year, expecting to receive $150,000 and in the end, you get a cheque for 40,000?

I think of a colleage who went to the bank to take out money so that he could celebrate a Muslim holiday with his family by buying some animals to slaughter, but went and realized there was nothing in his account- he didn't have the 20 Cedis he needed to provide for his family....

I think of the many, many different vignettes, snapshots or revelations I've come across in the past months and I know that this, too, is poverty. It may be a well-fed poverty, but they are still lacking the opportunities to thrive, meet their needs, be resilient to external shocks, and propel themselves to a more prosperous future.

This is why I am here. It is simply not fair. It doesn't sit well with me inside. That propels me to create change.