Loss: reflections on 2 different boys, from 2 different countries

Meet Ashiraf, a 12 year old boy in Northern Ghana. After his parents divorced, his dad left Ghana in search of a better job, in Sweden. After a second marriage, several calls back to Ghana, and countless promises, he said he would be coming back to see Ashiraf, and, amongst other things, bring him a laptop.
1 week before his expected arrival, a phone call reaches Ghana; Ashiraf's dad has been killed in a car accident..

Meet Pat, A 23 year old Canadian boy; an economics graduate from McMaster University. Walking along the road, late in the middle of the night. He is hit and killed..

After the loss of Ashiraf's dad, the family was incredibly sad, and beyond the tragedy that he would now grow up without a father, there was a deep sadness over the loss of opportunity for the boy.. Ashiraf- currently being cared for by family and a mother struggling to make money by selling items in the market- dreamed of a better life, out of poverty, and thought that as soon as his dad came back everything would be different. And his life probably would have change, drastically. Maybe he'd even get to go "outside" (leave Ghana) for his education, which his dad promised him. Now, he's like so many other boys in Northern Ghana, struggling, hopeful, for something better in their future. But lacking opportunities to see those hopes come into fruition.

Losing any loved one, no matter what the age or circumstance, is incredibly painful and life is never the same again. Every human being, no matter what country or what economic status, has experienced some kind of loss.. Losing a grandma, a sister, a mom, a dog, a best friend, a brother, a boyfriend, a daughter. Unfortunately, to some death and loss are more commonplace, a frequent visitor to normal life.

I remember one of Ashiraf's "brothers", while others were crying, stoically saying: "Life is like that.. people enter. And people exit."

1 family loses a boy. 1 boy loses a dad.
2 different countries.
1 unfortunate, unexpected connection..

Loss.

Why I don't look like a hippie... anymore.

After nearly a year in Ghana I am temporarily back in Canada, and as I walk through a shopping mall, I'm surprised by how much I seem to fit in. Yet when I converse with strangers, people are often intrigued, if not shocked, that I've been in "Africa" for so long.
When you see me, I might be wearing jeans and a top, with matching accessories, or on a good day I'm in a pencil skirt, heels, some makeup and highlighted hair. When most people think about "volunteering to Africa", they are inclined to pack baggy, beige pants, flowing floor length peasant skirts, tank tops, hiking shoes, and beaded bracelets. And that's exactly what I often see in Ghana. Sometimes I cringe to see other ex-pats dressed in oversized, wrinkly clothes in professional offices. But I mean come on, its terribly hot, sunny, and this work is so much deeper than vanity is concerned, right?

After wearing birkenstocks, pony-tails, and wrinkled tops for probably far too many months, I now look different in Ghana. As much as my job has changed over the past year, my appearance (and vocabulary) too have been altered.

As I work more in Accra, attend conferences, and meet with MoFA staff at the National office in attempts to share the field realities we observe and influence in a more systematic way, I realize that I ought to dress the way I'd dress walking into an office in Toronto, not like I'd dress for a yoga class. Though this is Ghana, this is West Africa, its not all mud huts and eating food with your hands.. Ghana is a multifaceted country filled with professional, intelligent people.

The Ghana you might imagine may include images of poor children, poor education systems, malaria, crowded buses, and villages with no electricity or running water.. and this is accurate. This is tragic. But just as Toronto has both homeless people and lavish mansions, Ghana has as many cell phones as mud huts, as many high heels as wellington boots.

When I went to the field to meet with farmer groups teaching them business skills, I wore flip flops or wellington boots-depending on the season.
Now, as I work more in offices and less in the field(for better or for worse), I wear skirts and high heels to demonstrate credibility, professionalism, and respect.

As I continue to transform internally throughout this incredible experience, there will likely be continued observable external improvements, refinements to the person that "Robin" is.. some more visible than others.

And that my friends, among many other reasons, is why I don't look like a hippie..

anymore.

Keepin' cool in shades of Ghana

Underneath it all..

I love Ghana and I am overwhelmingly happy here. Most of my blog posts depict an optimistic picture. Most days I laugh and smile excessively. Most days I go to sleep so grateful.

But underneath it all, I still experience a great deal of frustration and sadness inside.

Life is hard in Ghana. Life is so hard in Ghana. I'm not referring to how hard it is for me, as a white, in Northern Ghana. No, not for me; life is hard for the average Ghanaian. A common response to the question: "how are you doing" here is: "Oh, we are managing... Small small". This really summarizes the situation of the vast majority of people I interact with here in Northern Ghana. They are just managing, and hopefully for most, "small small"; gradually- little by little- things are getting better.

Some days when I am feeling demotivated it is easy to blame it on the sweltering heat, blame it on lack of sleep, blame it on overwork and lack of time off., or maybe its because I haven't been eating well, haven't been exercising.. but really, days like today, I have to acknowledge that underneath it all, sometimes the daily tragedies just get to me.

In lieu of the fact that I want to always present an honest picture of my personal experiences here, I share these feelings openly and candidly with you- wherever/whoever you are. I respect and appreciate the time you take to connect to my life and I send you my love and gratitude as I sit here, blessed fan blowing on my face, thermometer telling me it is 35.5 degrees, Sulemana sleeping beside me with his hand on my lap.


I really love you all.

Oh! the places you go!

As explained in the previous post, my current role in Ghana has required me to travel a great deal throughout this nation, (been to 7 Regions in Ghana), and even beyond these borders briefly.
Instead of providing an in depth summary of my movements, I thought I would write a few key words that come to mind when I think of my time at each of the various places.
Burkina Faso- real fresh amazing yoghurt, baguettes, children dancing and singing, feeling ashamed of my inability to speak French, bathing and sleeping in the open with the sun/moon right above you.
Ohawu Agricultural College- (Volta Region, Ghana)-Eating too much Kenke, huge dam that everyone claims they own, power outages, being aggressively challenged on the relevance and sustainability of EWB's work.
Nigeria- Amazing ice cream parlour that even had banana splits, nicely paved roads and street lights, Western clothing and lifestyles.
Pong Tamale Animal Health and Production College (Vet. College, Northern Region, Ghana)- Sheep everywhere, great food (spaghetti!) and connections with female students, dedicated principal who I know will facilitate transformative change at this college.
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana)- passionate Christian youth worshipping God, beautiful tropical gardens, trees, forests everywhere, coolness!
Bolgatanga (Upper East Region, Ghana)- rastas wanting to "be my friend", great beaded jewellery and vibrant Ghanaian cloth everywhere. Spending too much money.
Kwadaso Agricultural College (Kwadaso, Ashanti Region, Ghana)- lots of cows roaming around, magnificent, enormous trees, projector that didn't work, amazing professors and principal, missing Carissa (past volunteer).
Accra (Greater Accra Region, Ghana)- watching Avatar in an amazing movie theatre while eating popcorn!, Airport- filled with mixed emotional memories, eating too many scoops of real ice cream, packed streets and traffic like you can't imagine, gaining weight.
Tamale (Northern Region, Ghana): friends everywhere I go, a great ("great" as in: wonderful, and as in very large) family, comfort in knowing where to buy things I need and how to get around, riding on my moto, eating dried pineapple, greeting people in Dagbani, great Canadian friends/colleagues.

"Surname: STRATAS, Given Name: ROBIN REBECCA... Occupation: ___________?"

As a group of Canadians (all Africa Program Staff from Ghana) travelled across the Ghana/Burkina Faso border, in addition to pathetic attempts at bilingualism, we filled out the necessary forms. Mostly straightforward... I filled in my name, my passport number and expiration date, my current mailing address, and the reason for my visit to Burkina.. but then, just when I thought I had it covered, just when I thought I was almost finished this mind-numbing activity, I became stumped: "Occupation:_________". My immediate reaction was to peak on my colleague's sheet, as I had done for some other parts of the form, to see what they had written: "ENGINEER". Well okay, my engineering colleagues have it a bit easier. That won't work for me though. So I sat and thought: okay, how can I summarize and describe what I do in about 20 letters?
I settled on the most general, vague, indistinct title I could: "Development Worker".
Upon further thought, I realized that just in the same way I found it difficult to tell a border official- who doesn't care at all- what I do, I haven't been able to effectively communicate to Canadians about my work here.
I know that blog posts like these can become long, boring, confusing, so I will do my very best to be concise. If you have further questions- please ask me. I really appreciate all comments and questions on this blog.

So for simplicity's sake let's say that my work is focused in 3 general areas:
1) Working at MADU- a Ministry of Food and Agric (MoFA) District office. Here I have primarily been training Field Staff (a core group of 10) on implementing a curriculum with farmer groups, that EWB developed called Agriculture as a Business. Main goals of this practical curriculum are to 1) strengthen existing farmer groups, and 2) develop farmers' agribusiness skills and abilities to increase profits. Here, I've also been generally building the capacity of the staff: trainings and workshops on "Quality Extension", and Goal setting, individual etc. Here is where I have made some amazing friends with incredibly dedicated, underpaid field staff, and had the chance to interact face to face, on fields and under mango trees, with the farmers I am ultimately working on behalf of. The first part of my placement was mostly focused here, at MADU. I am now transitioning out of this position.

2) Working in Agricultural Colleges- This work was previously being undertaken by Carissa Vados, incredible volunteer who is now back in Canada. I am following up with her work at the Vet College (AHPC) on developing a course outline for a new class on entrepreneurship- designed to address the current challenge of unemployment in graduates, and to provide overall inspiration for students to be innovative. Further, I am now also working at Kwadaso Agric College (these are likely the 2 best Agric colleges of the 5 in the country), also pushing an Entrepreneurship course which already exists, and also enhancing the Extension curriculum to be more farmer-first, participatory approach, innovative, and inclusive of agribusiness skills. At this school I am also piloting an Entrepreneur Competition which, depending on success, could be scaled up to all colleges next year. I am super excited about this initiative, because after personally spending time at a district, and hearing of all my colleagues frustrations at various districts, I am excited about addressing one of the root causes by improving the quality of education, so graduates already have the key knowledge, skills and attitudes before they enter the workforce.

3) Finally, I work for EWB to support our staff here on team MoFA: this means that I am responsible for the Junior Fellowship Program in Ghana (this summer we will receive 8-14 University students who will spend 4 months in Ghana), as well as training new Africa Program Staff, coaching and supporting staff, facilitating workshops at team meetings, tracking health and safety, coaching and managing our (Ghanaian) National Service Volunteer, Adam etc.
You can see that the work I do is rich in diversity but there is still quite a bit of overlap. All involves people, and some form of education. All that I do is ultimately driven by a desire to improve the lives of Ghanaian farmers.. I believe that through building the capacity of field staff, agric students, and the Canadian staff who engage with Ghanaians, we can make a lasting difference for Dorothy. All of my work is also driven by a love and desire to work with people and help them grow from where they are to a better place; my desire is to help people become more joyous, fulfilled, and enriched; and to help them become better human beings overall. My blog is called Addicted to Impact because, like any addiction, I can't get enough. There will never be a day I say, "Okay, my work is done. The world is now perfect". I believe there will always be ways, in every single day, that I can be used to make an impact in someone's life.

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."- John Wesley.

These are a few of my favourite things....!

I often have Ghanaians and Canadians ask me "Why do you love Ghana so much", and I find its not so easy to articulate.
In this post, I will deal less with the work I am doing and more about the culture in Ghana. I recognize that although many elements of the culture didn't surprise me- as it's my second time to Ghana- you, in other places in the world, may be interested in what makes Ghana such an amazing country, and why I'm glad to call it my home.

So here are a few of my favourite things:

- Greetings are crucial. Every morning people ask you how you slept, and about your health, your family, your work, your tiredness, the coolness... its sweet, and touching, and definitely more in depth than what you hear in Canada.
-I have many "friends". Most people I buy something from tell me they want to be my friend. I now have many friends- Naima who I buy phone credit from, Mama Fatia who I buy juice and bread from, the guys at the internet cafe, guys at the gas stations, etc. Whereas in Canada, most times you enter a store, buy something, say "have a nice day" and leave. Here- I now have relationships with people, and when I travel they will even call and ask where I am and when I'm coming back!
- Local food is everywhere. I love to buy pineapple on the street, bananas, oranges, dried fruits, eat yams, local rice, tomatoes, ground nuts, and pepe! Mmmm! This is not to say that there isn't a problem with imported food- there is- but if you try you can eat deliciously local food any day of the week.
- Everyone has faith, and they are just happy if you have faith. People are not judgmental of other religions. They freely talk about and display their views- big stickers on cars/taxis, name their shops "By God's Grace", and openly ask you if you are a Christian or a Muslim.. but what I love is that they are just happy that you believe in God. There is little animosity between Muslims and Christians. Most Ghanaians have a strong faith in God and pray and worship very regularly.
- People of all ages are engaged in politics. Unlike Canada, where even 20 year olds are uninterested in voting, I can talk to my 12 year old Ghanaian brother for 30 minutes while he tells me every detail of the last elections- who won, the number of votes, the drama, the campaigns. Politics is fun and omnipresent here- they have songs, jingles and commercials, posters everywhere, and give away t-shirts like you can't imagine. You can't find a village without one Political tshirt being proudly worn.
- Ghanaians love foreigners- for the most part. Most people see me and immediately want to make sure I'm well, and offer their help- whether its helping me to carry a bag, get me a taxi, water, a seat, or a husband! I've been to other countries that are hostile towards Whites/Westerners.. so it is lovely that most Ghanaians are EXTREMELY hospitable and love to welcome foreigners.
- I don't use a lot of water. I wash myself with a bucket of water. I don't have a flushing toilet or a running tap. My water consumption is FAR less than I could dream of in Canada.
- People love to eat and always "invite you" to join them. The portions in Ghana are generally HUGE and are mostly carbs. Anytime you encounter someone eating, they "invite you" to join them to eat. Its a friendly gesture, and all of this has combined to help me gain some pounds since living in Ghana!
- People generally say what;s on their mind- pretty directly. People will call an Albino- Albino, a white person- a white person, they will tell you when you are growing fat, when your outfit is not nice, when you need to iron, they will ask you why you have pimples, and will tell you they are going to urinate. It's hilarious and refreshing. In Canada people can be so "politically correct" that they beat around the bush. It's both funny and shocking at times to hear people speak the truth in Ghana.
- People are very active. Especially in the North, MOST people walk or ride bicycles for great distances. It's rare for people to have cars- unless they work for an NGO or the Government.
- Ghanaians love to laugh. Almost every conversation includes some type of joke- either they ask you to marry them, or tell you they will "follow you" back to Canada- and from the Ghanaians I've met- they often have a full, hearty laugh. Most social interaction and even work meetings include many jokes and opportunities to laugh.
- People are free. You don't see many people who look stressed out. People have a good work/life balance, are not afraid to nap in the day time, to take a long lunch break, and deal with life's daily annoyances and challenges with peace and calmness.
- Ghanaians can be AMAZING story tellers. Many are naturally very dramatic, and so when they tell a story, they get their whole body into it, use gestures, various different voices and impersonations, and the end result is always a group of people bursting into laughing, shaking each others hands.
- Many Ghanaians love music and to dance. Every cultural event includes dancing- even funerals, and from age 3 children have rhythm and can dance better than me!
- Most food is eaten with your hands, and its not rude to lick or suck your fingers clean! I'm a pretty kinesthetic person and like to get dirty, so its fun to put some of our Canadian manners and etiquette aside and just dig in to a delicious meal!


That's all for now.. just a few of my favourite things about living in Ghana! This post was not to insult Canada, but to highlight some of the differences I've come to enjoy. I hope you've gotten a taste of the daily moments of joys I experience here.

Love Robin