Where in the World is Colleen?

I went to buy water this morning.  Water sachets cost 5 peswes.  I had 5 peswes… in 1 peswe coins.  I don’t like change, so I tried to use it.  The girl refused.  She wouldn’t take my money; she wanted nothing to do with my 1 peswe coins.   So instead I had to break my bigger change and get more coins.

I left rehydrated, but contemplating the value of money.  It was a reminder that money is only as good as the value you place on it.  Even a 14 year old Ghanaian girl selling water knows that.   It makes you wonder what these coins are actually good for…

What is your image of Africa?

When I look around me at the coffee shop, I see pictures of children, women, grandparents in desperate need of help.  When I turn on the news, I hear stories of war, of drought, of disease.  When I talk to my friends and family I hear questions of “Is it safe?” “Why are you doing this again?” “You must be so brave.”

This is not bravery because the Africa I see depicted in Canada is not the Africa I know.  It is not Malawi with its friendly quiet people and beautiful scenery.  It is not Zambia with its wide stretches of land and bustling capital.  It is not South Africa with its recent football craze, big highways and really good wine.  It is not Kenya with its defiant and determined culture, its beading, its beaches, its markets.  It is not Ghana with its spicy food, colorful dress, jazzy music and helpful, boisterous people.

Of course there are disasters, there is disease and there are wars.  They are terrible, and no one feels it harder than the people of Africa.  Because that image is portrayed upon Africans.  It is an image they did not ask for, often did not deserve, but must fight in order to compete and excel in the rest of the world.

It’s time to rebrand Africa: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5327/is_358/ai_n42116626/?tag=content;col1

Akuzike, carrying her “baby” on her back; like mother, like daughter.

This picture is of a little girl; a lovely, talkative, smart Malawian girl called Akuzike.  She will face many challenges in her life, certainly, but she also has many opportunities.  Her smile is infectious.  She loves to read.  She has learned to speak English as well as her native Chichewa.  She is stubborn, determined, independent.  All of this at 2 years old!  She loves school, fashion, shoes, books.  She wants to be like her mother (who is equally as stubborn and independent.)

So when I think of Malawi, when I think of Africa, I think of her and all the changes she’s going to be able to create as she grows up.

What is your image of Africa now?

Ghana has a lot to offer in terms of tourism and travel. Beaches and good weather. The largest waterfalls in West Africa. Monkeys and baboons that casually stare at you as you drive by. Great music, local art, and national clothes for those inclined towards shopping and the artistic side.

But there is a somber side as well, coming from a turbulent past that is still remembered by the structures and history left behind: the old Dutch, Portuguese and British slave forts and castles.  Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle are the best known;  others are scattered along the coastline.

Like the castles of before the revolution in France, the ruins left behind from centuries of clan warfare and invasions in Scotland, the trenches and beach in Normandy and Dieppe, the holocaust museums in Poland, etc, the Elmina Fort and Cape Coast Castle stand as reminders of a dark past.

Like these other reminders of difficult times, there is a strange and delicate juxtaposition to be reached; between knowing your past and moving beyond it, letting it shape you while letting your path be shaped by your own time.  Elimna is trying to find that balance by educating about the past and pleading for it to never happen again, and forgiving and moving on.  In the words of our guide: “Let bygones be bygones.”   Not to forget, but rather to move forward together.

This is a hope we can all share and a good lesson to take away from an emotional experience.

(Fishing Village in Elmina featured in George Ayittey’s TED talk.)

About 3 hours west of Accra is Kakum National Park. It is an area that has been preserved from the encroaching deforestation for agricultural purposes. The trees are noticeably taller, moss covered with soaring canopies and dim lit paths below. There is a variety of wildlife and plants; more than you would expect to see in the surrounding areas. It gives you a sense of what the landscape might have looked like in the past.

Beautiful though it is, the main attraction is the Canopy Walk: a series of wooden and rope bridges that go from one ancient tree to the next, spanning the gaps below. They wobble, twist and move (as all good rope bridges do). It will elicit statements of fear and nervous laughter from those afraid of heights and rope bridges. It’s not quite like Tarzan, but it’s pretty close.

I’m always impressed by national parks. They preserve what we sometimes take for granted, often with little thanks and few resources. I’m impressed by this national park on two accounts:
○ Creating lasting national parks in a development context seems particularly difficult
○ Creating payment schemes that benefit the park and encourage local tourism is rare

There is a guiding spectrum of importance that is often referred to in development; this idea that food, clothing, shelter and safety are of utmost priority and must be addressed before anything else can happen. Environment, as a result, is usually addressed in conjunction with one of these topics (land conservation is taught along with better production methods). Generally, this makes sense, but it is not always the case. Ghana and Malawi both have their share of development challenges, but both countries have managed to create and sustain impressive national parks that preserve wildlife and the surrounding environment. (In Malawi, there is a tourist weekend where you can go camp out at a wildlife reserve and help them count the herds of impalas and zebras… tourism with a purpose!)

I’m impressed because in spite of the existing challenges, Kakum seems to be a thriving location and a destination for foreigners and Ghanaians both.

I’m sure the park is funded by government (both the local government and foreign donors), but it is also financed by the visitors who come to enjoy it. And what you pay depends on where you are from. Ghanaians pay 1 Cedi, foreigners pay 9 Cedi. That may raise your eyebrows (and tempers) at first until you see the number of Ghanaians enjoying the park. Friends coming on day trips; buses of school kids; families; foreigners and visitors from Accra, like us.

I’m impressed because effectively, changing the pricing scheme just made it possible for a whole lot more Ghanaians to come and enjoy their own environment and tour, while charging those who would still come with the additional cost of maintaining and upgrading the park. We too often ignore or take for granted what is in our backyard and easily accessible (why is it that so many Canadians go outside of Canada to vacation but don’t go see their neighboring province or the national parks/ski hills/lakes that we are fortunate to have?). For people living on lower incomes and who can’t travel beyond their borders, this costing scheme made it possible to enjoy what is inside a proud and beautiful country.

Part adventure, part thought in environmental protection, part lesson in financing, Kakum serves as an interesting example and experience that we can learn from.

On our way to the coast, we got a flat tire. Actually we got 2; one on the way there and one on the way back. It was Isaac’s car and with 3 ladies in the back in the middle of sort of nowhere, he was predictably embarrassed, but got straight to work. In no time, the tire was off. We suggested the spare tire, but of course that was flat too. The only thing left to do was to take both tires to the nearest town and try our luck at getting them repaired.

In Malawi, if you saw 2 foreign women, 1 Ghanaian lady and one guy by the side of the road with a stopped car and 2 tires, you’d stop. I’d guarantee that within 5 cars going by, someone would have stopped to ask you if you needed help. Things are a bit different here. At first we let Isaac try to wave someone down. No luck. Then we tried the girls. Still nothing. Even the pastor passed us by. We must have looked very threatening (or something!).

Finally, this came along. Apparently we weren’t too menacing for a giant blue tro-tro.

We fixed the tire and got back on our way for a day of fun and sightseeing.

Tired, emotionally drained and with music blaring to make sure Isaac stayed attentive, we started back. No sooner did dark fall then the car make an unhappy swerve. Same tire. Blown again. Now it’s dark. We’ve already established that Ghanaians aren’t going to stop for us in the middle of the day; they sure as hell aren’t going to stop for us in the dark at the side of the highway.

I tend to operate on the belief that with enough patience, persistence and money, things will happen and everything will be fine. It’s a theory, proven true time and again in Malawi. But I’m no longer in Malawi, and suddenly those theories have come into question.

Everything did work out, with time and patience. Like Malawi, trades people can be found close by at all hours of the day and night. They are willing to help and didn’t even charge us for the inconvenience or our desperate situation.

Changing a tire is never fun. Changing a tire at the side in a rural area in Ghana adds a whole other level of complexity. Changing a tire at the side of the road in the dark with traffic whizzing by is decidedly less so, but it all makes for a good story and team-bonding experience.