But first, the John Legend concert! The concert was scheduled for Saturday night but was rained out due to a freak late-rainy season storm. Seeing as this was a concert to support flood relief, I thought that was pretty ironic. The concert was rescheduled for Sunday.
The show itself it was more of a reggae show with a very long guest appearance by John Legend (who, by the way, is quite a good showman). Based on the prevalence of dreadlocks and absence of women, I assume that most people were actually there to see Luciano, a big reggae start. Programming a performer like John Legend on the same bill as a Luciano is like putting Neil Young in the same show with Neil Diamond: there is not a lot of cross over. The Rastafarians were polite during John Legend's set, but with songs like “I Can Change” and “Stay with You” that, from what I gather, are primarily aimed at women, the “Rasta man” was not feeling it. But it was a neat show, and nice to be there. I had to keep my beverage intake down since there was one Porto potty for the five thousand people at the show. I also realized that any organizer who would forget to make bathroom facilities available (not to mention garbage cans or security of any type) would also not plan for an orderly exit, so I left a little early. It was a good thing I did, since leaving was a mob scene and I’m pretty sure that someone tried to pickpocket me, but they got nothing. I was warned about pickpockets at these types of events and properly secured my cell phone and cash.
Saturday’s other event, the Akwantukese Festival, which is held in the town of Koforidua, in the eastern region, was also water logged due to the same freak storm. The festival is supposed to “commemorate the historical exodus of the people of New Juaben from Ashanti to the East in the 1870’s.” If all had gone according to plan, there was to be drumming and dancing and general pageantry. Instead, there was lots of rain and little in the way of shelter. One of the tents that had been set up actually blew away. So the festival was a bit of a wash out. But I did have a nice lunch. I’m sure I’ll get to another festival before my time here is done.
So now I’m the lovely town of Elmina, home of the Castle of St. George, which is reputed to be the oldest European structure in sub-Saharan Africa. I was built by the Portuguese for the gold trade, and, later, taken over by the Dutch for the slave trade. But I’m not here for the tourist sites (although I will get to town to see them). No, I’ve been invited to help set up an organization called the Civil Society Coalition on Land (“CICOL”). As such, I’m about half a mile from the town, at the lovely Elmina Beach Resort. Its supposed to be one of the fancier places in Elmina, but the neither the room safe nor the T.V. work, and, despite two calls to the front desk, no one came to fix them. It also has this weird 1970’sAfrican decor that was inspired, I guess, from its proximity to one of Ghana’s best slave castles. Or maybe by Shaft. I don’t know. But there are a few restaurants, a nice pool, and its beach front. The CICOL meeting is not the only one at the hotel. There is also a United Nations Development Program conference, and a meeting of Guinness Ghana, Ltd, (they brew Guinness in Ghana). Beer and NGOs are big businesses in Ghana.
I helped plan the conference last week, and I know for a fact that there is only a day and a half of events. Nevertheless, the large international NGO that is funding this conference has paid for us all to stay for three whole nights, all meals included (but no booze). So I get the feeling it’s a big of a junket, although certainly important work will be done. I’m not complaining (except about the T.V. and the safe).
Note that I never said that name of the NGO that is sponsoring this event. Its not because the NGO may be wasting resources on bloated conferences (although I wonder). Rather, its because AJWS has asked me not to identify the NGOs that the Development Institute has partnered with on its projects. I assume that there are two reasons for the AJWS policy. First, sometimes NGOs don’t want there operations revealed, and its important to respect that. Another, less gracious, reason is that some international NGOs, when not working in Ghana, are doing things that are not kosher, especially in the Middle East, and AJWS wants to keep its distance. Oh, politics.
Anyhow, the Civil Society Coalition on Land is being set up to address Ghana’s land administration system. See, about 80% of the land in Ghana is held by tribes with what is known as allodial title, or absolute ownership free and clear of any outside intervention. Because tribes own the lands free and clear, traditional land administration is done through “customary law.” That is a fancy way to say that the tribes can use what ever land administration system they damn well please- they can give leases, title, deeds, or any other instrument to who ever they want how ever they want. The problem with that system is that, in reality, no one really knows who owns what land. Some tribes keep records, some don’t and, worse, some keep records which are all wrong. This stymies the market for land and prevents development because, without knowing, definitively, who owns what piece of property, you can’t finance construction with mortgages on land (you can’t get a mortgage if there is a question about whether you own the land). Thus, Ghana is littered with half built building because of the lack of financing. Likewise, because there are no good records, putting up a foundation of a house is the only way to definitively show ownership, so the country is riddled with house foundations, even if the owner does not actually plan to build anything. Nor can owners sell their property, since, chances are, there is cloud on the title that needs to be cleared up before anyone would by the property. It’s a tremendous waste of resources, and represents a huge amount of trapped capital (all this property that can’t be sold and half built houses that will never be finished). Basically, we take our land administration system in the U.S. for granted, but its super important, especially when you see what happens when you don’t have one.
Ghana has made two previous attempts to move from a customary land administration system to a civil land administration system (a civil land system is just laws requiring all land to be surveyed and registered in one central place in a uniform manner). Both efforts have failed due to a combination of bureaucratic mismanagement and outright corruption. This time, Ghana has embarked on a 25 year program to thoroughly reform its land administration system, write a new law, survey the land, fast track disputes, and get everything registered with its proper owner. Its an ambitious plan, but, who knows, maybe some junkets to semi-fancy beach resorts will help in the implementation.
The specific job of CICOL is to make sure that the land administration reforms are done in a way that does not simply transfer land from its customary owners (the tribes) to a small group of private land owners. Right now, under the customary system, chiefs control land on behalf of the tribe, and, although there are no real records, there is a general understanding of who belongs where, enforced by the chief. The concern is that if the system is reformed in the wrong way, land will be registered in the name of the tribe, and then sold to the chief for a song (he controls the tribe, after all). The chief will then be a landowner (as opposed to custodian) and he will go ahead and sell it off (or lease it or whatever) to the highest bidder. While this might benefit the overall development of the country (and make a few chiefs very rich), it will also dispossess millions of people of the land they had a “customary” right to be on and use. Anyone can see how this might be a problem. So, between frozen drinks at the bar and dips in the pool, I will help create an organization that will try to prevent this from happening.
On another note, my bogging trailed off a bit because I was actually pretty busy last week into the weekend. Work has picked up, and I’m making some friends, but none Ghanaian, except the people I work with. At work, I’ve realized the problem was not that there was too little work, but rather that no one bothers to tell me anything about what the organization is doing. Now that I have a better understanding of why these guys need a volunteer, I’m actually doing some interesting stuff, and learning interesting stuff too. All is well. I’ll write again as soon as I can. I'll also put up some pictures as soon as I get to an internet connection that can support it. Look out for that early next week.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Aburi Gardens and My Weekend
About an hour north of Accra is an old British hill station, which has since been turned into a botanical garden, of sorts. It has a run down charm, and pretty good restaurant. So it was worth a trip. It was actually recommended by a friend the other AJWS volunteers in Accra, Deb and Gerry Ehrenstein. Here is a picture of the Ehrensteins on the road leading to the Botanical Gardens:
They are great traveling companions with a keen sense of adventure. In fact, the Ehrensteins insisted we take a Tro Tro the whole way, although due to some confusion about where the Tro Tro leaves from (we went to three different Tro Tro stations, each time being assured that, indeed, this was the correct Tro Tro station) we actually took the Tro Tro about two thirds of the way. But we made up for that on the way back by taking two different Tro Tro- a Tro Tro transfer, if you will. The Ehrensteins are also avid bird watchers, although there were very few birds to watch in the Botanical Gardens.
Our second stop of the day was “Tetteh Quarshie’s Cocoa Farm.” Actually, its any old one acre cocoa farm, but it happens to be the first one in Ghana. Ghana is now the world’s second largest producer of cocoa. Cocoa, after some processing, becomes chocolate. The guys who found themselves lucky enough to be farming on what happened to be the first cocoa farm in Ghana were smart enough to make it into a tourist attraction. They give tours and explain how cocoa is gown and harvested. Giving tours is surely better than hacking cocoa nuts open all day, although these guys hack their share of cocoa nuts (and shoot the squirrels who threaten the crop) between tours. Here is a picture of our tour guide in action (giving a tour):
At the farm, there is a large building that is supposed to be a visitors center, with a museum of cocoa production, a cafeteria, and a gift shop. But as of last weekend, the only thing open is the small museum which houses, among other things, Tetteh Quarshie’s sandals (or sandals of the type he might have worn in 1890) but nothing about the science of growing cocoa. Alas, the gift shop is not yet up and running, so no cocoa products (chocolate) can be purchased, although visitors are welcome to eat as many of the dry fermented seeds of the cocoa nut (what gets mashed into chocolate) as they like, and the seeds really do taste like chocolate.
These guys were really smart to organize themselves into a tourist attraction. One acre can’t grow a lot of cocoa and, even it could, the government sets the price of cocoa and has an export monopoly. In Ghana, you have to sell your cocoa to the government and the government exports 60% and keeps 40% for domestic processing. This means, basically, that no small farmer is going to get rich off of growing cocoa (if the price of cocoa on the world market shoots up that money goes to the government), but it also means that big multi-nationals won’t come in and buy up all the cocoa plantations and pay the workers a pittance (or let them starve when the price of cocoa drops on the world market), which is typical of Africa.
Sunday, I did what any good New Yorker does in 90 degree + weather and I went to the beach. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ghana has lots of beaches, but most of them, especially close to large cities, are dirty and dangerous. There is one developed beach in Accra which is safe and fairly clean known as Labadi Beach. Its lined with bars right at out on the beach, feet from the ocean. I was supposed to meet a Ghanaian lawyer who I had met a few times out and had some good conversations with, but he was no where to be found. Instead, I found one of the Ghanaian Lebanese guys that I met at the beach last weekend. Nice guy. Not a bad way to spend a lazy Sunday.
Thus weekend I’m taking another trip with the Ehrensteins, this time to some type of tribal festival. Saturday night, there is a concert in Accra’s Independence square to benefit the northern region of Ghana, which was flooded a few weeks ago. Here is a press release I saw about the concert:
“Leading events company, Creative Storm, and mobile telecommunications giants, Tigo, will, on Saturday, October 27 bring together five-time Grammy Award winner, John Legend, and international reggae icon, Luciano, on one stage to “sing away” the sorrows of flood victims and “jam out” the pain of sufferers of guinea worm infection in the country.”
Not the most tactful way to put it, but it looks like a good show none the less and tickets cost a whopping $2.
I think the whole thing is a bit odd. For the last few months, Ghana had been plagued with an energy crisis due to a drought. Power was rationed in Accra. Much of the city had only 12 hours of power each day. The rains that caused the floods in the north actually ended the energy crisis (the level of the lakes rose, which allowed for more hydroelectric power to be produced). Last weekend there was a huge prayer meeting in Independence Square to thank Jesus for ending the electric crisis by bringing rains. Not surprisingly, no one thought of holding a meeting to damn Jesus for leaving 300,000 people homeless in the process—the concert is the closest thing. I guess this shows that Jesus is a utilitarian. After all, whats 300,000 homeless people when 20 million have constant power and another 200,000 will get to enjoy a concert by five-time Grammy Award winner John Legend?
They are great traveling companions with a keen sense of adventure. In fact, the Ehrensteins insisted we take a Tro Tro the whole way, although due to some confusion about where the Tro Tro leaves from (we went to three different Tro Tro stations, each time being assured that, indeed, this was the correct Tro Tro station) we actually took the Tro Tro about two thirds of the way. But we made up for that on the way back by taking two different Tro Tro- a Tro Tro transfer, if you will. The Ehrensteins are also avid bird watchers, although there were very few birds to watch in the Botanical Gardens.Our second stop of the day was “Tetteh Quarshie’s Cocoa Farm.” Actually, its any old one acre cocoa farm, but it happens to be the first one in Ghana. Ghana is now the world’s second largest producer of cocoa. Cocoa, after some processing, becomes chocolate. The guys who found themselves lucky enough to be farming on what happened to be the first cocoa farm in Ghana were smart enough to make it into a tourist attraction. They give tours and explain how cocoa is gown and harvested. Giving tours is surely better than hacking cocoa nuts open all day, although these guys hack their share of cocoa nuts (and shoot the squirrels who threaten the crop) between tours. Here is a picture of our tour guide in action (giving a tour):
At the farm, there is a large building that is supposed to be a visitors center, with a museum of cocoa production, a cafeteria, and a gift shop. But as of last weekend, the only thing open is the small museum which houses, among other things, Tetteh Quarshie’s sandals (or sandals of the type he might have worn in 1890) but nothing about the science of growing cocoa. Alas, the gift shop is not yet up and running, so no cocoa products (chocolate) can be purchased, although visitors are welcome to eat as many of the dry fermented seeds of the cocoa nut (what gets mashed into chocolate) as they like, and the seeds really do taste like chocolate.
These guys were really smart to organize themselves into a tourist attraction. One acre can’t grow a lot of cocoa and, even it could, the government sets the price of cocoa and has an export monopoly. In Ghana, you have to sell your cocoa to the government and the government exports 60% and keeps 40% for domestic processing. This means, basically, that no small farmer is going to get rich off of growing cocoa (if the price of cocoa on the world market shoots up that money goes to the government), but it also means that big multi-nationals won’t come in and buy up all the cocoa plantations and pay the workers a pittance (or let them starve when the price of cocoa drops on the world market), which is typical of Africa.
Sunday, I did what any good New Yorker does in 90 degree + weather and I went to the beach. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ghana has lots of beaches, but most of them, especially close to large cities, are dirty and dangerous. There is one developed beach in Accra which is safe and fairly clean known as Labadi Beach. Its lined with bars right at out on the beach, feet from the ocean. I was supposed to meet a Ghanaian lawyer who I had met a few times out and had some good conversations with, but he was no where to be found. Instead, I found one of the Ghanaian Lebanese guys that I met at the beach last weekend. Nice guy. Not a bad way to spend a lazy Sunday.
Thus weekend I’m taking another trip with the Ehrensteins, this time to some type of tribal festival. Saturday night, there is a concert in Accra’s Independence square to benefit the northern region of Ghana, which was flooded a few weeks ago. Here is a press release I saw about the concert:
“Leading events company, Creative Storm, and mobile telecommunications giants, Tigo, will, on Saturday, October 27 bring together five-time Grammy Award winner, John Legend, and international reggae icon, Luciano, on one stage to “sing away” the sorrows of flood victims and “jam out” the pain of sufferers of guinea worm infection in the country.”
Not the most tactful way to put it, but it looks like a good show none the less and tickets cost a whopping $2.
I think the whole thing is a bit odd. For the last few months, Ghana had been plagued with an energy crisis due to a drought. Power was rationed in Accra. Much of the city had only 12 hours of power each day. The rains that caused the floods in the north actually ended the energy crisis (the level of the lakes rose, which allowed for more hydroelectric power to be produced). Last weekend there was a huge prayer meeting in Independence Square to thank Jesus for ending the electric crisis by bringing rains. Not surprisingly, no one thought of holding a meeting to damn Jesus for leaving 300,000 people homeless in the process—the concert is the closest thing. I guess this shows that Jesus is a utilitarian. After all, whats 300,000 homeless people when 20 million have constant power and another 200,000 will get to enjoy a concert by five-time Grammy Award winner John Legend?
Monday, October 22, 2007
Guns in Ghana
Enough with forests and landfills and forced evictions! How about something sexy? Yes, its time to talk about guns. Or, if you want to get specific, a meeting I attended last week with the very formal title of “The October 18, 2007 Validation Meeting for the Draft Report on the Supplementary Study on Local Arms Production in Ghana.” Meetings around here sort of take on a life of their own, when they actually happen, but I’ll get back to that later.
It seems that Ghana is awash in guns. Who knew? Importing guns is tightly controlled, and save for some ambitious types the trek through the jungle or desert with a pickup truck full of guns, smuggling is not a big problem. The problem is blacksmiths who make hand crafted guns in underground workshops and supplying a robust market. Many tribes view gun ownership as a right of passage for young men, and incorporate guns into their ritual life. However, the home made guns also find their way into the hands of criminals. And with all those guns around, when the tribes decide to fight each other, which happens every 15 years or so I’m told, things get messy. I assume that is the Development Institute’s interest in local arms production, since people with homemade guns that they assume are superior to their neighbor’s homemade guns (and every tribe thinks they make the best guns, not only the best in Ghana, but the best in the world) are more apt to get into land disputes that need to be mediated. Or maybe we just went for the free lunch, which was pretty damn good.
Everyone knows the government is too weak in most places, or too damn lazy, to do anything about the local production of guns. That’s not exactly right—you can get a permit to repair guns and to make some guns, but, as the representative from the national police (or something like that) told everyone, the police have never actually granted a permit to make guns, even thought its conceivably possible that some one could get such a permit. (No one at the meeting except me thought that was funny). In the absence of law enforcement, the idea is to liberalize the regulations to make gun manufacturing legal and regulated. Then the government can know exactly who is making guns, how many they are making, and where they are going. Incentives can be offered to register older, illegally produced guns, and everyone would be happy. Sounds great, right?
Well, its complicated. For one, Ghana is part of some very sensible treaties that prohibit domestic manufacture of small in West Africa. Sensible because small arms are endemic in Ghana’s neighbors, like Liberia and Sierra Lone and Ivory Coast, and those are not very pleasant places these days. Assuming no one cares about those treaties, and I don’t think anyone does, developing an arms industry is not a smart thing to do.
However, at the meeting were representatives of the blacksmith associations from all over Ghana. Their interest goes beyond coming in from the bush: they want the government to partner with them to develop a domestic gun industry. They might not realize it, but what they are is supply siders because they want to lower the barriers to production (i.e. the illegality) which will promote production, bring down prices overall and put a gun in every bedroom. That might work well (in theory) for washing machines and radios, but its positively stupid when it comes to guns.
If Ghana can walk the tricky line of legalizing gun manufacturing without attracting additional production, then they should go for it. But I don’t see that happening. My opinion was that they should pick another industry to develop and just try to get as many illegal guns registered as possible. But I kept my mouth shut, which is a smart thing to do when a room is half filled with gun nuts.
For me, the meeting was really interesting. For one, there were some pretty important people there—the former head of the national security service, a few MPs (congressmen of sorts), a tribal chief, some academics and the aforementioned blacksmiths. Note, however, that some heavies that were listed as attending (Ministers and the like) did not show up, and did not send their regards or send a minion to attend just to show they cared. Meanwhile, some people who announced they had to leave ended up staying the whole time. I think that’s in keeping with the general Ghanaian idea about meetings: plan them, and then forget them. It happens all the time around here, and if I was trying to earn a living as opposed to just doing something interesting and doing some good for 10 weeks, I would be pissed.
I’m told that what is actually going on is everyone always plans for the best case scenario. See, when some says “lets have a meeting tomorrow morning to talk about what we want you to do for the next two months” what they really mean is “if everything goes perfectly, and there is no traffic and my kid does all his homework and my wife does not burn dinner and England beats South Africa in the Rugby World Cup, we will have a meeting.” But that’s all wishful thinking because, indeed, South Africa won the Rugby World Cup and, thus, no one showed up to talk about what I’m supposed to be doing here for the next two months.
(South Africa really did win the Rugby World Cup, by the way, and all the drunk South Africans made an ass of themselves on Saturday night at the expat bars, but that’s another story).
I’m not alone in my frustration: Accra is full of underutilized volunteers. Since I don’t have much going on in NYC at the moment (at the moment!) its not that big a deal and I’m learning a lot of interesting things and helping however I can. But the phenomena of underutilized volunteers and how foreigners moved from god fearing missionaries and sadistic colonizers to working 15 hours a week and blogging (or worse in many cases) for the balance of the week is one that needs to be told. I’ll get to that some other time.
It seems that Ghana is awash in guns. Who knew? Importing guns is tightly controlled, and save for some ambitious types the trek through the jungle or desert with a pickup truck full of guns, smuggling is not a big problem. The problem is blacksmiths who make hand crafted guns in underground workshops and supplying a robust market. Many tribes view gun ownership as a right of passage for young men, and incorporate guns into their ritual life. However, the home made guns also find their way into the hands of criminals. And with all those guns around, when the tribes decide to fight each other, which happens every 15 years or so I’m told, things get messy. I assume that is the Development Institute’s interest in local arms production, since people with homemade guns that they assume are superior to their neighbor’s homemade guns (and every tribe thinks they make the best guns, not only the best in Ghana, but the best in the world) are more apt to get into land disputes that need to be mediated. Or maybe we just went for the free lunch, which was pretty damn good.
Everyone knows the government is too weak in most places, or too damn lazy, to do anything about the local production of guns. That’s not exactly right—you can get a permit to repair guns and to make some guns, but, as the representative from the national police (or something like that) told everyone, the police have never actually granted a permit to make guns, even thought its conceivably possible that some one could get such a permit. (No one at the meeting except me thought that was funny). In the absence of law enforcement, the idea is to liberalize the regulations to make gun manufacturing legal and regulated. Then the government can know exactly who is making guns, how many they are making, and where they are going. Incentives can be offered to register older, illegally produced guns, and everyone would be happy. Sounds great, right?
Well, its complicated. For one, Ghana is part of some very sensible treaties that prohibit domestic manufacture of small in West Africa. Sensible because small arms are endemic in Ghana’s neighbors, like Liberia and Sierra Lone and Ivory Coast, and those are not very pleasant places these days. Assuming no one cares about those treaties, and I don’t think anyone does, developing an arms industry is not a smart thing to do.
However, at the meeting were representatives of the blacksmith associations from all over Ghana. Their interest goes beyond coming in from the bush: they want the government to partner with them to develop a domestic gun industry. They might not realize it, but what they are is supply siders because they want to lower the barriers to production (i.e. the illegality) which will promote production, bring down prices overall and put a gun in every bedroom. That might work well (in theory) for washing machines and radios, but its positively stupid when it comes to guns.
If Ghana can walk the tricky line of legalizing gun manufacturing without attracting additional production, then they should go for it. But I don’t see that happening. My opinion was that they should pick another industry to develop and just try to get as many illegal guns registered as possible. But I kept my mouth shut, which is a smart thing to do when a room is half filled with gun nuts.
For me, the meeting was really interesting. For one, there were some pretty important people there—the former head of the national security service, a few MPs (congressmen of sorts), a tribal chief, some academics and the aforementioned blacksmiths. Note, however, that some heavies that were listed as attending (Ministers and the like) did not show up, and did not send their regards or send a minion to attend just to show they cared. Meanwhile, some people who announced they had to leave ended up staying the whole time. I think that’s in keeping with the general Ghanaian idea about meetings: plan them, and then forget them. It happens all the time around here, and if I was trying to earn a living as opposed to just doing something interesting and doing some good for 10 weeks, I would be pissed.
I’m told that what is actually going on is everyone always plans for the best case scenario. See, when some says “lets have a meeting tomorrow morning to talk about what we want you to do for the next two months” what they really mean is “if everything goes perfectly, and there is no traffic and my kid does all his homework and my wife does not burn dinner and England beats South Africa in the Rugby World Cup, we will have a meeting.” But that’s all wishful thinking because, indeed, South Africa won the Rugby World Cup and, thus, no one showed up to talk about what I’m supposed to be doing here for the next two months.
(South Africa really did win the Rugby World Cup, by the way, and all the drunk South Africans made an ass of themselves on Saturday night at the expat bars, but that’s another story).
I’m not alone in my frustration: Accra is full of underutilized volunteers. Since I don’t have much going on in NYC at the moment (at the moment!) its not that big a deal and I’m learning a lot of interesting things and helping however I can. But the phenomena of underutilized volunteers and how foreigners moved from god fearing missionaries and sadistic colonizers to working 15 hours a week and blogging (or worse in many cases) for the balance of the week is one that needs to be told. I’ll get to that some other time.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Second Housing Crisis: Agyemankata
In keeping with my theme of substantive posts, here is another one, albeit a week late.
The community had set up a “Durba,” or town meeting, to welcome and address the Inspection Panel. You can’t get a good feel of it here, but there were well over 100 people there. Various members of the community met Dr. Kiene. The woman behind him is Sylvia, a lawyer with COHRE and the head of this project. The other white guy is Peter Lallas, the executive secretary of the Inspection Panel. He is an American lawyer, and has a pretty cool job, assuming he likes to travel.
After lots of speech giving, Dr. Kiene answered questions from the community. It was a really interesting scene.
And there was dancing! I asked someone what the significance of the dancing was. I was told that its just some thing that happens at a Durba.
Dr. Keine presses a point with Mr. Smith.
Since the entire community is going to be displaced, everyone was pretty interested in the inspection. I think the whole town followed us around on the inspection.
Last Thursday (October 11) I went on a site visit with one of the organizations that has “partnered” with the Development Institute. The organization is called the Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions ("COHRE"). The project addresses forced evictions in a town called Agyemankata, near Accra. The evictions are required for the construction of a landfill by the Accra Metropolitan Association (“AMA”).
Its pretty clear that Accra needs a landfill and stopping the landfill is not what this is about (for me, at least). What this is about is making sure that the people whose land is being taken are given some type of due process and compensation— neither of which is guaranteed in system with a weak civil court system. Aside from being legally repugnant, situations where people are forced from their land without due process and compensation inevitably become violent conflicts at some future date. If its something that can be avoided, I say we try our best. I assume that is why the Development Institute has partnered with COHRE on this proj8ct (The Development Institutues does conflict resolution, remember) but no one has told me that in so many words. So, for this project, I have my “condemnation lawyer” hat on, as opposed to my “alternative dispute resolution” hat on. I’m quite comfortable in both hats, thank you very much.
The long and short of it is that the landfill project is being funded by the World Bank. The World Bank, bless its global heart, has certain safeguards in place to try to minimize the social and environmental impacts of its projects. Some of those safeguards require that any project which displaces people contain a fairly specific “resettlement action plan” that moves the displaced people to other land and provides the displaced people compensation. As with anything involving large scale economic development, the resettlement safeguards and the compensation scheme are intricate, voluminous and fairly comprehensive. Good thing that have a condemnation expert like me around! ;).
As extensive as the regulations are, in good Ghanaian style, the AMA has chosen to ignore them all. Instead of following the pesky safeguards polices, the AMA has decided to just push the Agyemankata community off the landfill site. In January 2007, the “State Security Service” came through and marked houses in the landfill site as follows:
Ouch! Imagine coming home and seeing that painted on your house! Fortunately, the World Bank has a grievance procedure whereby an aggrieved community can request an investigation if there is reason to believe that World Bank policies are being violated. The investigation is undertaken by an independent panel known as the World Bank Inspection Panel. Last Thursday’s site visit was made by the panel to assess whether the Agyemankata community’s grievance is eligible for a full investigation. The white man pictured is Dr. Werner Kiene, an Austrian agricultural economist who is serving as the chairman of the World Bank Inspection Panel. The other gentleman is Isaac Smith, a coconut farmer and the proprietor of the local elementary school. Mr. Smith is one of the leaders of the Agyemankata community’s efforts. Note that at this eligibility phase of the investigation, World Bank policies (yes, those again) prohibit media coverage, presumably to allow the inspection to take place in a fair and unbiased way. I don’t think that my blog is press coverage (First Amendment lawyers?) but because I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the Agyemankata community’s grievance, I won’t say anymore and I’ll just give you a few pictures to get a sense of the scene.
The community had set up a “Durba,” or town meeting, to welcome and address the Inspection Panel. You can’t get a good feel of it here, but there were well over 100 people there. Various members of the community met Dr. Kiene. The woman behind him is Sylvia, a lawyer with COHRE and the head of this project. The other white guy is Peter Lallas, the executive secretary of the Inspection Panel. He is an American lawyer, and has a pretty cool job, assuming he likes to travel.
Dr. Keine presses a point with Mr. Smith.
Since the entire community is going to be displaced, everyone was pretty interested in the inspection. I think the whole town followed us around on the inspection. After the inspection, we had some refreshments. I discovered my favorite African custom- leaving guests alone to eat (unlike at home, where leaving a guest alone to eat is considered rude and, as a result, the hosts hovers over the guest while they eat, something I hate). Then we went to meet the local chief to thank him for letting us inspect his land. The local chief was out so we went to pay our respects to a village elder, but that guy was sleeping (he is an elder, after all). We left a note and went home. On a side note, during the inspection, the World Bank people were very conscious of observing all local customs, which, say what you will about the bank, was commendable.
Needless to say, it was a pretty interesting day. Hope I have more like it, and I hope that I can offer some assistance to the community during my time here.
Needless to say, it was a pretty interesting day. Hope I have more like it, and I hope that I can offer some assistance to the community during my time here.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Solo Forest
In all the complaining and partying with flight attendants, I've yet to post about what I am actually doing here. This is the first of what I hope will be many substantive posts. On another note, I also found a decent Internet cafe- no screaming kids, no bad R&B, no mosquitoes, with air conditioning and a decent connection speed. It was sort of hidden (for good reason, I guess). So i'm in business. Here goes!
_____________________________________
The environmental degradation in Ghana is astounding. There is no land use planning, and no respect for the environment. The entire area around Accra used to be a large tropical rain forest. Almost none remains. Near the beach where I spent the weekend (Kokrobite), there is one stand of old growth trees known as Solo Forest, perhaps the last within two hours drive of Accra. The only reason why it survived this long is because within this small forest (about 300 acres) is a fresh water spring that is sacred to the local Ga people. However, believe it or not, some members of the community are actually attempting to destroy this remaining forest and claim the land as their own.
Whenever there is a new development, the first thing to go are the trees (not to mention the monkeys who live in the trees). In fact, even during my visit, there were people knocking over palm trees to get a few cents worth of palm wine out of the root of the tree. That kills the tree, which is unfortunate since there are not a lot of trees standing in the area.
Its really depressing. Into this mess, an American woman I met by the name of Dorinda Kline, and her friend Ellis, a local, have set up the Solo Forest Foundation. The goal of the foundation is to save the remaining forest and replant a part of the forest on an adjacent barren hillside. It's a great spot, which a view clear to the sea. Dorinda and Ellis have the support of the local chiefs and some other prominent members of the community and have plans to plant 5,000 new trees, educate the local children about the value of environmental conservation, and even open a visitor's center of sorts. Its an ambitious project, but Dorinda and Ellis's enthusiasm and dedication is amazing, and I think that they just might do it.
Here is a picture of Dorinda, Ellis and Ellis's kids. You can see the forest in the background on the right and get a sense of what the area around the forest looks like (treeless):
I've only just gotten involved in the whole volunteering/economic development world but I can already see that while good intentions abound, often there is little to show for it. Since I'm new to this, I'll reserve my thoughts on the value of what I'm doing with the Development Institute for another time. My feeling is that the Solo Forest Foundation is one of those projects that has a reasonable chance of making an important impact on the local community, and deserves my support. I hope that as I travel around Ghana, I find more like it.
_____________________________________
The environmental degradation in Ghana is astounding. There is no land use planning, and no respect for the environment. The entire area around Accra used to be a large tropical rain forest. Almost none remains. Near the beach where I spent the weekend (Kokrobite), there is one stand of old growth trees known as Solo Forest, perhaps the last within two hours drive of Accra. The only reason why it survived this long is because within this small forest (about 300 acres) is a fresh water spring that is sacred to the local Ga people. However, believe it or not, some members of the community are actually attempting to destroy this remaining forest and claim the land as their own.
Whenever there is a new development, the first thing to go are the trees (not to mention the monkeys who live in the trees). In fact, even during my visit, there were people knocking over palm trees to get a few cents worth of palm wine out of the root of the tree. That kills the tree, which is unfortunate since there are not a lot of trees standing in the area.
Its really depressing. Into this mess, an American woman I met by the name of Dorinda Kline, and her friend Ellis, a local, have set up the Solo Forest Foundation. The goal of the foundation is to save the remaining forest and replant a part of the forest on an adjacent barren hillside. It's a great spot, which a view clear to the sea. Dorinda and Ellis have the support of the local chiefs and some other prominent members of the community and have plans to plant 5,000 new trees, educate the local children about the value of environmental conservation, and even open a visitor's center of sorts. Its an ambitious project, but Dorinda and Ellis's enthusiasm and dedication is amazing, and I think that they just might do it.
Here is a picture of Dorinda, Ellis and Ellis's kids. You can see the forest in the background on the right and get a sense of what the area around the forest looks like (treeless):
I've only just gotten involved in the whole volunteering/economic development world but I can already see that while good intentions abound, often there is little to show for it. Since I'm new to this, I'll reserve my thoughts on the value of what I'm doing with the Development Institute for another time. My feeling is that the Solo Forest Foundation is one of those projects that has a reasonable chance of making an important impact on the local community, and deserves my support. I hope that as I travel around Ghana, I find more like it.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Kokrobite Beach
As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to live in Osu and search out the real Ghana on the weekends. Well, this was my first weekend of the search and I failed. But failing has never been this much fun!
Ghana has about 300 miles of Atlantic coastline and one of its biggest industries is fishing. I chose a town called Kokrobite which is close to Accra since it was easy to get to by Tro Tro (little private buses that form the bulk of the transport system in Ghana). I figured I could move on from there and see some more of the coast. While I thought I was going to a sleepy fishing village, what I actually found was a big international party that, as far as I tell, has been going on for a decade. Some of the people I met included lots of young Ghanaian Lebanese (people from Lebanon run a lot of business in Ghana), extremely attractive flight attendants (mainly from Emirates Airlines, which is based in Dubai and is quickly becoming the largest airline in the world), a few Peace Corp volunteers, a German girl who works for the U.N. peace keeping mission in Ivory Coast (who knew there was peace to be kept in Ivory Coast?) a Swedish student studying African politics, an Australian who runs "safaris without animals" and a few guys from Nigeria, one of whom was pretty brilliant. Not to mention all the local Rastafarians (which is a pretty big religion in Africa, although I suspect it came from Jamaica rather than Ethiopia). If I ever call off the search for the real Ghana, you know where to find me. It was a really good time.
Below are some pictures I took of the beach. Note that taking pictures on the beach is inadvisable because the local thugs seem to make a bit of cottage industry of robbing tourists of ANYTHING they bring to the beach. Not that is a good excuse, but the area around the beach (and the fishermen themselves) are poor poor poor and the tourists are pretty well off. I was told by locals that many of the signs directing unsuspecting tourists to beach "resorts" are, in fact, rues to entrap tourists into a compromising place and rob them. Anna, the German U.N. employee who works in Ivory Coast (one of the most dangerous counties in the world at the moment) was robbed of her camera. I was paranoid of having the same thing happening to me, but I could not resist, so I took some pictures and hoped my tough looks scared off the local thugs. It worked! Here is a picture of a boat coming in and people going to buy some fresh sea food.
In all honestly, as much fun as I had, it was not guilt free. Hanging out with expats and attractive flight attendants is not what I came to Ghana to do, after all. But it seems to be the opportunity that has presented itself. I might visit some of the Peace Corp volunteers at their placements, so that might be a way to see the "real Ghana." But who am I to say that an all night party on the beach with local Rastas is not the real Ghana?
Ghana has about 300 miles of Atlantic coastline and one of its biggest industries is fishing. I chose a town called Kokrobite which is close to Accra since it was easy to get to by Tro Tro (little private buses that form the bulk of the transport system in Ghana). I figured I could move on from there and see some more of the coast. While I thought I was going to a sleepy fishing village, what I actually found was a big international party that, as far as I tell, has been going on for a decade. Some of the people I met included lots of young Ghanaian Lebanese (people from Lebanon run a lot of business in Ghana), extremely attractive flight attendants (mainly from Emirates Airlines, which is based in Dubai and is quickly becoming the largest airline in the world), a few Peace Corp volunteers, a German girl who works for the U.N. peace keeping mission in Ivory Coast (who knew there was peace to be kept in Ivory Coast?) a Swedish student studying African politics, an Australian who runs "safaris without animals" and a few guys from Nigeria, one of whom was pretty brilliant. Not to mention all the local Rastafarians (which is a pretty big religion in Africa, although I suspect it came from Jamaica rather than Ethiopia). If I ever call off the search for the real Ghana, you know where to find me. It was a really good time.
Below are some pictures I took of the beach. Note that taking pictures on the beach is inadvisable because the local thugs seem to make a bit of cottage industry of robbing tourists of ANYTHING they bring to the beach. Not that is a good excuse, but the area around the beach (and the fishermen themselves) are poor poor poor and the tourists are pretty well off. I was told by locals that many of the signs directing unsuspecting tourists to beach "resorts" are, in fact, rues to entrap tourists into a compromising place and rob them. Anna, the German U.N. employee who works in Ivory Coast (one of the most dangerous counties in the world at the moment) was robbed of her camera. I was paranoid of having the same thing happening to me, but I could not resist, so I took some pictures and hoped my tough looks scared off the local thugs. It worked! Here is a picture of a boat coming in and people going to buy some fresh sea food.
In all honestly, as much fun as I had, it was not guilt free. Hanging out with expats and attractive flight attendants is not what I came to Ghana to do, after all. But it seems to be the opportunity that has presented itself. I might visit some of the Peace Corp volunteers at their placements, so that might be a way to see the "real Ghana." But who am I to say that an all night party on the beach with local Rastas is not the real Ghana?
The First Housing Crisis
There is no nice way to say this: the people AJWS hired to facilitate my housing search are completely incompetent. Beyond that, and in spite of it, I'm a dedicated volunteer and everything is going quite well, thank you very much.
Here is my story: AJWS was supposed to locate housing for me. I assumed that AJWS had successfully found housing for volunteers in the past and it was not something I needed to worry about. How wrong I was. Apparently, AJWS uses, Asseye, a Ghanaian to run the Ghana program. Normally, she is in Accra but for this month she is in the U.S., attending to business I guess. In her stead, she appointed Douglas to help set up my housing.
My request was minimal-I wanted a place with my own bathroom, in a neighborhood with other westerners (which means Osu). On Tuesday of last week, Douglas told me he would take me to look at places. He stood me up. On Wednesday, with much fanfare, Douglas took me to see some places. Actually, Douglas took me to see two places, which, despite knowing that I was coming to Accra, a City of two million, for over two weeks, was all he was able to find. The first place was a hotel that was located at a busy intersection. It seemed as if Douglas had walked down the street, went into the first hotel he saw and asked whether there was a room available for two months. This particular hotel is more suited to hourly guests who are not interested in sleeping, if you get my drift. The hotel was located on one of the busiest intersections of Accra, and Accra is a city where drivers use their horns instead of blinkers. There are also some "spots" (bars) on the corner and, just to make sure that everyone knows that good times are to be had, they blast really bad American R&B and rap into the street. Without exaggeration, its probably one of the loudest places I've ever been.
The next place Douglas had selected for me was unfinished. I don't mean "unfurnished," I mean unfinished. There was no bed, the walls were bare cement and the floor was, well, non-existent (it was dirt). The place was filthy. Douglas helpfully explained to me that the owner was waiting for someone to rent it, so that he could make the place "to their taste." I explained that pretty much everyone had a taste for a bed in a bedroom, not to mention a floor. I met the owner who promised to finish the place in two days if I rented it, and gave him $1600 for two months rent. I guess there are a lot of suckers in Accra.
Since both of the places that Douglas had selected for me were un suitable, Douglas and I proceeded to walk around, in the heat, for two more hours, basically knocking on doors and asking whether they knew of anyplace for rent in the area. Someone actually showed us a vacant restaurant that was for rent. It was spacious, but not what I had in mind. Douglas told the guy that he thought he had a friend who maybe inertest in renting a restaurant.
On our walk, I did see one guesthouse that I liked very much, but it was too expensive. After a few hours in the heat, when it became apparent to me that Douglas had no idea what he was doing, I resolved to take guesthouse and deal with money issues with AJWS. Douglas told me that the following day he would meet the owner and make the arrangements. I packed my bags at the hostel in which I had been staying and withdrew one month's rent (the equivalent of $900 dollars, or, since the bank only had Ghanaian $5 notes, 180 $5 notes).
However, Douglas did not make the arrangements, or maybe he thought he did but in fact did not, so when I arrived, bags and money in hand, I was told was nothing available. Huh? We went to another place that Douglas said had something available. Again, nothing. I was pissed (and I still am). About an hour later, while I waited at a rusturant, Douglas found a cheap hotel, this one on a quite side street. So, for $30 per night, I'm staying in a hotel for the month. AJWS is paying about half.
Where does this leave me? The hotel is fine. Its quiet and there is A/C. Nevertheless, this situation is far from ideal. For one, I don't want to live in a hotel for a month. I can't cook anything, and there is nowhere to sit aside from my room. More importantly, and more unfortunately, AJWS, a charitable organization that funds important programs around the world, is having to pay about $800 to put me up in a hotel, a place I don't want to live. A better local facilitator, or at least one that had even the slightest idea what he is doing (and I've meet a few facilitators with other groups of volunteers) could have done much much better for me and AJWS.
Finally, I need to add this: during the process, on a few occasions, I was told by Asseye and Douglas to that "this is Africa" and this is how it works. I can't accept that. Clearly, Douglas simply failed to do his job and lead me on a wild goose chase. "Africa" is not synonymous with "incompetence."
Here is my story: AJWS was supposed to locate housing for me. I assumed that AJWS had successfully found housing for volunteers in the past and it was not something I needed to worry about. How wrong I was. Apparently, AJWS uses, Asseye, a Ghanaian to run the Ghana program. Normally, she is in Accra but for this month she is in the U.S., attending to business I guess. In her stead, she appointed Douglas to help set up my housing.
My request was minimal-I wanted a place with my own bathroom, in a neighborhood with other westerners (which means Osu). On Tuesday of last week, Douglas told me he would take me to look at places. He stood me up. On Wednesday, with much fanfare, Douglas took me to see some places. Actually, Douglas took me to see two places, which, despite knowing that I was coming to Accra, a City of two million, for over two weeks, was all he was able to find. The first place was a hotel that was located at a busy intersection. It seemed as if Douglas had walked down the street, went into the first hotel he saw and asked whether there was a room available for two months. This particular hotel is more suited to hourly guests who are not interested in sleeping, if you get my drift. The hotel was located on one of the busiest intersections of Accra, and Accra is a city where drivers use their horns instead of blinkers. There are also some "spots" (bars) on the corner and, just to make sure that everyone knows that good times are to be had, they blast really bad American R&B and rap into the street. Without exaggeration, its probably one of the loudest places I've ever been.
The next place Douglas had selected for me was unfinished. I don't mean "unfurnished," I mean unfinished. There was no bed, the walls were bare cement and the floor was, well, non-existent (it was dirt). The place was filthy. Douglas helpfully explained to me that the owner was waiting for someone to rent it, so that he could make the place "to their taste." I explained that pretty much everyone had a taste for a bed in a bedroom, not to mention a floor. I met the owner who promised to finish the place in two days if I rented it, and gave him $1600 for two months rent. I guess there are a lot of suckers in Accra.
Since both of the places that Douglas had selected for me were un suitable, Douglas and I proceeded to walk around, in the heat, for two more hours, basically knocking on doors and asking whether they knew of anyplace for rent in the area. Someone actually showed us a vacant restaurant that was for rent. It was spacious, but not what I had in mind. Douglas told the guy that he thought he had a friend who maybe inertest in renting a restaurant.
On our walk, I did see one guesthouse that I liked very much, but it was too expensive. After a few hours in the heat, when it became apparent to me that Douglas had no idea what he was doing, I resolved to take guesthouse and deal with money issues with AJWS. Douglas told me that the following day he would meet the owner and make the arrangements. I packed my bags at the hostel in which I had been staying and withdrew one month's rent (the equivalent of $900 dollars, or, since the bank only had Ghanaian $5 notes, 180 $5 notes).
However, Douglas did not make the arrangements, or maybe he thought he did but in fact did not, so when I arrived, bags and money in hand, I was told was nothing available. Huh? We went to another place that Douglas said had something available. Again, nothing. I was pissed (and I still am). About an hour later, while I waited at a rusturant, Douglas found a cheap hotel, this one on a quite side street. So, for $30 per night, I'm staying in a hotel for the month. AJWS is paying about half.
Where does this leave me? The hotel is fine. Its quiet and there is A/C. Nevertheless, this situation is far from ideal. For one, I don't want to live in a hotel for a month. I can't cook anything, and there is nowhere to sit aside from my room. More importantly, and more unfortunately, AJWS, a charitable organization that funds important programs around the world, is having to pay about $800 to put me up in a hotel, a place I don't want to live. A better local facilitator, or at least one that had even the slightest idea what he is doing (and I've meet a few facilitators with other groups of volunteers) could have done much much better for me and AJWS.
Finally, I need to add this: during the process, on a few occasions, I was told by Asseye and Douglas to that "this is Africa" and this is how it works. I can't accept that. Clearly, Douglas simply failed to do his job and lead me on a wild goose chase. "Africa" is not synonymous with "incompetence."
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
When in Ghana. . .
As I expected, there is not much going on at The Development Institute these days. At least nothing that I can jump into. The organization is currently mediating a land dispute in the Volta region, which seems fascinating, but my part in that project is unclear. Other than that, they seem have a few projects going, and a few in the making, and a few that have been “green lighted” or something like that. The ADR (alternative dispute resolution) project that I mentioned below is one of those projects that has been green lighted, but in what form is unclear. Tomorrow, we are having a meeting to discuss what my role in the project will be. Next week, we will “sit down” with some “partners” to discuss the other projects. On another note, there is no internet in the office, although there is air conditioning. Across the road there is an internet "cafe" with no air-conditioning. At the moment, i'm across the road at the non-air-conditioned internet "cafe" with a few nasty looking mosquitoes buzzing about. Mosquitoes are not to be trifled with in this part of the world. This is, needless to say, not an easy work arrangement. I'm told that The Development Institute is working on getting a wireless connection. I guess the wireless internet has been "green lighted."
Right now, i'm thinking that it is a very real possibility that I will finish the one ADR project and be done with my work. I don't what i'll do then, but it seems unlikely that I will make work for myself in a non-airconditioned internet "cafe" when I could be out traveling in an exciting part of the world or wheeling and dealing in NYC, to the extent I wheel and deal in NYC, of course.
Its all the better that work is not taking up much of my time these days since I have some personal things to attend to. First on the list is banking. Of all the useless things that the guidebooks tell you, the one useful thing they don’t tell you is that Ghana does not take MasterCard. There is a Visa monopoly around here, and only one bank in the entire country, as far as I can tell, will process a MasterCard transaction. So if you are like me, and your debit card operates on the MasterCard system, you are S.O.L. Yesterday, I waited for an hour at the bank, on three different lines, to get $200. I had the company of a few other confused Obruni (white people) who were equally as pissed with the guidebooks, the banks, and most of all, Visa.
Second on the list is housing. It looks increasing like I will be setting up shop in the expensive and tourist oriented (although there are not too many tourists as far as I can tell) neighborhood of Osu. I regret this a little bit because Osu is probably the nicest/fanciest area of the city (although still drab by western standards) and as anyone will quickly tell you: its not Ghana. Actually, all of Accra is not really Ghana. In much of the country, other than Accra, the central government is of secondary importance to a fascinating and intricate system of clans, tribes and peoples (which i'm trying to learn). Accra, in contrast, is made of people from many different tribes/clans/peoples who don't really subscribe to the traditional tribal and clan loyalties. Thus, its much more of a western style culture. I wish I knew enough to make a non-offensive tribe/clan/people joke, but I don't, so I won't.
The debate of whether or not to live in Osu is part and parcel of an internal debate I am having about just how Ghana I’m going get. I can easily recreate most western comforts in Accra—its an international city with sports bars that show Sunday night foot ball and a supermarket that sells Ben and Jerry’s, after all. But I’m not here to do that, and its also expensive. For example, last night I spent about $8 for a meal and a beer (ok, maybe two beers) at a western style restaurant. For lunch today I had a huge plate of rice beans fish and a few other things that I can't yet identify for $1.25 (and a coke for 70 cents). Yesterday, a lunch of fried plantains, oranges and papaya on the street cost about 50 cents.On the other hand, as interesting as it sounds to live in the bush with a extended clan in a mud hut (i've meet other volunteers who are doing that after a short stint in Accra), thats just not me and not something I want to do for more than one night. Maybe two nights, tops. And besides, i'm sure the clan, if its like any clan I know in New York, has at least one lawyer, so my services are not needed.
In the end, I think I’ll live in Osu but leave Accra every Friday and head out to a more authentic part of the country for the weekend. A nice thing about living in Osu is that I’ll meet other westerners who want to do the same, so I don’t have to travel alone. Or is that a bad thing? The debate continues.
Pictures are on the way. . . the internet, even in Accra, has been too slow to upload pictures. Miss you all!
Right now, i'm thinking that it is a very real possibility that I will finish the one ADR project and be done with my work. I don't what i'll do then, but it seems unlikely that I will make work for myself in a non-airconditioned internet "cafe" when I could be out traveling in an exciting part of the world or wheeling and dealing in NYC, to the extent I wheel and deal in NYC, of course.
Its all the better that work is not taking up much of my time these days since I have some personal things to attend to. First on the list is banking. Of all the useless things that the guidebooks tell you, the one useful thing they don’t tell you is that Ghana does not take MasterCard. There is a Visa monopoly around here, and only one bank in the entire country, as far as I can tell, will process a MasterCard transaction. So if you are like me, and your debit card operates on the MasterCard system, you are S.O.L. Yesterday, I waited for an hour at the bank, on three different lines, to get $200. I had the company of a few other confused Obruni (white people) who were equally as pissed with the guidebooks, the banks, and most of all, Visa.
Second on the list is housing. It looks increasing like I will be setting up shop in the expensive and tourist oriented (although there are not too many tourists as far as I can tell) neighborhood of Osu. I regret this a little bit because Osu is probably the nicest/fanciest area of the city (although still drab by western standards) and as anyone will quickly tell you: its not Ghana. Actually, all of Accra is not really Ghana. In much of the country, other than Accra, the central government is of secondary importance to a fascinating and intricate system of clans, tribes and peoples (which i'm trying to learn). Accra, in contrast, is made of people from many different tribes/clans/peoples who don't really subscribe to the traditional tribal and clan loyalties. Thus, its much more of a western style culture. I wish I knew enough to make a non-offensive tribe/clan/people joke, but I don't, so I won't.
The debate of whether or not to live in Osu is part and parcel of an internal debate I am having about just how Ghana I’m going get. I can easily recreate most western comforts in Accra—its an international city with sports bars that show Sunday night foot ball and a supermarket that sells Ben and Jerry’s, after all. But I’m not here to do that, and its also expensive. For example, last night I spent about $8 for a meal and a beer (ok, maybe two beers) at a western style restaurant. For lunch today I had a huge plate of rice beans fish and a few other things that I can't yet identify for $1.25 (and a coke for 70 cents). Yesterday, a lunch of fried plantains, oranges and papaya on the street cost about 50 cents.On the other hand, as interesting as it sounds to live in the bush with a extended clan in a mud hut (i've meet other volunteers who are doing that after a short stint in Accra), thats just not me and not something I want to do for more than one night. Maybe two nights, tops. And besides, i'm sure the clan, if its like any clan I know in New York, has at least one lawyer, so my services are not needed.
In the end, I think I’ll live in Osu but leave Accra every Friday and head out to a more authentic part of the country for the weekend. A nice thing about living in Osu is that I’ll meet other westerners who want to do the same, so I don’t have to travel alone. Or is that a bad thing? The debate continues.
Pictures are on the way. . . the internet, even in Accra, has been too slow to upload pictures. Miss you all!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Getting Into Ghana
I’m safely in Ghana! I’ve been on the ground for less than 12 hours, so I don’t have much to report. It’s a pretty lively place with an active street life that puts most any city in the west to shame. That being said, its a lot less frantic than India or South East Asia. Even in the tourist part of Accra, where I am now (a neighborhood called Osu that used to be the Dutch part of town) the number of street hawkers is limited and those are around are pretty lackadaisical. I don’t want to jinx my self, but so far there are none of those annoying touts that make walking around the tourist areas of Indian and Asian cities so annoying. (Touts are people who approach tourists, pretend to be friendly, and then try to sell you an over priced service (food, tour, hotels, etc)). Its very annoying. But again, so far, so good on that front. Later, I’m going to a different part of town, a market, and my friend, another AJWS volunteer, claims it’s a “zoo” on a Saturday afternoon. I’ll let you know.
Last night was not my best night of sleep, owning in part to jet lag and in part to a very very lively church a few blocks from my hostel that had some type of midnight vigil. I’m told that Friday night vigils are common. However, for some reason, this one felt the need to broadcast itself to the entire neighborhood. Even with all the windows closed and the AC on, I could hear it like I was in the church with them. It lasted until 3am. I thought about going over there and asking them to keep it down. But then I thought better. In the end, I prayed to my god to ask his son’s friends to keep the noise down. That must have worked. ;). I’m interested in learning more about Ghanaian religion. My thinking is that if I am the only one in the neighborhood who is bothered by the noise, I must be in a very religious neighborhood. Or a neighborhood full of insomniacs.
I got a phone today. The number when calling from the US is 011-233-20-670-8096. Don’t all call at once, but I would love to hear from you.
Last night was not my best night of sleep, owning in part to jet lag and in part to a very very lively church a few blocks from my hostel that had some type of midnight vigil. I’m told that Friday night vigils are common. However, for some reason, this one felt the need to broadcast itself to the entire neighborhood. Even with all the windows closed and the AC on, I could hear it like I was in the church with them. It lasted until 3am. I thought about going over there and asking them to keep it down. But then I thought better. In the end, I prayed to my god to ask his son’s friends to keep the noise down. That must have worked. ;). I’m interested in learning more about Ghanaian religion. My thinking is that if I am the only one in the neighborhood who is bothered by the noise, I must be in a very religious neighborhood. Or a neighborhood full of insomniacs.
I got a phone today. The number when calling from the US is 011-233-20-670-8096. Don’t all call at once, but I would love to hear from you.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
What in the world is Jesse doing in Ghana?
That is a good question. I am being sponsored by an organization called "The American Jewish World Service" ("AJWS"). Their website is www.ajws.org. AJWS has partnered me with a local NGO called "The Development Institute." Their website is www.thedevin.org.
The Development Institute needs someone to act as a legal adviser (of sorts) on three projects: one that deals with dispute resolution, another that deals with "youth development" and a third that deals with squatters rights. That should tell you what I am supposed to be doing. However, when one works in the developing world, there is often a gap between what you are supposed to be doing and what you are actually doing. That gap should make for some interesting reading. So check back soon.
The Development Institute needs someone to act as a legal adviser (of sorts) on three projects: one that deals with dispute resolution, another that deals with "youth development" and a third that deals with squatters rights. That should tell you what I am supposed to be doing. However, when one works in the developing world, there is often a gap between what you are supposed to be doing and what you are actually doing. That gap should make for some interesting reading. So check back soon.
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