Ten years ago I was given an amazing opportunity, one that most people in the world never get, one that profoundly influenced the direction of my life and influences the decisions I make to this day. Through the Trent in Ghana program I was given the opportunity not only to travel to a place very different from the place I was born and raised but to engage in learning there, participate in community there and make a contribution to work that has been deeply meaningful to me both personally and professionally.
The things that I learned in Ghana, at least the things that stick with me, are not the things I thought I would learn. They were not so much about how to guide development or how to help people in the developing world. The lessons were much more subtle and genuine; they were about how to participate in a community, how to separate myself from cultural bias and listen well, how to identify the places where there is work to do and take initiative, how to be humble enough to know when it is right to offer help and when it is right just to learn. These are things that are applicable to many different contexts and have served me well in my life and my work.
For the practicum portion of the program I found a placement with a small NGO called NENFOUND. NENFOUND was doing water and sanitation animation funded by the EU. This meant they were going to remote villages and preparing the communities to receive boreholes. I quickly discovered that I could be of little help in this initiative: I did not speak the local languages, as much as I had studied I knew relatively little about local customs and culture – certainly not enough to understand the complex dynamics around water and sanitation or the social impact of a borehole. Furthermore the project was moving slowly, flooding was preventing travel, communication from the remote villages was not forthcoming, motorcycles needed gas which required cash mobilization and the person with access to the funding was in Accra until an unspecified date, etc. The first week or two we (I and the other workers at the NGO) spent most days sitting under a baobab tree getting to know each other, comparing cultural notes, and fanning ourselves.
This is not an unusual experience in Ghana. Time functions uniquely, sometimes waiting is the work. Relationships are valued and developed uniquely, sometimes getting to know someone is the work. Projects function uniquely, sometimes taking initiative is the work, sometimes being patient and learning is the work. Communication functions uniquely sometimes relying information is really about connecting and often connecting is the work.
Ghana is full of brilliant, educated, engaged, capable people, many of whom work in civil society. I learned much from the people I met - about international and community development, about cross-cultural communication, about civil society. I taught them very little other than a few antidotes about Canada and still they generously facilitated my learning. When I heard about a man named Issahaku Mahamado in a neighbouring village who was a type of traditional healer called a Bonesetter, I wanted to talk with him. My friends at NENFOUND gave me a translator and a motorcycle and sent me off to the village of Loagri. When Chief Mahamado showed me the good work he was doing and told me about how his village suffered to help the sick people that came to him we all worked together to animate the community, to create a project plan, and to raise money. Building a clinic for the community of Loagri was something meaningful that we accomplished and I had the opportunity to take part in this project because I took initiative and because I drew from the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that was around me.
I have two main pieces of advice for the future TiGer. Firstly, you will have an amazing experience in Ghana if you proceed with the notion that the experience is what you make of it. The program provides a framework, a skeleton that you will fill in with relationships, work, lessons, community and experience if you seek those things out. Placement opportunities might not have work for you to do, or the work you do might be different than you thought, or it might be lonely or difficult. Difficulty, loneliness, adaptation and expectation revision are crucial and beautiful parts of what you will learn. You are owed nothing. Secondly, leave home at home. Don’t check your email more than you need to, stay off of facebook, write a journal instead of a blog, share your photos when you get home, choose a placement in a village without an internet café. Years later you will be grateful that when you were there you were there, I know I am.
Since my time in Ghana I graduated from Trent with a joint honours degree in International Development Studies and Cultural Studies. Searching for ways to work with communities the way I did in Loagri, I completed my Masters in Urban and Rural Planning with a focus in community development. Drawn to communicate with and get to know people from all over the world, I worked in social services for some years, focusing mainly on working with and advocating for newcomer youth, especially those going through the refugee determination process. My experiences working in Loagri directly influenced my decision to focus my work on health promotion and harm reduction with newcomer youth populations. Finally, feeling the need to be more educated and skilled in health and wellness issues, I recently started my BSCN in Nursing. I hope to become a nurse practitioner and I hope to have the opportunity to go back to Ghana and perhaps work with and learn from nurses there.