Greetings from Damongo!
Posted by Olivia Hill on June 5th, 2011
It’s been nearly one month since I arrived in Ghana and I cannot believe how fast time is flying!
The in-country orientation provided by the WUSC Ghana staff in Accra was great! Not only were myself and the other two Canadian interns given a warm welcome, but the various sessions covering language, history, transportation and security provided us with some valuable information for our stay in-country. The orientation concluded with an overview of the Students Without Borders program and a briefing on our particular placements. Then, after a sad goodbye with my new friends, I was off on a new adventure!
I was accompanied to my host community by WUSC Ghana’s Senior Program Officer, Patience Gamado, and after a long three days on the road, we arrived in Ghana’s Northern Region. I became slightly nervous during the last few hours of our journey as the roads tuned to dirt and the dwellings to mud huts; thankfully, Damongo is slightly larger than its surrounding villages! I soon met with my program director, Daryl Bosu, and was introduced to the A Rocha office and my accommodation for the next three months – a shared compound. I live in one of ten connected rooms with a communal courtyard and shared bathrooms, and have a small cooking area outside my door. The close quarters have certainly encouraged me to make friends quickly, and while I am constantly battling a brigade of ants, I am no doubt happy with the simple living conditions.
I spent my first few days in Damongo exploring the community, meeting the friendly staff and undergoing an overview of A Rocha’s many programs. I was immediately impressed by this small organization’s big sense of initiative and continue to be inspired by their passion for environmental conservation and community development each and every day. The projects which my work will focus on include the “Climate Stewards Tree Planting Program” and “A Rocha Ghana Schools Eco-Programme.” My first few tasks have included raising Mahogany and Kapok seedlings at a nearby nursery, and assisting a Dutch research team to collect soil and vegetation samples for carbon stock analysis. I was also fortunate to travel with the Netherlands Development Organization to film some interesting tourist activities within distant communities, as a way to promote sustainable tourism through A Rocha’s “Sustainable Tourism for the Elimination of Poverty (STEP)” program. Travelling to various plantation sights by motorbike has likewise provided me with a much appreciated tour of the region.
Albeit charming, living in Damongo has its challenges. First and foremost is the scorching sun. Working out in the field with temperatures reaching forty-five degrees has proved tough on my mind and body. After an initial bout with heat stroke, I am beginning to acclimatize, and am now able to stay outside longer and sleep sounder. Another surprising challenge has been the lack of food. Due to frequent droughts and sheer remoteness, Damongo doesn’t seem to have as many fruits and vegetables available as other places in Ghana. The regular weekday market offers a range of starches and some interesting meats (goat, mutton, dog and guinea fowl), but vegetables other than yam, onion and hot pepper are hard to come by. So, while learning to cook with limited ingredients has been a big challenge, making friends who know how to prepare local cuisine has definitely been the answer! Meeting new friends has also helped me deal with the occasional loneliness, and has provided me with numerous community tour guides and language instructors. As for the language barrier – most of the younger generation speak English, but those who are older or uneducated communicate in their native language, “Gonja” - I have a lot to learn!
Evidently, my time here in Ghana has been wonderful thus far, and the warm, friendly nature of Ghanaians has helped me feel right at home. If I were to describe this nation with one word, it would have to be “vibrant.” Everyone I pass on the street greets me with charisma, and I am constantly the object of young children’s attention. The benefit of living in a small town is that I have been able to remember the names of many of the people I greet on a daily basis, while my name seems to be known across the community!
As for my work, the busy nature of A Rocha will keep me on my toes - I am feeling blessed and excited to be spending the next few months working alongside their team! As Northern Ghana moves into its rainy season (also the only season in which young crops can survive), I will be concentrating my efforts on transplanting tree seedlings to nearby plantations. A Rocha works to reforest over 50 hectares of land within the region, allowing farmers to grow food crops between the trees as a source of income in exchange for tending to the land! If time permits, I will also be working on drafting a curriculum for “A Rocha Ghana Schools Eco-Programme (ARGSEP).” This innovative program parterns A Rocha with local schools to educate the youth on the importance of environmental conservation, and often includes campus tree-planting actvities. Needless to say, I will be busy.
The link between environmental conservation and social and economic development has never been so clear to me. With over half of Ghana’s population relying on agriculture for a source of income, improving soil quality and increasing forest cover will be important facets in determining the fate of this nation – especially given the looming threat of climate change. It’s not often that images of fallen trees and desertification rattle our hearts, rather it is those of malnourished children and shanty houses; however, I have realized that a degraded environment lies at the root of many of these problems and I am overjoyed to be assisting A Rocha in taking steps to secure the environment’s future. In the strong words of Wangari Maathai, from her book, “Challenge For Africa”…
“In [underdeveloped] regions, concern for environmental issues is treated as a luxury. But it is not: protecting and restoring ecosystems, and slowing or reversing global warming, are matters of life and death. The equation is simple: whatever we do, we impact the environment; if we destroy it, we will undermine our own ways of life and ultimately kill ourselves. This is why the environment needs to be at the centre of domestic and international policy and practice. If it is not, we don’t stand a chance of alleviating poverty in any significant way. Nor will we create for the African people a continent where security and progress can be realized.”
Until next time…
