Opportunity

I am now in my second month of service and am starting to get an idea of some of the projects I will be working on. There are days or weeks where I will be really busy and other times where I will not have much to do. The last couple of weeks have been fairly slow due to my contact that is connecting me with the women’s shea butter groups going out of town for training. So several days ago I was in my office thinking I would just be sitting there reading for a good part of the day when a person that I had met early on when I moved to Sandema came to my office and brought a great opportunity for a potential project that could last throughout my two years. The man is disabled using a wheelchair to go around town and crutches to walk short distances. He has lived a pretty amazing life and has overcome a lot of barriers.

In Ghana traditionally having a disabled child is very much looked down upon in society and the parents either will allow their child to die or treat them with neglect or prevent them from going to school or leaving their compound. These traditional beliefs are slowly going away but they are still prevalent. Such is the case with this man’s life. His parents were very ashamed to have a child who was disabled and because of this did not allow him to leave their house compound. Until he was twenty-four years old he never left his family’s land not even to attend school. To this day he has not even attended primary one. When he was twenty-four his uncle heard his argument and pleaded with his family that he was right that he should be allowed to leave their compound which he was soon able to do. His first step was to go to a literacy program in Buli-the local language. He found that he could learn very quickly and faster than the pace of the class. Following this he went to a vocational school where he learned leatherwear and how to make things such as shoes and other things. Soon after he attended an English speaking and literacy class which he attended for about three months and found again that he learned quickly and dropped from the class to teach him at a much faster pace. Today he is one of the better English speakers that I have found here in Sandema and is also his family’s breadwinner.

In 2001 he started the People with Disabilities Association in the District, which at that time had 7 members. Their mission is to send disabled person’s to vocational training where they can learn a trade to earn a living and become self sufficient. Due to the prejudice placed on people with disabilities many choose to become beggars because no one will hire them. This is something that he and the association wanted to end. Today there are 255 members and they have built a office and a large room that is used for training, meetings and a place members can store goods to sell in market. Due to the barriers traveling across the district his vision is to build a 6 bedroom and two-office structure that members can stay in as they are traveling to vocational training. He has been advocating his cause persistently trying to raise funds and has improved the lives of numerous persons in the district. This past Sunday I attended one of his women’s trade group meetings and it was really inspiring to see how motivated these women are. At the end of the meeting I had to introduce my self which he translated in Buli and then he asked if I had any advice which I gave some encouragement and that I looked forward to working with them in the future and would help them in business advice or any way that I could. After both of these statements they clapped and cheered and said how grateful and thankful they were. It was really made me happy and motivated me to work with this organization and having him stop by on that day was just what I needed on a day when I wasn’t expecting to have much to do. My role will be to possibly help in some of the business training and give advice-and help with some of the fundraising and events that they host. He also left a newsletter called the Disability Tribune which had a page of poems written by people with disabilities one that was written by the Assistant Programme Officer for the Upper West Region Tihiru Baomuah reads:

Who is disabled?
Everybody!
If you failed to see
The potentials in the person
But see only the person’s disability;
Then who is blind?

Who is disabled?
Every one!
If a brother’s cry
For help and justice
Which the listener woefully
Declines to hear
Then who is deaf?

Who is disabled?
All of us
If you can’t
Stand up for the right
Of all people
Then who is physically
Challenged?

Who is disabled?
Mankind!
If you can’t have the
Patience, the tolerance
And the understanding for
Individual differences,
Then who is mentally disabled?

Your attitude;
Towards person with
Disabilities is the greatest disability
Your behavior towards
Persons with disabilities is the
biggest
Handicap

To get an idea about people with disabilities rent the award winning documentary "Emanuell's Gift"

Bempale-(Happy New Year)

They tried to fly away with their wings flapping along with their throats that were slit with blood dripping on the ground. They were unable to get more than a couple of feet of the ground before their head would slide sideways and they would fall on their side or onto their back. This would go on for about ten minutes before their life was finally drained from the gash in their neck. After the first two Guinea Fowls (similar to a chicken) that we slaughtered and it least the ten minutes fighting for life and trying to fly away with horrible sounds coming from their beaks and one falling into the gutter their time had come to an end and my neighbor says, “oh oh oh, life is precious oh.” That remark capped of the experience and made me laugh for several minutes. That is how I spent my Christmas with receiving three Guinea Fowls, and a Rooster for gifts. We killed the Guinea Fowls the first day and the rooster I had to keep in the house for a couple of days until I had time to slaughter it. It would start crowing around 4am and go for about three hours. It’s death was the best to watch with it trying to fly with all the life that he had then his head would flop back making him do back-flips repeatedly one after another for about five minutes.

On New Years Eve Day I spent over 7 hours in church-Ghanaians spend New Years Eve morning in church then have an evening service and attend a morning service on New Years Day. This day is a huge event and they are all giving thanks that they made it through another year and pray that they will make it through the next year. New Years evening the down town area is packed with people celebrating. I spent the first part of the day going to market which was much larger than usual and a lot of fun then went to the Chief’s Palace-where every year there is an open celebration that has now schedule but always has the churches coming to give a speech and blessing in the morning then all of the different tribes in the district coming to do a drumming and dancing performance for the chief. The chief’s chair was empty however since the chief has recently past away-he was said to be 140 years old but was probably somewhere in the 90s I am guessing. He was the oldest chief in West Africa and was appointed chief by England when they still occupied Ghana.

Well, I am back to work today and later today I will be building a pull-up and dip bar and the friends house that I exercise at. So that should be fun. Thank you for all your e-mails and support it is always appreciated.

Ku Nye Maga (God gives us tomorrow)

Jason