Friday, July 2, 2010
Anticipating Great Things

This is one of the hardest updates I've ever had to do not because progress isn't being made, but because I've got so much to cover. The last two weeks or so have been filled with many disappointments and encouragements. Last Saturday we went to watch the U.S. vs Ghana World Cup game at a local house that had a generator and a TV. After about an hour, my wallet got uncomfortable, so I took it out of my back pocket and set it between my legs. As you know the US lost. Frustrated with the outcome of the game, I left quickly to avoid the taunting that had already begun, leaving my wallet behind.

The next morning I realized I left it behind and went straight back to the house. After having to explain what a wallet was, the boys said they hadn't seen one, so we continued to make our way around the village, asking everyone who was in attendance the night before if they had seen it. As we made our way around, even stopping by the local "African Doctor"(aka witchdoctor) to ask their advice (not my idea), we began to hear rumors that the boys were headed off to Kande, a local town where you can exchange foreign currency. Immediately, I knew they had my wallet. We made our way to Kande and found the boys in the market. They admitted they had found the wallet, but had thrown it into the bushes because they were afraid that the villagers would beat them because they found it without any money in it. I told them this was ridiculous and asked them to show us where they had put the wallet. On our bike ride back, I noticed one of them had a bulge in their cargo pant pocket. Asking them to stop and empty their pockets, we found 2000 kwacha. They said they had earned it from selling cassava chips (a local treat) at the school. I didn't count the wad of cash at the time, as I hadn't gotten my wallet back yet. When we arrived back at their house, they pulled the wallet out of the bush, and indeed there was no cash in it. Frustrated, I began to ask them what they were doing in Kande, as it didn't make any sense, outside of exchanging cash, for them to go there. At this time, the boys parents came over. As it is cultural here, we sat down in their house to discuss the disagreement. As the boys pitched their case, and my team of interpreters repeated mine, I had the time to count the kwacha and do some math in my head. Then it clicked. There was no way the boys would've made 2000 kwacha (about 2 months wage here, or $12 USD), and if they had, they'd have it locked away in their house and not their pocket, as this is quite a savings here. I had my conclusion interpreted to their parents and they agreed. The boys were caught. The parents were extremely embarrassed. And I was frustrated that I was lied to. Luckily, the money lost wasn't a substantial amount and the wallet had been recovered. The parents apologized profusely and it was up to me to determine a punishment. Unsure what would be appropriate, I told them I'd get back to them, but wished to somehow turn this negative into a positive. As is customary with all disputes that arise in the village, the chief requested to schedule a meeting with me the next day. Frustrated with not only the situation, but also lots of other things I had seen in my short time here, I sat down to write out what I wanted to discuss with the chief. The following is a short story I wrote to help the villagers understand what I was feeling:

There was a farmer who was given an incredibly sweet cassava. One that would surely produce more and taste very good. Unfortunately, he was only given a few seeds, enough to plant only a very small amount. "That's OK," he thought. "I will simply plant these seeds, let them grow and when these plants bear seeds, I will collect them to produce more. Then I will have enough to plant an entire field of this yummy goodness." (not sure how yummy goodness translated)

Unfortunately, the farmer was an unskilled farmer, having previously been a fisherman. He was unaware he needed to clear the land before he planted the seeds. Not knowing this, he simply scattered the seeds amongst a field of thorns that was near his house. Eventually, the seeds began to grow into small plants. There was much hope for them and the new farmer was excited about his successes. The farmer continued to water and nurture his plants, but they stopped growing, and had yet to produce seeds. Eventually, they started to die. The farmer, frustrated and disappointed, decided to leave to go back to fishing, figuring he was never going to be a successful farmer. Little did he know the success he could have had if he had just cleared the field of the thorn bushes before he planted his precious seeds. Had he done that, the seeds would've produced thousands of seeds, because you see, the thorn bushes had suffocated the new plants, taking away any water and nutrients that would've made the plants continue to grow.

This is merely a story to help you understand what we, RIPPLE and Taking Back Lives, is trying to do here in this community. We have very limited resources and there is an incredible need, but the thorns that exist is what is holding all of us back. We want to be able to help you all out of poverty, but we don't have enough to help everyone, so we choose to help the few we can, hoping that the seeds they bear will enable us to help others. When we help the few we are able to, those of you who didn't get the help get jealous and take the things we've given them. It's not just the money that was lost in a wallet, it's the punches thrown at a soccer match because your team lost, the kid who was beat up because his family brought home a mattress, the chief who complains we're helping one community over another. Our goal is to help you all, but we simply don't have enough seeds. The jealousy that you have for one another is the thorns that are holding us back. When we help someone, do not be jealous. It means we're trying to obtain seeds to help you all, be joyous, be helpful, don't let jealousy continue to destroy the work we are trying to do for you all.

The next day, I sat down with the chief and shared with him this story. He was impressed and very much understood that jealousy is a big issue in the community. During the meeting, I also discussed Taking Back Lives plans for the community development program and how I'd have two colleagues coming out in a week or two to research this. Excited about the prospect of a program in his village, and agreeing that jealousy needed to be addressed, the chief setup a meeting with the community.

This meeting was yesterday and went better then ever expected. The community also agreed that jealousy was a problem, and saw how it was preventing development from flourishing. They, too, were also excited about the prospect of a community development program that they decided to start an adult literacy class at the local primary school so they could learn English and be ready for when we have the funding to start a community development program. This class is going to be taught voluntarily by one of the translators who helped initially with my wallet situation. I am continually amazed by this community. This has all primarily been driven by them and truly shows their eagerness to better their own lives through education. I plan to setup meetings with other area chiefs to share my story and discuss setting up additional adult literacy classes in their communities.

As for the classroom block, construction is coming along great. We finished the floor yesterday and started erecting walls this morning. We are currently four full days ahead of schedule and have all our supplies outside of steel roofing panels and beams, so we should be able to remain ahead, if not get even further ahead of schedule. I'm also very excited to pick up Cassie and Nina on Sunday at the airport. The next few blogs will be about our travels and discoveries, as we further research how to help this community develop.