Friday, 11 December 2015

Post 4: All Things EQWIP

Up until this point, I have withheld talking about the work I've been doing here in Ghana...

I've only been saving it because so much has been happening outside of work! I will say this though- The project is still in its infancy stages and is slowly yet surely building; however, I am hoping, through this special post, to provide a bit more information about what EQWIP HUBs is, what its end goal is, what has happened since arriving and where the project is currently at.

So what is EQWIP HUBs?

EQWIP HUBs is a new startup not-for-profit venture, established through a partnership between Canada World Youth (CWY) and Youth Challenge International (YCI), that aims to work on the empowerment of youth, especially women, through the expansion of employment opportunities. It is becoming a global network of youth innovation spaces spanning 17 developing urban centers in Bolivia, Ghana, Indonesia, Peru, Senegal and Tanzania that connect and transform the economic trajectory of youth through providing spaces where youth can develop employability and/or entrepreneurial skills needed to succeed in labor markets worldwide

The hubs act as an interactive classroom space. The way that we are currently trying to design it to be is to get rid of the traditional classroom feel and make it feel more like a place where youth can feel at home and can feel productive (both to learn and to innovate). Through a set curriculum on employment and entrepreneurial skills, we hope to be able to advance the youth participants today to be the business leaders of tomorrow's Ghana, whether they are running their own businesses or leading the Ghanaian labour force.
Best thing about EQWIP HUB Tamale: So much space to work with! This will look different in a month's time.



Why did it start?

Youth unemployment has turned into a global issue over the past two decades. Developing countries, like Ghana, bear the largest burden of youth unemployment since the majority of its population is young people  (So, when it is said "youth unemployment is 15%", the number of youth unemployed is a considerably higher number of people than in Canada).
Economically and socially, the lost formal sector workforce potential, due to youth unemployment, stalls future development and growth in Ghana because youth become forced to take positions in the informal sector (ex. street vendors, mini cash-based businesses). Most informal sector positions pay significantly less and are jobs which have little growth potential. For example, on every street in the city, there is bound to be two or three "convenience stores" for people to buy the exact same products. One can argue that competition is good for business and that the best salesperson wins; however, if every street in the city has these exact same vendors with the exact same products and prices then it is no longer healthy competition but instead redundant business making everyone worse off.
Another burden of the informal sector is that it is not regulated. There is no tax revenue coming from informal/unregistered businesses and it is impossible for government agencies to know the informal sector size/growth for outside formal industries to invest into and take over. The type of work we hope the youth will be doing is formal sector so that the amount of productivity they are able to create rewards not only themselves but as well impacts future generations.This is where EQWIP HUBs hopes to help.

Our target population is university graduates. The formal sector commonly only takes those with university degrees currently and while it would be great to open our doors to all we cannot force this to change. From our conversations with Ghanaian youth, a lot of youth, like in Canada, know a lot of theory about the work they hope to do due to studying it in school; however, outside of the classroom, they have never had the opportunity to gain practical experience not only in their field but as well within a formal work setting.

We are honestly quite lucky in Canada. Whether it is because many Canadians  are able to start looking for part-time work at 16 years old to gain practical work experience (even if it is making Big Macs at McDonalds)  or because we have courses in school such as "Careers and Civics" (which I bet many of you thought was a useless course), these opportunities do not exist for many here in Ghana. Even one's parents are unlikely to teach the youth the important formal work skills because they themselves never worked in the formal sector. In Ghana, gaining practical work experience really comes from being lucky enough to get a job. If one is not taught the proper work etiquette and skills prior to being hired, not only are they less likely to advance and succeed in the workplace but they are as well  more prone to termination (for example, employees cannot work in the Ghanaian time mindset and be late).
                
We want to start helping Ghana transition away from having communities unfamiliar with the etiquette and rules of formal labor sector to becoming familiar. As the first cohort sent here, it is our job to set the groundwork for future volunteer groups to succeed. We are the ones who are adapting the curriculum, designing the hubs, advertising and launching the programs and trial running how this project will go. It is important to note that the Canadian presence in this project will be only for 5 years. Through capacity building, it is our goal for EQWIP to continue but under the guidance of local partner agencies who will be taking over the hubs. Throughout the five years, our goal will be to make sure that the partners are ready.

The EQWIP HUBs Global Goal:

Have over 100,000 youth impacted through our 17 global hubs by 2020 (about 1200 youth annually per hub).

Current Progress and EQWIP HUBs Tamale
                
The EQWIP HUBs Ghana team is unique to the rest of the hubs globally as we were one of the first groups to arrive at our locations. In Tamale, we believe our hub is currently the most progressed since other volunteer start dates worldwide ended up being later than ours and for steps in the process, we are always the first to reach it in comparison to team Accra ;).
                
The first major step in launching the hub occurred back in Accra. Over the course of two weeks, local youth, EQWIP staff, and heads of our partner organizations  came together to adapt the curriculum. Our curriculum was originally created by an American non-profit Educational Development Center (EDC). EDC made a great curriculum; however, a lot of the content within it was not applicable to Ghanaians (ex. the pictures, proverbs, and examples) and required changes. Chapter by chapter, we went through the modules and made all the necessary changes so that Ghanaian youth would get the most out the curriculum.

A shot from our field research day with Ghanaian youth
Upon finishing the adaptation stage, myself and two other volunteers were finished with our tasks in Accra and were sent up to Tamale where we were to begin working with our partner organization the National Service Secretariat (NSS). Did you know all university graduates in Ghana are legally required to do one year of public service for the country? This year of service for graduates is federally mandated as a means to use the country's brightest to develop its poorest regions. Graduates are placed to work on development related projects across the country to help develop living standards across Ghana through fields such as education, sanitation, and health. From what we've seen, many students are not entirely thrilled with having to do a year of service, especially when they have to move from the larger cities into rural areas; however, it is our hope and the partner's hope that this additional training will entice the youth doing their NSS year to be more open to opportunities within NSS and to grow as future leaders of the country.
                
In the two weeks we've been here in Tamale, a fair bit has been done. We have completed field research by interviewing the NSS youth in regards to what they would like the future hub space to look like and what expect from us in regards to the program itself. From these interviews, we have developed a design plan for the space! We are currently in the process of getting quotes for the prices of the items/supplies we will need to make the hub the best of all the EQWIP HUBs and are now preparing to start renovations!

I am hoping, in posts going forward, to always include a little space on the project's progress. We are hoping to officially open our hub by mid to late January. The next month will be building the hub and preparing it for opening day.               
So much is about to change for this little building here in Tamale!

Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Post 3: Welcome to Tamale!

The day was November 21st, 2015... Well... At least we thought it was.
                 
The time had come for me to move up north to my new home in Tamale. I had realized, after looking at the boarding gate screen, it had been a month since I left Canada and it was officially the longest I had ever been out of the country. It was a small moment of victory; after all, while the timeframe is considerably small, many expats say the first month is always the longest. It's the time where a person's body experiences the most shocks, the most"mini heart attacks" occur, and the largest adjustments begin to occur so one can get used to the new place he/she calls home. 
After an hour wait on the runway, the pilot came on apologizing and canceled the flight due to visibility issues in Tamale. What caused the flight to be canceled? Harmattan. Due to being in a close proximity to the Sahara desert, Tamale experiences extremely hot and dry weather from November to March which includes dust storms coming from the Sahara. This makes it difficult to nearly impossible sometimes for flights to come in and out of Tamale, since the runways don't have lights. Luckily, it was only a one night delay and I arrived in Tamale the next day. 

My first thought about Tamale:
"Wow.... thing are about to be a lot different"

Shout out to Catherine for taking these awesome shots!
As we were landing into Tamale, the window visual of the grounds below me made me instantly believe that not much in Accra prepares one for Tamale.



For many in Ghana, to live in Accra stands as a sign of status of the Ghanaian lifestyle and many people work to someday leave their hometown and work in the capital city. In Tamale, gone are the houses upon houses that littered the grounds of the Ghana I once knew. Greenery no longer filled in all the gaps of the ground absent of buildings and roads. Replacing this was miles of dried-out lands, with small circles of mud huts and trees dabbed into the remaining bare areas on the ground. Farms were scattered across different plots of land and roads were few and far between, mainly made of red dirt. Not once could I spot the city which is projected to have 300,000 to 500,000 inhabitants living within it. I could not figure out why and I began to wonder what I was about to land into.

By the time we began making our way into town,  it was during the cycle of the day. As the sun disappeared into the world below, the moon began to be the Diamond in the sky with the multitude of gems surrounding it. Due to the Harmattan, a veil of dust was making a smoke-like haze which covered the night's sky. The style of life we were witnessing as well changed. Motorbikes ruled the roads in place of cats and tro-tros and electricity was seen scarce and far between. As we drove into town, there was one main thought on my mind and it wasn't disappearing...

"This is the Africa I have always dreamed of seeing"

It's true! A dream of mine came true that night and it has been a tiring yet positive week and a half since arriving. My first task: finding a host family. While I'll likely be speaking a lot about them going forward, I'd like to give you a quick glimpse of the family I am staying with. The family comprises of a mother and four kids. Two of them are her own (a 21-year old boy named Arafat and a 12-year-old girl named Iba) and the other two are volunteers from Belgium, Merel and Michiel. While there are a few amenities I am lucky to have in my house (running water and electricity) our living style is quite simple and has made me start to question the things I need in life versus the things I want in life. More about this another time... let's keep talking about Tamale!
The courtyard of my new home in Tamale (with an awesome mango tree in the middle)

For a city of 300,000 it seems quite small
There are a few things I love about here. The first is the uniqueness of the city. For such a large and highly-regarded city (3rd largest in Ghana), I was immediately surprised by how small town it seemed! Being from Sarnia and going to school in Ottawa, I learned to love places that are big cities with a small city feel. Whether it's the hustle and bustle throughout all the alleyways of the local market or the livestock infused communities inside and outside of the downtown area, I can honestly say I have never seen a place like Tamale in my entire life.

How religion is practiced here is another thing I have immense respect for. While a majority of Ghanaians are Christian, this is the one area of the country where the majority are Muslim. What I love about here is that there is a unique cosmopolitan community of Christians and Muslims that allows for mutual respect between people of both faiths. There are citizens here who, either based on marriage or personal choice, convert or interchange between both religions. It is not uncommon to see a Christian and Muslim marry. It is the belief in a higher power that both sides realize matters the most and while some call a higher being Allah or God, the respect towards people of both faiths is the same. It is incredible seeing this, especially in the world we live in at present.

Tamale is considered to be the non-profit organization capital of Ghana. The city is evidentially poorer than Accra; however, I like it more for that reason. Everything in Accra seemed unequal. There was the very rich and the very poor and little in between. In Tamale, while it appears to be the same across the board in most areas, the city is not in stalemate but is growing, as some people argue, at one of the fastest paces in Western Africa. The potential for this city is visibly evident. We can talk about untouched economic potential being the main selling point for businesses but I instead look at the major selling point being more because of the people and their untapped potential. The international community of non-profits would likely agree with me on that. In fact, the airport is currently under renovations (sponsored by the Brazilian government)  to make Tamale the second international airport in the country so it can be easier for more people to come to Tamale and help its citizens develop this beautiful city.

Looking back on the previous week, I think the way I would sum it up is the "week of firsts".  I was realizing for first time that is the longest I had stayed or lived in another country, experienced my first cancelled flight,  lived in or even traveled to a Muslim city, tried rice balls and groundnut soup (my new favourite Ghanaian dish), saw something that really hit close to home, finished my first book of the trip (The Book Thief),  had a bat poop on my shoulder, and heck, it was the first time I ever had a cat jump into my food! Through all of this, I can finally say I feel at home and situated. I feel that while there are some cultural barriers still to adjust to, I am well on my way!

Final Note:

Some of you may be wondering "Aren't you supposed to be working on this trip?". While I've been working since week one, I have not been discussing the EQWIP HUBs project not because of there being no updates but due to the fact we are at such a primary stage of the project and so much has happened outside of work that has overshadowed work related news. Don't worry though, to make up for it, I am writing a bonus blog post next week! This will explain a bit more about EQWIP HUBs, the goal in mind for the initiative and where we are at in the project. Till then cheers to the week ahead!

Thursday, 19 November 2015

Post 2: Let the Cultural Immersion Commence

A quick note before I start this post

Unfortunately, due to the lack of WiFi during most free parts of my day, I have been unable to keep up to having weekly posts thus far. Throughout my trip, this problem, along with others (such as moving places and adjusting to new routines), will pop up and will block me from keeping up to date. According to the locals here, I have to work on convincing all of you to be mindful of GMT (Ghana man time). In Ghana, if something is to start at 8 and you want people to be there for that time, you better tell attendees to arrive at 7! Culturally, people are not punctual and instead take their time to go from event to event due to running errands they consider of most important first. While I hope to try to keep to a schedule, I will make sure to make each post that much more interesting!

Let's pick up where we last left off

During the afternoon of November 5th, the time had finally come to end living the hostel life and to move into my first rental home (I say first because of my projected move to Tamale on November 21st). Owned by a German immigrant and her Ghanaian husband, this two story house hosts its residents on the first floor while hosting a small bead necklace not-for-profit business on the second (which as well has two chairs for us to enjoy an overview of the neighbourhood). The lower floor is comprised of 5 bedrooms which, depending on the variety and uniqueness of its tenants, can form into making quite a community home. Its current tenants are 3 other volunteers and I and, between the four of us, we have worked to get used to the new living environment.
View from our patio in Osu
Finding this place was a bit unexpected, especially in the neighbourhood it is within. Considered to be a low-middle to lower class neighbourhood, Osu has the charm to treat its guests in a variety of fashions.  Most nights it is impossible to go uninterrupted while sleeping. The hustle and bustle of the neighbourhood's residents consistently find new ways to surprise its visitors. While many citizens stay out late into the night, it is not uncommon to hear a choir of women singing down the partially paved roads of Osu at 4 in the morning. If you believe that would not wake you up, all the power to you; however, whether it be a 5 or 6 in the morning, no one escapes the community leader's morning prayer and song... Her use of a megaphone on particular days will unarguably make anyone's head bounce off a pillow like a 100-meter runner at the gun pop! In the early mornings and evenings, the streets are littered with Osu's families carrying out their everyday plots in unison with their fellow neighbours and friends. It is not uncommon to find dogs, chickens, cats and even goats roaming the streets without their owners. There is no need to worry,; these family pets always seem to find their way back home.
We have as well discovered how big of an event funerals are! Strange eh? Within the two weeks of living here, there has already been about 5 or 6 (more if you count other parts of the neighbourhood). If I can describe funerals here in three words it would be long, loud and festive. Long since the average funeral lasts 3 to 4 days. Festive since these days are not spent grieving (well maybe a moment or two while the casket is taken away); instead, it is a celebration of life. Lous since there is music blaring through the neighbourhood and dancing on the streets which, on the first day, literally goes on all night.  It is a quality of the Ghanaian culture I have actually come to quite respect. While it is not enjoyable to be next to the main square for funerals at certain times, the idea of celebrating the life of the deceased with all those who want to pay tribute instead of mourning the deceased brings such a unique twist to something in North America we all dread to go to. Those watching from up above can be proud looking down on the festive celebration hosted by their families in honour of the lives the deceased lived.

Hitting the road for the first time

Harbour of Cape Coast
The other volunteers and I figured, after staying two weeks in Accra, that it was time to get out of the city and see a bit more of the country. Our first trip: Cape Coast. Found 3 hours south-west of  Accra, on the Gulf of Guinea coastline, Cape Coast is a city which is as tropical as one could desire but  known for its dark history. The defining monument of the city is the Cape Coast castle. For those unfamiliar with this landmark, there was never a king once residing in this 150 palace  but instead Governors and colonizing officials within the castle and beneath it the souls of hundreds of thousands of Africans who once were forced into the property. Why the high number? This castle was known for the trade of a particular commodity: slaves.

Cape Coast Castle
Walking into the mouth of the men's dungeon was an experience I will never forget. As blindness overtook my vision and heat began to run out the dungeon, there appeared the cells where over 200 men would once be stored into at any given time. The cells were similar to small pig pens that unimaginably crammed innocent men into these spaces until they either died or were taken to the "new world". As we stood and tried to conceptualise what the reality was here centuries ago, we were told by our guide that we were literally standing on the remains of the unexcavated floor. While one floor was restored by archaeologists out of the five, the remaining four were compacted of the faeces, blood, sweat, tears and remains of those suffering Africans (as they came from many countries). Ironically, on top of these dungeons was the first Anglican Church of Ghana. How fitting that an institution which aims to bring peace to the world stood on top of so much cruelty and injustice. Yet, as those men screamed from below, those above covered silenced them.

The Door of No Return

While the rest of the tour was fascinating, there was one point that caught my attention the most: the much heard of "Door of no Return". Centuries ago, the lives of so many innocent people was stripped from them to bring labour to the new world as a means for profit. This door represented the end of the lives that thousands of men and women once knew and a life of hardship which was to begin for them. As colonizing and slave trading nations worked to rectify their mistakes in the years following the abolition of the slave trade, the Government of the United Kingdom thought of an idea in the 1990s to make "the door of return". This is found on the flip side of the door of no return and was made to commemorate those who lost their lives in this building and those who were sent to the new world. In the 90s, families were able to bring back the remains of their ancestors from the new world to Ghana through the door.

While we cannot rewrite the past, we can have monuments, like Cape Coast Castle, to painfully remember and learn from the mistakes of our past. No human should ever be considered a commodity and at all costs. No life should be considered less due to race, religion or nationality. Unfortunately slavery and atrocities like this still happen today; however, when only when the day comes that stop comparing ourselves by our differences and instead by our similarities will these senseless crimes end.

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Post 1: The Beginning of Constant Learning

It was the night of Wednesday, October 28th. After having a wonderful visit with Samantha (my sister) in London, my eyes were glued to the pill-shaped window of the airplane as the seatbelt sound rang for the final time. The view I saw in front of me was the country where I am living for the next 8 months of my life. In the north, it appeared as if the land was dry, with the landscape similar to the colours one sees during a sunrise. Soon after a large lake popped into the canvas of the Ghanaian landscape and sheets of green began to overtake the sight. As the descent continued, a city began to appear, except much different than I had ever seen before. Traditionally, in a city of 4 million people, one would expect to see tall buildings in a condensed area, usually with a significant landmark that people would claim as the highlight of the city; instead, I happened to find houses upon houses becoming more and more clustered together as the plane descended further.  As each house became more distinct and details evident, a new picture arose that showed the tale of a diverse city with many different stories to be told by its citizens.

Welcome to Ghana.

Map of Ghana and where in Africa it is
For the next 8 months, I will have the privilege and pleasure of telling you the stories of not only my own adventure here but as well of the realities of the people of Ghana, in particular, those I will be working with through the EQWIP HUBs start up. My locations will vary across the country; however, I will mainly be in Tamale, Ghana. Currently, I am working the first few weeks in the capital city Accra, Ghana. This is to work on preparations to launch the EQWIP HUB up in Tamale. My goal of doing this blog is simple: I would like the chance to educate or reinforce or to even reshape what you may know about the African nation Ghana and the people within it. For some of you, Ghana may be a country that, until I mentioned it in this blog, you have never heard of. That's quite alright! I look forward to showing you a bit into what you might expect should you ever come to this country and what you should know about here even if you never plan on coming here. 
In a matter of minutes after I arrived at the hostel, the family wanted proof!
While photographs are a way one can capture moments, and I will be using them on this blog, I am a firm believer in receiving permission by those who are gracious enough to allow me to work with them . In other words, until I am welcomed by the locals to take certain photos, such as slums and particularly poor individuals, I am going to refrain from taking photos of particular environments. After all, slum houses are peoples' homes and I am a guest who is fortunate enough to be allowed in to see them. Should you like to see slums and the poorest of the poor, it's a quick Google search away.
Accra's Black Star Square- Parade Ground for Ghana's Independence Day
Week 1:

Various Ghanaian food items including fish,
 Jolof rice, red-red, plantains, chicken, and beans
This first week in Ghana has sprung forward the immediate differences between life in a developed nation and a developing nation.  Some specific differences includes the sights and sounds of the chaotic traffic of Accra rush hour, the aroma and taste of the unique cuisine Ghana has to offer, including local favourites such as fried plantains and Jolof rice, being introduced into the world of cold showers, wearing pants in humid 30+ degree weather, low internet connection, daily malaria pills and tro tros (local transportation) and being, for the first time in my life, a minority in a country heavily misinformed about the realities of Canada (which, to be fair, I 100 percent expect and accept that as an expat in this country, in both good and bad cases). While these are all changes I could go into much more detail about, I want to start my first story being about community: the driving force of everyday life here in Ghana.

There is a saying about Ghana that it hosts the "friendliest people you will meet in all of Africa". While I have not yet seen all of the world's second largest continent to state that claim, the Ghanaian people are putting up a good argument in favour of that statement. You see, from the moment I got off of the plane, the Ghanaian people have been nothing short of kind and supportive. Whether it is the sacrifice local EQWIP HUB staff have made to make sure that fellow volunteers and I have been transitioning well into Ghana or the kindness of random people on the streets making sure we as new arrivals are adjusting to the Ghanaian way of life , the community that people have for each other here is something that can't be ignored. Sure, in the local tourist traps, such as Oxford Street and Labadi beach, it is easy to find individuals who know what rewards they may reap for helping and selling to the amused tourist; however, it is outside the main blocks that one may encounter some of the culturally engraved aspects of a community.  
Beach off the Gulf of Guinea. If you can see the black dots in the water those are fishing boats. 
Upon spending our first Saturday here in the Accra, a brief meet and greet with hostel staff struck up a conversation about the common sayings in Ghana and understanding the local language (Twi). The conversation eventually led to the invitation to a local birthday party that evening. Unaware of the individual celebrating his or her birthday, we felt it was unfair for us to come; however, as locals in Ghana know it, unless specified, a celebration is opened to all who chose to come. Upon arriving at the party, we soon learned this to be the case from those hosting the party and without, knowing anyone but the individuals who brought us, our whole night, in regards to food and drinks, was covered. Those hosting the party were happy we had come and had the opportunity to meet them; meanwhile, I believe I can say this on behalf of the volunteer group, we were just happy to finally begin seeing what community living means and how it will help shape how the next 8 months will go. As I move out of the hostel tomorrow, into the neighbourhoods of Accra for the next two weeks, I cannot wait to continue to learn and see what community life is all about.