Posts filed under ‘Ghana’
Last Thoughts from Ghana
Memories of Ghana
by Nancy Tuller, KF8, Ghana
I came to Ghana as a Kiva Fellow at a time when the entire country had been experiencing an economic turndown. Since the beginning of this year, the Ghanaian currency has been losing value, prices have been creeping steadily upward, and the fishing and farming industries have been experiencing low outputs. 
Ghanaians, even the relatively few who would be considered “well-to-do”, are feeling the pinch. For the poor, who are the vast majority in the country, it has been more like a gut punch. I have spent a lot of my time talking with loan clients about their lives and the businesses they operate which Kiva lenders have supported. The majority of these clients had taken out loans to “expand their business”, which means that their businesses were under-capitalized. In most cases, their productivity was extremely low, and their capacity to increase productivity was limited by a lack of sufficient inventory, inputs or productive assets that all demanded a cash injection. Repeatedly, clients told me how rising prices had eaten into their profits and decreased their ability to sufficiently re-stock their merchandise, or purchase fish to smoke, or make enough from farming to last until the next harvest season. Even those who had taken out several loans already, and had managed to improve their quality of life in various ways during previous loan cycles did not make substantial profits in the first half of this year. It has been a tougher-than-usual year for poor Ghanaians, and there is no sugar-coating that fact.
That being said, I often found myself wondering what many of these loan clients would have done without the loans that kept them afloat this year. Their situations are dire. Clients are often living so close to the edge that when they lose income, they have to immediately take their children out of school because they can’t afford the school fees due that week. (more…)
Allah’s Rewards
By Nancy Tuller, KF8, Ghana
As a Kiva Fellow in Ghana, the most rewarding aspect of my fellowship has been meeting people like Khadija, whom I met while visiting microloan clients in a “zogo” (Muslim neighborhood) in Hohoe, in the eastern region of Ghana. Because she touched me deeply, I’d like to share the little I know of her story with you.
Khadija is a beautiful woman who has seen more than her share of hard times. In this photo, you can see her lovely smile, which I had to coax from her after we had quietly chatted for some time. She has had one leg amputated, and must use crutches to move about. She is a single parent of two boys, ages ten and seven, and lives with her mother and a sister in the eastern region of Ghana. As a single parent and an amputee, Khadija almost certainly faces untold prejudices in this cultural context. These facts alone speak of her strength and perseverance in the face of adversity, which have surely aided her in her entrepreneurial efforts. Khadija is a seamstress, and has been for the last 16 years. She just opened her own shop four years ago, however, and this is the major source of income for her household.
All Things Ghanaian
By Nancy Tuller, KF8, Cape Coast, Ghana
Some days as a Kiva Fellow are just about soaking up the culture, and Nyame adom (“by God’s grace”), I have my Kiva counterpart here in Ghana, Ab (
short for Abraham) to help me out with that. For example, how else would I know the difference between kenkey and kente? Some days, as we are traveling to our destination or the electricity has gone out again and all work is halted, we have 30 minutes to one hour sessions on the nuances of various types and textures of kenkey, Ab’s favorite dish made of maize and often served with fish, grasscutter (cane rat), or goat meat stew (and pepper sauce for dipping). He can speak interminably on how to make kenkey, where one can buy the best kenkey, and even what illnesses are cured by two or three (in really serious cases, it could be four) bowls of kenkey. “In fact,” Ab tells me, “Accra kenkey is the best. I cannot live without my kenkey.” (And everyone in our office knows it!) Though he may not speak as passionately about kente, the beautifully hand woven fabric that is highly valued as the cloth of a well-to-do man or woman, he can still describe in great detail the process of the weaving, as well as the symbology often woven into the fabric, that is often made on the village looms we pass on our way to visit loan clients. Ab tells me things I might never know otherwise, such as the common perception here that only tribal chiefs should wear a certain type of white shell as jewelry, and that others who wear it are looked at with a disapproving eye, or that in this part of Ghana, it is believed that if you fish on Tuesdays, you will bring tragedy upon yourself. (more…)
Obama-rama in Ghana!
Hotel Obama
By Nancy Tuller
KF8, Cape Coast, Ghana, Africa
I knew President Obama was going to visit Ghana even before I came here, and was excited to think that perhaps on some off-chance I might meet him. Ha! After completing my first placement as a Kiva Fellow in the regional capital of Kumasi, I arrived in the country’s capital, Accra, on July 8th, and Obama arrived the next day on July 9th. I went to several hotels and all were fully booked. My taxi driver suggested a new hotel called, (guess what!) Hotel Obama! Only in Africa! It was actually a very cool hotel owned by a Ghanaian family who had lived in New Jersey for some years, and had returned to start up this hotel. Each room was named for someone. There was, of course, the Barack Obama suite, the Michelle Obama room next door to it, and the Joe Biden room across from it. I stayed in the Coretta Scott King room that was right next to the Martin Luther King room. There was beautiful African art work on the walls and there was a good restaurant attached. And, I was definitely in good company! It rained hard that next day, and I didn’t even know Obama’s schedule, so I went about my business in the capital city of Accra, including buying my bus ticket for Cape Coast, where my second Kiva placement would begin the following Monday.
The next day I left for Cape Coast. (more…)
On Committment, Hope and the Meaning of Wealth; A Kiva Fellow’s Perspective
By Nancy Tuller,
Kiva Fellow Class 8, Ghana, Africa
As a Kiva Fellow in Ghana, Africa, I have been working with Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT), established in 1994 and based in Kumasi, the heart of the Ashanti region. Sinapi Aba, as the non-governmental organization (NGO) is often referred to, has a vision of dedication to the building of a nation in which the strong help the weak and people’s dignity is maintained through their own efforts at providing for themselves, their families, and their community. The NGO aims to do this through the provision of both financial and non-financial services to the economically active poor in ten regions of Ghana. It currently serves over 76,000 clients from 40 branch offices spread throughout these regions. Your loans to Sinapi Aba clients are helping Sinapi Aba to come closer to the realization of its vision through expanding the reach of microloans in Ghana.
In addition to offering microloans, Sinapi Aba offers its clients business training, social service and consultancy services, as well as training in wise credit usage, vocational skills, savings, accounting and record keeping, and customer service. Its non-financial services include capacity building, training and technical advice to other microfinance institutions, along with client-oriented programmes in HIV/AIDS awareness and community development, and a very successful youth apprenticeship programme. Sinapi Aba Trust staff is comprised of some of the most dedicated and committed individuals I know. Their salaries are not handsome by any measure. They do this work because they believe that their actions should reflect their belief in, and commitment to, serving others. Their passion to stay true to their mission of serving the economically disadvantaged in society through providing opportunities for enterprise development and income generation is only surpassed by their successful track record in doing just that.
It is with Sinapi that I have taken my first baby steps in this continent. It is Sinapi staff that has nurtured me with its knowledge, wisdom and love. I adore my Sinapi family, and am beyond finding the right words to convey my gratitude for what I have gained through this experience. Now, all too suddenly, I have to leave my Sinapi family, and move on to my next placement in Ghana. As I ride the bus that takes me further and further from Sinapi and towards my next destination, (more…)
Time for a change
In the United States, my home country, our motto as of late has been change. I have been working at the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN) in Ghana for almost two months now, and I am just in time to witness some monumental policy changes of its own that will redefine the way CRAN does business and may even give President-elect Obama a run for his money.
Currently, CRAN has seven different branches in three regions of Ghana. Four of its branches are located near the main office around Cape Coast and Elmina, Ghana, two fishing towns that aren’t rural but aren’t urban either. On top of loaning to people in town, CRAN also lends to many rural communities around Cape Coast. About an hour away, CRAN has two more units running in rural fishing communities. Until June of last year, one of these units didn’t have electricity or computers. The other one still doesn’t. CRAN’s last unit can be found about a six-hour drive away in the Volta Region. Due to this branch’s distance from the head unit where a Kiva Coordinator uploads all the Kiva borrower profiles, none of the clients from that unit can be found on Kiva. This is something that CRAN would like to change sometime in the near future.
At each of the units, there is a manager along with loan officers, each of which has a portfolio of clients that he or she is in charge of. The loan officer is in charge of overseeing the loan and filling out all the paperwork. Since CRAN works only with groups, the loan officer talks everything over with the group’s president, secretary, and treasurer to make sure they know what is going on. The loan officer also visits all of the people at their workplaces to take photos in order to put the borrowers on Kiva. Other employees include the cashier and field officers in charge of collecting both loans and susu savings (a small daily savings).
As CRAN moves forward and attempts to make itself a sustainable financial institution, the employees are changing the way things are currently done to a new and exciting framework. Current groups have ten members or more, but from this month forward CRAN groups will consist of five members. This change is being made because right now many groups are scattered, hard to reach for loan collection, and hard to gather together. The loan officers often only know the president, secretary, and treasurer in a group and must rely on them to find the other members. Some of these groups have multiple family members or an employer and his or her employees comprising the group as well, so from now on group members must have their businesses located in the same area, and must not have any other family members in their group. Sometimes this is the case just because people find it hard to develop a group with at least ten people in order to receive a loan. A group loan is designed so that each of the members guarantees the other members—it is a lot more to take on with ten people.
The other caveat of any group’s membership is that every member must have health insurance. A National Health Insurance Bill that was designed by the governing New Patriotic Party and passed into law in 2003 by the parliament is an insurance plan designed to ensure that Ghanaian residents would have access to basic health care services without paying money at the point of delivery of the service. It has had some criticism, mainly by the opposing party that had implemented a cash-and-carry system. This cash-and-carry system, which was used since 1985 in Ghana, was replaced for various reasons, including a fall in clinic attendance. It required every Ghanaian to pay before receiving clinical care. Since implementing the new scheme in 2004, health care is free for children, pregnant women, and Ghanaians over the age of 70. There are also various plans for everyone else, costing as little as a few dollars and lasting for one-year increments. Because health care makes such a big difference in people’s ability to work, CRAN has decided that insurance is a must. Many Ghanaians get sick with illnesses such as malaria—a disease that can keep them from the workplace for a few days if treated but can even be deadly if untreated. This is, to make it economical, bad for business. A Ghanaian who can’t work can’t make money and needs to rely on help from others to sustain a business and a family. Health insurance will ensure that all Ghanaians who work with CRAN have access to the health care they need to be healthy.
Now, taking out a loan from CRAN is more than just taking out a loan. It is a commitment on the part of the borrowers that they will attend a pre-loan training that involves an introduction to CRAN and the loan disbursement. After receiving the loan, the borrowers attend a monthly training. It is not just one group of borrowers that meet, but many—totaling around 75 people, making it less of a time burden on loan officers to meet with their groups. During these trainings, they will make their monthly loan payments and also receive various lectures on topics such as health, fire safety, and money management. Near the end of the loan period, one of the trainings is dedicated to Kiva journals—ensuring that almost all of CRAN’s Kiva participants from this point on will have a journal. This will not only be a wonderful thing for Kiva lenders, it will also be great in terms of social performance. CRAN will have an opportunity to keep track of the people it loans to and the social progress that the loans make in their lives, which may also help CRAN to modify loans to make them better for the borrowers.
One of the biggest problems currently facing CRAN is high loan deferment rates—incidences where borrowers don’t pay back on time or at all. This new format will attempt to address this problem and will hopefully ensure that field officers aren’t constantly chasing down the people who need to pay—a waste of time, energy, fuel, and money for the organization. This new format—where attendance is close to mandatory in order to get a second loan later on—gathers the group on a monthly basis and gives the loan officer a perfect opportunity to collect the loan repayment.
One of the greatest strengths to this new system is budgetary. CRAN believes it will help the organization cut costs, which is imperative in CRAN’s long-term plan because it is a non-profit organization that runs off of loans. Any money loaned out to borrowers that isn’t from Kiva comes from loans from larger banks. Thus CRAN has interest of its own to pay, and when the borrowers don’t pay back, it negatively affects CRAN and how many other borrowers it can help.
My one big question as I have been introduced to this new system, which has been implemented at one of the units this month, is what will it do for the borrowers? I agree that it is best for the organization as it will hopefully lead to financial stability. However, in terms of borrowers, the recipients will be poor but probably not the poorest businesses in the area. The poorest people won’t be able to pay for health insurance and a susu savings (a small daily savings that is another new requirement of CRAN’s borrowers—so if borrowers don’t pay back CRAN will already have some money to take the repayment from).Thus, poor people will be helped, but some of the poorest won’t have the opportunity to develop their businesses through CRAN.
I do believe that this new system, especially the training, gives CRAN the opportunity to make an expanded social impact in the lives of its borrowers. And then once it is financially secure, it will be able to offer services designed for even poorer borrowers to help them develop their businesses.
This new system will involve a lot of change—from the organizational structure to what is expected of the borrowers, change in policy is revolutionizing almost every aspect of CRAN. These changes are being made in order to address and combat all of CRAN’s weaknesses as an organization and to put CRAN in a position to meet all of its future goals. While I am sure new challenges will arise with the new system, CRAN is working hard and intelligently to become a stronger organization.
ELECTION UPDATE: Ghana just had its presidential elections, which were very peaceful and well-run. Every other commercial on television the day of the elections (December 7) was about peace in Ghana. The country was praised by its African neighbors for doing so well. However, there will be a run-off taking place between the top two candidates on December 28. I will post an update following that in regards to the elections and whether Ghana is able to maintain peace.
A Party and a Funeral
I take a break from my normal broadcasting about microfinance to discuss a special event. This weekend I had an invitation to attend a funeral a couple hours away in a part of the country I have never been to. I was invited by my friend and co-worker Lawrence, but I live with Lawrence’s mother’s twin sister and her family. Lawrence’s grandmother had died at the age of 86, so it was going to be a family affair.
At first I was really excited about going—I had gone to part of a funeral once but knew there was much more to it than I had first experienced in the few hours I had spent before. I did have one big worry about going—I just pulled my calf muscle and could barely walk. I was worried about going, but I was more worried about being stuck in my house in Cape Coast alone all weekend with no access to food or water—since I don’t have any food in the house and am almost out of water. I figured that I might as well go, rest my leg as much as I could, and experience something new.
Lawrence, his Aunt whom I live with, her 7-year-old son Francis, and I left Friday at the end of work to drive what was supposed to be two hours. I brought pillows to elevate my leg on and was excited to enjoy the view. About two hours in, however, we picked up a woman who I learned was Lawrence’s older sister. The car was at that point full of people and luggage. I had my bag with my laptop and my purse on the ground at my feet and was holding two pillows and a blanket on my lap. My legs were squished together, and I knew that this wasn’t going to be good for my calf. But, hey, we were close so I could do it.
Two hours later, we finally arrived at our destination: a city in the Central Region of Ghana called Breman Asikuma. It turns out that we had taken an entirely different road to pick up his sister and had gone quite a bit past our destination. We then had to turn around and go back south and quite a ways more east. Most Ghanaians are not the most explicit of people, and on top of that they don’t usually speak in English unless they are speaking to me, which makes it difficult for me to know what is going on. I have learned a lot of basics, and as I learn them I can question Ghanaians on what they are saying, but otherwise everyone just keeps speaking different languages (there are many that are spoken). By the time we arrived, I could barely walk. My calf was so swollen and cramped I literally stumbled and needed someone to hold my hand to walk.
I quickly hit the couch and elevated my leg, but everyone else wasn’t so lucky. They began getting dressed for the wake, a ceremony that involves a service and seeing the deceased one last time. It starts around midnight and goes on until daybreak—this one in particular ended up going until 3 a.m. Because of the shape of my leg, I decided not to go and rested instead.
The next morning, I woke to the sounds of voices—many voices. I went to the backyard and saw about twenty women cooking all sorts of dishes. I watched for a while and then they put me to work. I saw that some women were preparing the meat—fried fish and chicken mostly along with intestines and other meats that were meant for their soups. I also saw them making giant bowl after giant bowl of one of my favorite dishes in Ghana: Jollof Rice. Jollof Rice is a dish similar to (and thought to be the origin of) the dish called Spanish Rice in the United States. The women were pouring the sauce, which they had previously made, and then added rice and water to the mix. The giant bowls were on small outside ovens consisting of charcoal and at times rocks that they took from the backyard. My job was simple: fan the ovens. It was pretty easy, but it was much more work than we have when we use an oven in the United States. In the meantime, I got to spend time talking to all the women, which was really fun despite the language barriers (English is the official language in Ghana, but that just means that only officials speak it and only when they are at work. Anyone who has gone to school speaks it, but there are quite a few people who don’t know it.)
We made giant bowl after giant bowl of Jollof Rice, and after we finished one bowl it was dumped into a cooler and the bowl was washed so we could repeat the process. As we finished the rice, others had already started making the stew, made with fresh vegetables and lots and lots of vegetable oils, that we would serve with fufu and preparing the cassava to make fufu with. Fufu is made by boiling cassava and plantain and pounding it into a glutinous mass. It is served with a soup or stew and meat. Others boiled yam, a food similar to a potato that is served boiled and with meat and palava sauce (a sauce consisting pretty much of oils, vegetables, and sometimes meat. and still others cooked the plantain, a food very similar to a banana but less sweet that in its boiled form is eaten with the palava sauce as well.
Fufu being served with stew and meat
By the time all the other foods were finished, it was fufu-pounding time. Pounding fufu takes hours and is not for the weak at heart. It involves one person using a large thick stick with a wooden masher at the end to repeatedly pound on the cassava while another person continues to add more and more cassava, constantly putting their fingers in danger of total havoc. I have no idea how long it took them to pound as much fufu as they were making (enough for at least 100 people and probably more than that), but pounding fufu for one person usually takes about 15 minutes.
Each piece of cassava in the bowl gets pounded one at a time
I guess I should step back and say that all this food the women were making was for guests of the funeral—and it was more food than I have even seen at weddings that I have attended in the United States. In Ghana, when someone dies, people are expected to come and pay their respects—and usually they leave after having eaten and danced. In front of the house, there was a large sitting area set up where people, clad in traditional black and red African clothing to properly mourn the death of Auntie Dadzie, aged 86—people also wore black and white to celebrate her old age, something guests can do if the person who died was more than seventy. Various people were on hand to serve a variety of drinks filling two refrigerators to all the guests along with the food that we had slaved over all morning.
At about this time, we headed over to the other part of the funeral in a large outdoor area that included three large seating areas complete with canopies all facing a canopy under which the band was playing. In between all the canopies in a center area was a dance floor, at times aptly inhabited by numerous Ghanaians strutting their stuff, sometimes too much stuff for the many men who had simply had too much to drink.
When we arrived, people in t-shirts with the deceased women’s photo on the front and the words Demirefa Due (Respect is due) sprawled across the back. Some of them handed out small pieces of paper with Lawrence’s grandmother’s photo and information on it along with pins so guests could pin it on their bodies. In the center of one of the canopied seating areas was a donation table where guests could give back to those who planned the entire day and who had paid for the band, the food, the drinks, and the renting of the chairs and canopies among other things. I gave the equivalent of $5, and in exchange for my donation I received a keychain of the woman along with her information and when she died.
I couldn’t help but to thinking in the midst of all the chatting and planning that if Ghanaians could organize such a great party, they surely have what it takes to organize revolutionary change at great magnitudes—aren’t the two always related?
Despite my injury, the weekend was full of learning new words in new languages, learning to make new foods, learning to live with a family very different from my own, and learning to see a funeral as more than just goodbye. Next month, I will be going to another funeral (this time the funeral of a chief and one of my friend’s fathers—it is planned out so far in advance to allow ample time for people to prepare to come and attend the event, not to mention ample time for the family to save up enough money for the event)—and I am excited for the chance to learn more. In Ghana, funerals are more than just a funeral or a party or a gathering; it is Ghanaian culture. Ghanaians love to dance, party, and relax, they have a culture that is very hospitable and caring about others, and they strongly believe in taking care of their children. And once children are grown, they have the responsibility of taking care of their parents, even in death.
Dancing the day away
The next day was Sunday, and although I spent the day at home resting my leg some of the others had another event to man. After church, there was another celebration that lasted for many hours—the final in a weekend ode to a woman whom I’ve never met but whose family made sure I would never forget.
The Expectation of Innovation
Microcredit undoubtedly represents a creative and original response to poverty. But I think that somewhere along the way, the innovativeness of the idea seems to have translated into an expectation of novelty and ingenuity for all “small-scale entrepreneurs.” I was reminded of this recently while reading a report published by IBM that described microcredit recipients as “creative” and “entrepreneurial.” While I’m certainly no expert on the subject, my time in the field has reinforced my belief that microloans do not generally enable budding entrepreneurs to realize innovative business ideas. Although there’s always an exception to the rule, the loans seem to help ordinary individuals start or expand one-(wo)man enterprises that resemble many other businesses in the marketplace. I don’t believe that this fact diminishes the significance of the loans. Yet I do think that the common media portrayal of microfinance’s potential is out of line with the reality on the ground. I have to wonder if this gap between expectation and reality (as I see it, at least), will eventually hinder the microfinance movement.
Personally, I have to admit that the first time I looked on Kiva, I was a little disappointed. The opportunity to make a loan directly to another individual excited me, of course, but the nature of the projects seemed so provincial. Profile after profile showed conventional businesses with the loan purpose listed as “expanding her business” or “purchasing more goods for sale.” I had wanted to help someone who was doing something new and different. Something more than simply buying goods in bulk at reselling them for a small profit. Perhaps I’m all alone in this respect, but I suspect that many Kiva lenders have the same initial response. Working with CRAN this summer, however, I have had the opportunity to witness borrowers’ modest businesses firsthand, and to learn from them about the nature of work in the informal sector. It has been an eye-opening experience and has helped me to understand the importance of “purchasing more goods for sale.”
In my interviews with clients (most of whom are traders), I always ask how they got into their line of work. I hear two common choruses. Either they inherited the trade from a parent, or they observed the market, noticed a particular set of goods selling quickly, and decided to start selling it themselves. In doing the latter, they instinctively respond to market trends—which always impresses me, but there’s no apparent attempt to define a new niche for themselves or to offer creative solutions to conventional problems. Take the sale of bread, for instance. Generally speaking, there are 4 types of bread in Ghana: sugar bread, tea bread, butter bread, and brown bread (all of which are delicious). And on any given commercial street in Cape Coast, you’ll likely find one or two bread stands, two or three breakfast stands, and seven or more general stores, all selling some combination of these four breads. Why, I’ve wondered, if bread is so popular, does no one experiment with other types of bread? Perhaps a loaf with a crispier crust, a heavier dessert bread, or a good ole fashion banana bread? Why hasn’t CRAN helped a client open a banana bread stand, when all of the ingredients are so abundant?
I suspect that there are many explanations for this—and I’m interested in learning more about them—but I think that the risk involved in any entrepreneurial undertaking represents one major factor. Innovation seems to require that both the buyer and the seller have some breathing room in their expenses. Someone living at or below the poverty line can likely not afford to charter a new path in the bread market. If a poor baker invested all of her capital into an experimental batch of bread that flopped, the result could be disastrous for her and her family. With minimal savings and no official safety net, it could mean that her children go without much food or schooling indefinitely. Furthermore, if the start-up capital came from a microloan, then she’d be saddled with debt too. And from the buyer’s perspective, testing out a new kind of bread may seem risky and unnecessary. Why take a chance with the unfamiliar when a second loaf of bread cannot easily be bought, and when the conventional loaf fills her children’s stomachs just fine? Without the cushion of savings or disposable income, the price of innovation seems to increase significantly. Experimentation seems to become a luxury reserved for the well-off.
So, the risk of innovation may encourage poor individuals to open businesses whose success has already been demonstrated. Beyond the risk factor, however, I think that the nature of the informal sector also encourages the duplication—and the constant desire for a loan to “buy more goods for sale.” The informal economy in Cape Coast comes as close as I’ve ever seen to perfectly competitive market. The barriers to entry, for one, are almost non-existent. Although profits generally increase as one’s supply increases, someone can start a business with only enough inventory to fill a small basket. Such women carry the baskets on their heads and walk door to door searching for customers. With no red tape or minimum requirement of capital, hundred of sellers in the marketplace, and nearly identical products, everyone ends up a price taker. They charge the market price and not a pesewas higher; if they do, they’ll lose their business to the person half a block away selling the same thing. As a result, everyone ends up with slim profit margins. Yet expansion provides a straight-forward way of making more money. With a slim profit margin on each good sold, her profit slowly accumulates as she sells more of the same stuff. The basket carrier seeks to set up an informal stall; the stall owner wants to open a sturdy kiosk; and the kiosk saleswoman aspires to expand into a modest shop.
So that’s what I’ve seem in the field so far. Individuals don’t take out loans to start new, creative businesses. They access credit in order to enlarge their inventory. The traders want to buy more goods for sale; the fishmongers want to buy more fish; the bakers want to purchase more ingredients. It’s not glamorous but it seems to be the pragmatic reality of microfinance. Expecting more from the financial service may be dangerously wishful thinking.
First weeks in Cape Coast, Ghana
I have been in the country for two weeks now and I love it. Ghana is known for its warmth—both physical and relational—and thus far, it has lived up to its reputation. The Ghanaian handshake, with its snap upon release, seems to epitomize the general tone of life here. Friendly and laid-back. In the town of Cape Coast where I’m living, taxi drivers remember your name and children invite you to games of make-shift pool (using long sticks and marbles). Religion is also a very prominent part of life here. 70-80% of the population is Christian, and those of the faith display it proudly. Most vehicles boast bumper stickers that remind us to “Love Jesus!” or of “Jesus Christ: Someone You’ve Got to Meet!” The names of shops often contain biblical allusions as well. My favorites thus far are, “Man! Know Thyself Enterprises” and “In Christ’s Blood Beauty Salon.” Although it could easily be overwhelming for Non-Christians, I think there’s something refreshing about such an unabashed commitment to one’s faith.
I am here in Ghana for 11 weeks this summer working with an NGO called Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN). CRAN’s mission is to improve the livelihood of the rural and semi-urban poor, particularly women and children. CRAN started its microloan scheme in 1998. Since then its microfinance program has grown to encompass approximately 70% of its operations, and in the past two years, the organization has increased its number of active borrowers from one thousand to five thousand. In addition to extending microloans to small-scale entrepreneurs, CRAN also offers a nontraditional “susu” savings option. With this type of savings, participants in the voluntary program pledge to set aside a certain amount of their income per day, generally somewhere between one and five cedis (roughly one to five dollars). For a small monthly fee equal to a day’s worth of savings (such that clients pay in accordance with their means), a CRAN representative collects the money daily from the client’s residence. CRAN then stores the money safely in a bank account where it can be withdrawn upon the client’s request. Such a program helps clients build a personal safety net for rough times and, for those with loans, helps ensure that they can make repayments in a timely fashion.
Working with the Kiva coordinator, my main responsibility this summer will be to interview clients for the purpose of writing journal updates. Because of CRAN’s small size, however, I’ll have the opportunity to take part in several other projects, which I’m really excited about. At the end of July, CRAN will undergo a social impact assessment of its lending program. In preparation for this, we’re trying to conduct our own mini evaluation. I have been able to help with both the development and execution of this assessment, which has been really exciting. I believe that the extension of reliable and affordable credit to the poor undeniably meets a critical need that was long overlooked. The question, however, of whether it actually contains the potential to help alleviate poverty and empower women is still fiercely debated within the sector. The issue fascinates me, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to explore it with CRAN.
I want to end with a quote from a book I just finished reading. (I’d recommend it to all travelers in Africa, and particularly females.) It’s a quote that put into prose so perfectly what I have felt since I arrived in Ghana:
“In Africa, the boat leaves when it’s full. You might wait an hour; you might wait two weeks. If you spend that time tipping forward into the future, you sink. The best think to do is just to sit on the boat and look around at the other humans who are sitting there with you. You might discover that you like the view.”
- Somebody’s Heart is Burning, by Tanya Shaffer
To see all currently fundraising loans from CRAN on Kiva.org, please click here.
Final Thoughts
Does microlending work? That’s one of the questions that I wanted to answer as a Kiva Fellow and that’s the question I’ve been asked on numerous occasions since I returned to Seattle. After a couple of weeks of readjusting to the American pace of life, I’m prepared to provide an answer.
Yes, it works. But, it works differently than I thought.
When I left for Ghana, I had my preconceptions about microfinance. I was intrigued by how these loans could enable wealth creation for the working poor. Through my market-oriented frame of reference, I was hoping to see how a loan was helping an entrepreneur expand their business from a small market space and beyond. Perhaps, it is my American-bred fascination with innovation and aggressive growth, but I viewed the loans as an opportunity to invest in the next big idea in a small corner of the world. What I found out after three months in the field is that wealth is being created, but it’s a different kind of wealth.
While there are stories of how microfinance borrowers have used their loans to significantly expand their business, the majority of the stories are much more human, more real and, in the end, more meaningful. After interviewing more than one hundred borrowers and asking them how the loans have changed their lives, the most common answer was not about their business. Instead, it was about how the loan allowed them to help pay for their children’s school fees, put more food on their table, and pay for health insurance. Sure, the loans helped them increase their inventories, sales, and profits. But, more than creating wealth these loans are providing a type of social insurance to these borrowers. As a Kiva lender I am not simply financing a business, but financing a safety net.
And, in the process of answering one question, I realized I had answered another question. What does a profit-oriented social business look like? It looks like the single Ghanaian mother whose thriving roadside cocoa yam stand enables her to keep her business running and keep her daughter in school. A true double-bottom line. And its all powered by loans from Kiva lenders.
The mission to be social
As my fellowship nears its end, I’ve purposely taken time to step back and revisit my original reasons for deciding to quit my job, stuff my apartment into a dusty storage unit, leave family and friends and fly to Ghana. One of my goals was to see the impact of commercialization on an MFI’s social mission.
Recently, Sinapi has confronted this issue head-on when it started the process of converting from an NGO to a formal financial institution. Like many MFIs before it, Sinapi wanted to change its business structure in order to receive more commercial financing as well as to take client deposits. Many of the expected benefits were cited for this decision including new financial discipline in the organization and the potential to open new markets and reach more borrowers. Likewise, I heard many of the expected negatives including the burden of debt-servicing and the pressure by commercial lenders to alter or downscale the social mission of the organization. But, it was the impact this organizational change had on the lender / borrower relationship that I never really considered. Or as I like to call it – the impact on the organization’s mission to be social. In Sinapi’s case, the mission to be social was a key driver in its decision to slow its transformation process.
During the weeks I’ve spent out in the field, the one thing that continually strikes me is how the loan officers and the clients are more family than business partners. There are, of course, the smiles that will last a lifetime for me. But, there are also warm hugs between loan officers and clients – when’s the last time you’ve hugged your banker? There are the handshakes that last minutes not seconds. There are clients who attribute their recent success to joining the Sinapi family. There are the times after group meetings when we would pack into Sinapi’s Toyota van and take the clients back to their home – inevitably I’d find myself in the center of a group of giggling middle-aged women laughing at my attempts to communicate in Twi. And back at the branch there is the open arrangement of the office. There are no tellers. No walls between the officers and clients. Instead, clients walk into the office – some with their business on their heads – and are welcomed to the officer’s desk.
But, as Sinapi’s formalization plan was initiated and branches were converted into a more traditional banking layout, the relationship with clients evolved. Clients became more hesitant to approach the officers. They felt that they couldn’t come to the branch in their work clothes. They were intimidated by teller windows. The Sinapi family was gone. Warm hugs were replaced by the cold creditor-debtor relationship we are all know too well. So, the aggressive formalization plans were halted and the family atmosphere I’ve witnessed here returned to the benefit of everyone involved.
Yet, I know the pressure to become more formal will not disappear anytime soon. The supply of microfinance services needs to scale to meet the demand. It will be up to successful organizations like Sinapi to find ways to meet this challenge but keep the Sinapi family intact.
Final thoughts on Ghana
I’ve been back in Chicago for about 2 weeks now and have had time to sit and digest my Kiva Fellow experience. Going into this I tried to keep a completely unbiased and open-mind about microfinance. I’m a huge supporter of microfinance, but I have heard critics argue that it does little to actually lift people out of poverty. So I tried to take my opportunity to see first hand how it affects borrowers.
During my 2-month stay in Cape Coast, Ghana I had the privilege to meet over a hundred borrowers successfully running their own businesses. I heard stories of individuals being able to pay their kids’ school fees because of their loan, a life-long farmer opening up a general store when she became to old to work the fields simply because of her loan, and businesses expanding and profits increasing because of a couple hundred dollars. During all my interviews and meetings I never once heard a borrower say they were unhappy they took the loan. Not one person thought the loan had hurt their business, but many had ideas and suggestions on how to improve the microfinance process. One on-going theme I saw was that the large group loans aren’t that popular with individuals because they often find it hard to find 10 reliable entrepreneurs to join their group. They often suggested to make the groups smaller and to have individual loans available. The reason MFIs have group loans is for security. Since no collateral is ever collected, social pressure is used as a way to ensure collections, but having cookie-cutter plans and principles that hinder borrowers will only hurt a MFI in the long run. Another common theme was interest rates.
During my stay in Cape Coast, I often had local individuals start conversations with me and want to know what I was doing in Ghana. When I told them I was working with a microfinance organization, almost everyone immediately said, “Oh, but the interest rates are so high!!”. I always took the time to explain why the interest rates were high, but no one seemed interested in my economics of microfinance speech, they were only concerned with how interest rates would affect them, and rightly so.
MFIs provide extremely valuable services in countries all around the world and have helped millions of people improve their lives. However, much more can be done to lower interest rates and further help the very people microfinance is aimed at helping. This is exactly why Kiva is so beneficial. Providing MFIs with 0% interest loans, these institutions can finally think about making steps to further help their clients that otherwise would not have been possible. I believe Kiva needs to be aware of this and make every active effort to encourage partner MFIs to lower their interest rates once they have become comfortable with raising money on Kiva. Right now Kiva is doing their part to help MFIs overcome certain barriers in raising low-cost funds, but these MFIs need to be held responsible with providing clients reasonable interest rates.
My stay in Ghana has been a priceless experience and I am only further convinced microfinance is the way to end poverty, but much more needs to be done to ensure the borrowers are the ones receiving the real help.
A Loan as an Inflationary Hedge
I’ve visited over 100 clients in the past two months and one of the most common responses to “how are you going to use this loan” is “I’m going to buy in bulk.” At first, it appeared to me that perhaps this is a common impulse to overstock inventory so a customer never walks away empty-handed. But, I was quick to learn that this bulk purchasing phenomenon is not driven by concern about product supply but rather inventory cost. Here, in Ghana, there is an omnipresent concern over creeping inflation. And with Zimbabwe in the news this week and the accounts of inflation rates exceeding 100,000%, it seems inflation is becoming a center of conversations here as well.
Officially, the government recently raised its benchmark interest rate for commercial banks to 14.25% as a result of inflation that had risen to around 13.2%. But, what has been more interesting is how it creeps into my daily life. Like every gas-dependent American, I at first noticed it in the rising gas prices at the petrol stations. Soon, the taxi drivers were trying to raise their fares (taxi fares are not metered, but highly negotiable). At work, the company’s cook insisted on a pay raise as the cost of her food was increasing. On the corner outside our office, the lady who sells me lovely bananas with small bags of peanuts started selling me three bananas for 20 pesewas instead of four bananas. And, now the President of Ghana is at the Africa-Indian summit telling the world that rising food prices threaten to stall Ghana’s development achievements of the past several years.
It is in this environment that a loan provides an important hedging tool for the working poor. By giving an entrepreneur the cash to stockpile their inventory they guard against these price hikes. I, of course, thought to myself – “what happens if the price goes down though.” Joshua, the Kiva Coordinator, only smiled at me, “prices never go down.”
Sinapi! Abapa! Sinapi! Enkoso!
During the last month, I’ve visited quite a few courtyards, backyards, sideyards, and frontyards. In each one, I can usually count on two things. One is that someone in the group rises to find chairs for the loan officers and myself and places these chairs in a cool, shady spot. The other is the Sinapi cheer. A loan officer walks into the meeting area and shouts, “Sinapi” and claps twice. In response, the group members yell, “Abapa” (Good Seed). This cheer goes through several more iterations with different responses and the group sits down.
But, recently, in one group, the loan officer’s “Sinapi” was met with silence. The officer tried again and only met silence again. She then smiled, sat down, and walked through the cheer with the group. Another Sinapi employee sitting next to me explained that this was a new group and had only completed the first week of the four week orientation. I thought to myself that if my past experiences could shed any light on the future, the officer’s cheer would be met with a rousing response by the end of the orientation.
Sinapi’s orientation process is a fine example of how microfinance is not simply loans, but much, much more. Not unexpectedly, the orientation process includes concepts such as basic bookkeeping and loan financing. What is telling, however, is that before any of these business concepts are even introduced Sinapi spends considerable time talking to the group about their individual family life and about Sinapi’s core values (Integrity, Respect, Stewardship, and Commitment to the Poor). They explain how these core values not only guide Sinapi’s operations but should also guide their own businesses. They talk to the group about the importance of schooling, health, and instilling responsibility in their children. They ask them if they are having any family troubles or troubles with neighbors. And while much of this is motivated by the social mission of Sinapi, it is also in Sinapi’s financial interest to have healthy, happy clients who can repay on time.
A fine example of the blended relationship between social mission and financial mission is the wonderful work of the Kiva Coordinator, Joshua Opoku-Mainoo. Before he was asked to coordinate Sinapi’s Kiva efforts, he worked as a loan officer in their Takoradi branch. As part of his work, he decided to integrate health insurance registration into the orientation process.
As a backdrop, three years ago, the Ghanaian government instituted a national health insurance scheme with the goal of registering the entire nation. At this point, the registration process is being implemented on a voluntary basis. For those who are at the lowest income bracket, the annual premium is about 7 cedis (7 dollars) a year. However, many of these individuals were not registering with the scheme and many of them were Sinapi clients.
As a loan officer, Joshua understood that poor health was a significant cause of repayment problems. After all, sick clients don’t pay. And sick clients with big medical bills definitely don’t pay. By implementing registration into the orientation process, Josh was not only hoping to minimize health bills and sickness, but also expecting a reduction in repayment issues. The results are in. After instituting the process, the Takoradi branch has now seen a marked drop in repayment issues related to sickness and medical bills. Due to the success of this pilot, Sinapi is taking steps to integrate the insurance registration process into all of its orientations nationwide. It is in efforts like this that I’m seeing how it’s possible to use a microloan to support a broader social mission.
My First Repayment Day
Sometimes the end is the best beginning. And, by the end of my first repayment day, a group of four women marched past me, through the hallway and onto the red dirt path outside the house where they had just completed their repayments. As they passed, some were shaking their heads, others were raising their voices in frustration, but they were all unified by their goal – to make a visit on a member of their group who was absent from the repayment meeting and failed to make another repayment again. The rest of the group covered her payment for her. Now it was time to collect.
When I first learned about microfinance, I like so many before me had read about the Grameen Bank and group loans. For me, the concept of converting something as instinctive as peer pressure into social collateral was brilliant in its simplicity. But, I wanted to see it first hand. Well, thanks to Kiva and Sinapi Aba Trust I got my first chance this past week.
As I entered the courtyard with the loan officer, there were several groups huddled in different corners. Within each group, a leader was busy collecting payments from members. The loan officer was seated in a corner in front of a simple desk. On the desk was a stapler, a notebook , an office calculator and some space to collect large wads of cash and piles of coins. As the payment officer called the groups up, they assembled around him and he started his counting.
For most of the groups, this process went smooth. But, there were exceptions. There was a woman who was claiming she didn’t have enough to make this week’s repayment. She opened her purse and paid all she could. The loan officer looked at her with disappointment. The other members in her group – particularly an elderly member – said to her, “you should pay to avoid disgrace.” After some silence and some pleading, she reached into various pockets and like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, soon found enough bills and change.
In another case, a member said she couldn’t pay this week as she was waiting for some customers to pay her. She pled her case, but as the members paid for her, she slowly moved to the outside of the group. She sat in a chair - her arms crossed, her eyes staring at the floor. I didn’t get a complete translation, but I sensed and felt her dejection.
But, nothing compared to those women who rallied their group and marched passed me with such determination. I could not stay around to find out if they convinced the defaulting member to pay. I can only say I wouldn’t have wanted to be in her shoes as the battalion marched towards me.
CRAN Social Development Projects
Along with its microfinance unit, CRAN also sponsors social development projects. CRAN has built 5 schools in Ghana and has provided a community with clean running water. I recently got an opportunity to visit a CRAN sponsored school in the Abaenu community. To get to the village a 4×4 vehicle is a must. Once you turn off the nicely paved road headed to Accra, you embark on what is only comparable to a roller-coaster ride. For about 3 miles the truck bounced up-and-down, sided-to-side and every other way imaginable. After we arrived at the existing school it was apparent how badly another school building was needed, not because the current school was outdated or needed structural improvements, but because of how incredibly overcrowded the classrooms were. A leader from the village came to the CRAN offices and spoke with Teye, the director of social development projects, about the need for a separate school building for the nursery and kindergarten. The kindergarten consists of 109 children and the nursery has 50 children. In total, 159 total children were sharing 2 small rooms.
That’s when CRAN stepped in and built a separate building for the 2 kindergarten classes and the nursery. However, CRAN didn’t do all the work. CRAN provided the materials and specialized labor needed to build a school house, but engaged the community in the building of it. By actively helping in the building of the school, the community members feel more attached to the project and also provide a cost effective labor force. CRAN was able to build the 4 classroom school house with a bathroom for about $18,000.
When I arrived at the school house in the Abaenu village, I was immediately greeted with a loud cheer by the kindergarten class. They quickly left the overcrowded classroom and swarmed me. Kids absolutely love having their picture taken and looking at the picture even more. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to do anything till I took their picture, I pulled my camera out to take the picture and the kids immediately organized themselves in neat rows. After I took the picture, I showed the kids their picture and they all went nuts. Soon afterward, I got the opportunity to talk to the teacher of the class, Rebecca Aidoo. Mrs. Aidoo is an extremely sweet woman and should be a certified saint for being able to teach her kindergarten class of 61 children. On top of keeping 61 kids in order, she also has to share a room with 50 other children in the nursery. Thankfully, the new kindergarten and nursery building is near completion and should be in use within a couple weeks.
Akwaaba to Ghana!
Struggles. That’s what came to mind during my first days in Ghana. The struggle to find my way around to light a candle when the electricity had failed again. The struggle to keep my body hydrated in the heat and humidity. But, much more, it was the heart wrenching struggles of those around me. The crippled man trying to navigate the cratered streets and bloodthirsty taxidrivers. The mother balancing what amounts to a small woodshed of goods on her head while carrying a baby on her back and trying to contain a curious, energetic boy. Around us all, the sun was struggling to make its way through the clouds thick with dust blown in from the Saharan desert.
While the sun struggled to show itself, the heat did not. The heat had figured out a way to overcome in Ghana. But, the heat was not the only thing overcoming adversity, as I soon learned when I looked in the right places and with the right perspective.
There were the ambitious streetside hawkers who sprinted alongside the bus attempting to close a sale. Or the vacant lot with a crumbling foundation, but an optimistic owner who had posted on a wall, “This land is not for sale.” Or there was something so simple as a cool tile floor that brought an instant sense of relief to tired bare feet. But, it was not until today, when I first met clients of Sinapi Aba Trust that I saw firsthand hope in its most human form.
Today, I travelled along with two loan officers of Sinapi to visit some perspective clients in the suburbs of Kumasi. Before Sinapi finalizes a loan with new clients, loan officers visit the clients at their businesses to get a sense of their assets, their customers, their surroundings or even their neighbor’s perspective on their business.
As we walked around patiently trying to locate our first client, we knew we had arrived when a woman looked up from her pot of roasting palm nuts and a large ear-to-ear grin appeared on her face. Before long, I would know more about her business than I could have imagined. And while we were interviewing her, other women began to appear from nowhere. They also had smiles and warm handshakes. “Current clients,” the loan officers remarked. The gratitude was overwhelming. This was seeing microfinance at its best. As I paused to take this in, I looked around and then I realized that we were next to a dump. All of this hope and ambition next to a dump! And this was only the first week.
Now, when I look back after more than a week in Ghana, I think about struggles but I also see the power of hard work and perseverance. It could not be better explained than the passing van I saw earlier this week. On its back window a slogan was painted, it read, “No Food for Lazy Man.”
Random experiences in Ghana
I’ve been in Ghana now for one month and I realized I’ve been slacking in keeping up my journal, so I’m posting several random experiences I’ve had so far.
On most days I go out with a loan officer to take pictures of clients who are requesting loans for their businesses or have already taken a loan and we go to follow-up on their progress. The first problem you encounter when trying to find someone is there are no street names or addresses whatsoever. We had to find 11 borrowers who were all located within one small segment of Cape Coast, but to find each person you have to go up to random people and ask if they know of the person you are asking for. Sometimes finding the borrowers is fast, but other times it feels like you are walking in circles. However, this experience has had a huge impact on me. When I’m by myself, I usually walk on the paved roads and rarely venture deep into the residential villages of Cape Coast. There’s a whole different side of poverty within these villages that most visitors never see. The conditions are absolutely terrible. No electricity, no running water, a make-shift open sewer system, and chickens and goats literally eating out of the sewers. Small houses holding entire families are little more than mud walls with tin roofs. Little kids are just walking around during the day and clearly not going to school, nor will they probably ever get the opportunity to do so. Most adults in these villages don’t speak English because they’ve never attended school and never had parents who spoke English to teach them, so the cycle continues. My hope is that these loans can enable parents to have sufficient income to send their children to school. It’s truly the only way to improve their child’s life.
One thing I still haven’t been able to adjust to is the driving. Cars and pedestrians are all packed together onto semi-paved and unpaved roads. I’ve walked miles and miles through Cape Coast and surrounding villages and towns and have yet see anything that resembles a side-walk. This situation is intensified as both cars and pedestrians always feel they have the right-of-way. An employee at CRAN drives me and others to various destinations across the city and I’m always bracing myself, thinking a huge collision is only a turn away. I haven’t decided what’s worse, driving and thinking your going to clip a group of girls walking to school or actually walking and thinking your about to be hit by the next speeding taxi. No one else seems to even notice the cars missing them by mere inches. Girls and women carry various goods on their head don’t even blink an eye as a car will wail it’s horn and swerve at the last second to avoid clipping the person. Besides being the only white man for miles, I feel a little out of place because I’m constantly looking over my shoulder and stopping for cars and people to pass, so I’m not hit by the taxi that’s driving 30 miles per hour on a small dirt road.
My favorite experience in Ghana so far has been all the little kids and babies shouting “Obroni, Obroni” when I walk by. Obroni means white person or foreigner but has a positive connotation to it (at least that’s what I’m told). When walking up and down the streets little kids run up with huge smiles, touch your hand and sing “Obroni, Obroni…how are you? I am fine!!”. It’s inspiring to see these little kids living in such horrible conditions still being so upbeat about life and enjoying even the small events. When I first got to Ghana only the little kids would acknowledge me and I’d get blank stares from adults, but after a few days I realized I’m the stranger and should be the one to initiate the acknowledgement. So, now I just smile and wave at people working in their small shops and they break-out in enormous smiles, wave back and sometimes strike up a conversation.
The only talk in Ghana from late January to early February was the Africa Cup of Nations being hosted by Ghana. It’s basically the World Cup for Africa. If religion is what Ghanaians are most passionate about, soccer is a very close 2nd. I watched the games at my old hotel with either people from work, other Western visitors, or a few people I’ve met locally. The entire country was electric everyday that Ghana played a match. After a Ghanaian goal, every single person in the city would flood out into the streets, dance music would start blaring and there’d be a mini-party for about 5 minutes then everybody would return and continue watching the game. After a big victory, people would be out celebrating till 1-2 in the morning. After Ghana beat Nigeria to advance to the semi-finals, my friend came to my hotel and asked if I wanted to go to the middle of town and see the real party. I couldn’t imagine it would be any different than what was going on in front of the hotel but I went with anyway. When we got the center of Cape Coast, there were thousands of people jammed into the streets with reggae music blaring at every street corner. It was really a sight to see. The next day my co-worker, Eddie, asked if people were this passionate about sports in the US. I thought for awhile and told him the only way I could see this excitement and passion being matched would be if the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in game 7 with a walk-off homerun (I’m from Chicago).
I did a lot of research and talked to many many people before traveling to Ghana, but by far the best piece of advice I received before going to Ghana came from a former Kiva Fellow and current Kiva staff member. He said, in many parts of Africa, it’s not uncommon for a male to hold hands for an extended period of time (15-30 seconds) with another male after a handshake if he views you as a friend. THANK GOD I knew this beforehand. 15-30 seconds may not sound like a long time, but try holding hands with another male while walking through a crowded market for 20 seconds…it feels like an eternity.
Planet Rating
Things at CRAN have been pretty hectic the past couple weeks. At the end of February, CRAN is having an international rating done. This basically announces to the entire microfinance world how well CRAN is run as a MFI. A good rating could mean new sources of capital as well as world-wide acknowledgement of CRAN as well as one of the top MFIs in Ghana. However, a bad rating would be a set back for the organization and would dampen spirits within the organization. All CRAN employees have been working extra hard the past several weeks to ensure they do get a positive rating. We recently had a staff meeting to go over what exactly the rating will cover. Some of the areas of emphasis are one’s you’d never even think of, but this rating will help to tie-down any loose ends and make CRAN really focus on every minute detail within the organization. How is money transferred to borrowers in the safest and most reliable manner? If a branch unit is in a remote area, how can it send information back to the main office on a daily basis if there is no internet connection and no cost effective means to drive it to the office? Without taking collateral from borrowers, what’s the best way to minimize loan defaults and late payments? These are just a few of the questions, in addition to everyday business; CRAN is taking on to ensure they achieve a high rating.
1st week in Ghana
My name is Dan Strack and for the next 2 months I will be living in Cape Coast, Ghana and working with the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN).
CRAN has 7 branches located throughout the central region of Ghana with its main office in Cape Coast. Cape Coast is a very poor area with some of the kindest people I’ve ever encountered. The first thing you notice in Ghana and especially Cape Coast, is how extremely religious everyone is. Many road-side businesses have names such as “God is Great: Hair Salon” or “Jesus is the Savior: Food Stand”. Cars, buses, telephone poles, you name it, have similar signs.
The staff at CRAN is extremely grateful for Kiva and is doing everything they can to run a smooth partnership. Every time I get a free moment at the office to sit down and do some writing, someone will come up and ask if I would like to go see some aspect of CRAN. I went with Abraham, who’s in charge of posting profiles and journals on Kiva, to the 4 branch offices located in Cape Coast. Each branch is strategically located so it can maximize its client base. One office is located directly across from a large auto repair yard, so the dozens of individual entrepreneurs who work there can get access to the capital they need. Two more offices are located right by fishing markets so all the fishermen can easily take out loans and repay them. The last office is in the middle of town and primarily serves those who run small road-side businesses.
Yesterday I was taken to a training session for 1st time borrowers. CRAN makes all new borrowers go through a 5 week training period, where they attend 1 class a week for one hour and go over basic finance principles and discuss individually how much they should take out for a loan. Many times after going through this training, the loan officer will determine that the entrepreneur does not need the amount of money they are requesting so the amount loaned out will be reduced to cut out excessive capital which would increase the burden on the borrower. After being introduced to the 7 borrowers in the group, I got to ask a few questions. After a few basic questions I asked the group, “What would you change about microfinance as a whole?” This caused everyone in the group to laugh and caused a bit of uneasiness because they didn’t want to upset the loan officer. One lady raised her hand and said she thought the groups should be smaller, instead of having to have 10 borrowers apply for the loan together, it should be smaller, around 5-7. CRAN (as most MFIs) require borrowers to apply for loans in groups so each member is responsible for everyone else in the group to improve repayment rates. After this one lady broke the ice, a whole flood of suggestions came forward from the borrowers about how to improve the overall microfinance process. I don’t know if the loan officer was as happy about this as I was, but I was absolutely thrilled to receive this kind of advice. Microfinance is still very new and isn’t a perfect system, so who better to get advice from than the people who depend on it.
This morning as I stopped at a road-side shop to buy a couple bananas for breakfast, an older gentleman introduced himself to me and asked what I was doing in Cape Coast. I told him I was working with the Christian Rural Aid Network just up the street. He wasn’t familiar with the organization, so he asked what kind of business they were. I responded that it’s a microfinance institution and that I will be working there for the next 2 months. His eyes opened in curiosity and asked if I was with Kiva. I was completely shocked he knew of Kiva and not the MFI just up the road. I replied that I was and he said, “Oh my!! I thought they were only working in East Africa!!” I told him that Kiva has recently experience tremendous growth and have expanded to new areas and actually have 2 MFIs in Ghana. He then thanked me for my time and walked down the street to his work. I didn’t have time to ask him where he heard of Kiva, but if an ordinary local man in Cape Coast, Ghana has heard of Kiva; they have to be doing something right.
Hawkers
My limit for walking around Ghana in the daytime here is about ten minutes. I’m in pretty good physical condition, it’s just that after the fifth minute I start feeling like I dived in a pool with my clothes on. At that point I find an excuse to go indoors, take my backpack off, and cool off before heading out again.
The other day I had opportunity to interview Elizabeth Quenoo. She doesn’t have the capital to open a shop yet, so she walks and sells with her products balanced on her head from sunrise to sunset. Elizabeth “hawks” pots and metal bowls.
On top of carrying heavy loads in the heat, hawkers simultaniously dodge speeding tro-tros, avoid giant open ditches in the roads, and breath in loads of car fumes, and sprent away from IRS agents. They are also more susceptible to malaria, headaches, neck pains, frequent fevers, and general muscle pains from being outdoors over an extended period of time. Here I am about to collapse after walking ten minutes, and all these women are hawking with 30 or so pounds of products on their heads. The entrepreneurial spirit of Sinapi women never ceases to amaze me.
Kumasi
I’ve been in Ghana for 3 months now. I thought my culture shock stages were over after the tro-tro (mini-van bus) dodging, fou-fou (sticky plantains mixed with cassava) eating, sun burning, marriage proposing, etc etc…, but I was wrong.Last week I started my Kiva internship, which involved me moving from Cape Coast to Sinapi’s head office in Kumasi. When I stepped off of the jammed packed tro-tro and into Kumasi, I thought I was stepping off of a plane and into a different country. The hustle and bustle of Kumasi is a different beast. The goats and chickens don’t wonder the streets like they do in Cape Coast, I have to constantly avoid the exhaust from the tro-tros, and there’s always somebody trying to sell me something. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for this city.
But now, a week later, I’ve gotten to really enjoy being here. The entrepreneurs that I’ve been interviewing and my co-workers at Sinapi have been extremely welcoming. They’ve taught me some Twi (the local language), how to eat banku (a fermented corn and cassava mixed dough), and unraveled a bit of the chaos in the city. They’ve reminded me the how to enjoy the weirdness of traveling to a different place.
Update from Nana Adjnoa!
My first Kiva client–her name is Sophie, my namesake!
In Ghana your nickname is the day you were born – ny nickname in Twi is Nana Adjnoa – Princess Monday! Today we were at the Golden Tulip – a Dutch owned hotel chain. Walking into the hotel I feel like I am in the middle of a James Bond movie circa 1978 – grainy, smoky, muted colors with out-of-date lithographs on the wall, and the crème de la crème of sleazy North African businessmen lounging about in the bar. There are definitely some questionable business deals happening at this spot, not to mention the obvious few very good-looking Ghanaian women who are hanging out with some of the not so handsome Obroni’s. This reminds me of the welcome sign at the Immigration booth at the airport which said; Akwabaa to Ghana, we welcome all visitors except for pedophiles. If you have any such intentions, turn around now or it will be worst for your self. Everyone else welcome”……ahh it is always the little things you find traveling that gives you the most amusementJ So, internet connections in Ghana are a matter of interpretations – Golden Tulip has about the same speed as a regular 56K dial up in the US….the common Ghanaian internet connection is more akin to smoke smoke signals or pigeon mail! Yesterday I chewed 3 bites of a Ghanaian croissant while waiting for one page to load. Never again a bad word from me about WiFi connections in SF!
Being an Obroni in Ghana is quite an experience –everything always has to be set against “Obroni price?” or “Obroni time?’. Obroni price is 3 times higher than Ghanaian prices and Obroni time means being on time – Ghanaian time is about 2 hours later. We are on GMT – this I believe stands for Greenwhich Mean Time around the world but here it stands for Ghana Maybe Time! Also, Ghana being a very Christian country (a common sign in a taxi might say ‘you are on God’s time”) they have apparently decided that they can sell alcohol in most places including wine, but that they will restrict the drinking of it by making wine-openers expensive. A wine opener costs $15 (remember how the average rent of the Kiva client is $6.5 month) – my Swiss army knife would have come in so much handy here, but somehow it disappeared from my luggage on the way here. Now I understand why.
Africa in more ways than one is testing all of my survival skills. The Ghanaian people are the most hospitable – living up to their reputation as the “friendliest people in Africa”. 4 of the 10 women I met with yesterday invited me to visit them in their home next time I visit Ghana! The average rent for a rental home of Kiva’s clients is 65K cedes per month – that is $6.5 US per month! They live with their extended families (like Agnes) in one room and they are inviting the random Obroni to come stay with them! Many Ghanaians that we have talked to, are curious about why were are in Ghana and are so excited that we are spending our volunteer time helping Ghana. They have a very keen understanding of the media perception being put out in the US and Europe – that Africa is all about war, hunger, illness, and death. They are anxious to know that the Kiva fellows and other Obroni volunteers are communicating back to family and friends that there is so much work and beauty happening here. Please help me spread the word – forward my updates to friends and encourage them to get involved in any way they can. The world is changing before our eyes and I feel so blessed to be able to have one little part in it.
Thank you all so much for all the support you have given to me!
Obroni Meltdown
We call ahead to at least five hotels that we have starred in the Bradt Guide to Ghana – all of their prices have doubled from what the travel book says – I guess my Obroni accent isn’t exactly helping the situation! After settling on the price of the room, we get to the Raybow (this is probably meant to be “rainbow” but this is Ghana!) and attempt to check in . We run through the “must-have” check list: AC?, Fan? Hot water? Generator when the power fails so at least the fan can run when the AC is out? Check, check – we are all set to go.
“Now can we see the room, please?”
“No rooms available tonight or for a week going forward”…retracing my steps through the empty parking lot and silent hotel grounds – this is one of the biggest hotels we have seen in Ghana. I ask again, thinking this must be just one of the daily misunderstandings.
“No room available for a week!”
“Umm…but we called you one hour ago and we just spent 15 min negotiating.” –This is the plight of the Obroni – never take anything for granted or assumed here!
She says: “ You asked price – not room available.”
Again dismayed and honestly flabbergasted: “But the mere act of calling a hotel implies that I would like a room…” At this point I am standing on the very edge of a serious Obroni meltdown…
Five minutes later, we are drenched in sweat carrying our bags down the road to the next hotel – we try to lift our spirits and send out positive thoughts to make this next transaction smoother.
Two hotels later we arrive at the Guesthouse Maggi. The first sentence out of Anne Sophie’s mouth upon seeing our new room is, “This place looks like a soft-core porn bedroom.” Completely exhausted, we glaze over the velour cranberry colored bedspread, copper art pieces of naked women and throw our stuff in the corner and crank up the AC. The day has just begun, but I feel like I’ve been traveling for a week straight. Anne Sophie and I head to the hotel restaurant, “The Princess Diana Restaurant.”
Anne Sophie warms me she is about to breakdown with a bad case of “LBS,” the dangerous state known as “low blood sugar” when she needs to eat asap. We’re both on the edge of a second Obroni meltdown and decide to order a salad and pizza to split. First, a simple question, “What is the difference between the mixed salad and the vegetable salad?” The Ghanaian waitress answers, “”Same-Same, but different.” I know better than to pursue any further.
“Okay, we’ll have the mixed salad. No meat, please. We are vegetarians. And we’ll have the Hawaiian pizza, but no ham please. I tell her thank you, Me da se.” The plight of the Obroni continues…When traveling in countries where the path of meat to your plate is questionable, it’s often best to pull the V card.
A good hour and a half later, after devouring an emergency Odwalla Bar, the food arrives. We were two for one; the salad has no meat or mayonnaise dressing, but sadly the pizza was covered in fatty chunks of bacon(?), then blanketed in a florescent yellow layer of squeeze cheese. Again, the plight of the Obroni…Don’t lust after things that aren’t native to the country you are traveling in. Eat local.
Grandma Rose’s…Nsawam, Ghana
We escaped to the country…to Grandma Rose’s.
Grandma Rose lives in Nsawam, which is at the foothills of the mountains, approximately a two hour drive from Accra, Ghana. Nsawam is “lush.” This tucked away small community oozes with vibrant, tropical vegetation everywhere I looked…a far cry from the sweating, concrete jungle of Accra. It reminded me of the gentle, climbing, misty foothills and rich vegetation of the Blue Mountains outside Kingston, Jamaica where I used to teach many years ago.
Grandma Rose is 83. She is a most gentle, gracious and loving soul. She is “pure white light”….. and a deeply committed Christian. In the middle of the day whilst we were writing on her front porch, oftentimes she would kneeling by her bed giving thanks and quietly saying her prayers. She oozes compassion and is one on the most non-judgemental persons I have had the privilege of meeting. She walks the talk, her faith is resolute..and her deep Christian faith is what guides her life and feeds her soul.
Everyday Delana, my Kiva Fellow partner, and I took early morning power walks up the gentle hills and surrounding countryside. We passed by numerous fields of tall, leafy green maize, willowy okra, and copious papaya trees that seemed to be growing anywhere…from where the birds and winds placed their seeds. Being an avid gardener, I was craving for some “green”…it was “nectar” for my soul and very healing.
Nana, the executive director of Kraban, intuitively and correctly understood that we needed the “calm and hearth” of his mother’s place in the country…to re-energize our batteries. Grandma Rose takes care of three younger grandchildren/cousins; Corby 8 years, Emmanuel 7 years, and lastly, Rebecca, a trainee nurse in her early twenties. Fortunatly for us, both Rebecca and Grandma Rose were extraordinary cooks and prepared abundant “feasts” of tasty, delicious African food….red red, cassava, yam, fu fu, garri, etc. We had full bellies every day.
I have wonderful memories of life at Grandma Rose’s…spontaneously dancing together with our arms up in the air….she would watch me have a “private dance” whenever I got up from my laptop to take a “breather” to change my energy. Eventually, she succumbed and sometimes joined me, or both Delana and I, as we swung our hands in the air and danced to some soulful, foot stomping music on our i-pods. She loved it. It reminded her of her college days when they were required to dance…and in her words “be like a fairy.” The dancing energized us all…and gave us all a lot of joy. Even the little boys Emmanuel and Corby were joining in on the fun. It was contagious!
Running water for bathing and the toilet in Nsawam was challenging. We soon adapted. Emmanuel and Corby would bring buckets of water from the outside well to strip wash ourselves and leave water to flush the toilet. I was amazed how refreshed I would feel after my many strip washes with just a small bucket of water. Ever since my last trip to East Africa in the late 90’s, I thought I “got” the value of water; however, in Nsawam, I went to a much deeper level of appreciation and understanding.
We were sad to leave Grandma Rose’s refuge. As we drove away in our taxi, both waving good bye to each other, she was “lightly” dancing, letting us know she had not forgotten our joyful moments on the front porch together. It was her parting “gift” to us as we drove away.
hello from Ghana!
My name is Anne Sophie Breuning and i am a Kiva Fellow in Ghana. I have now been in Accra, Ghana for almost 72 hours and my jetlag is slowly wearing off. The air is hot and humid; the streets are crazy with no sidewalks, open sewers, a million honking cars, and street peddlers hawking everything from plastic spoons to Ghanaian soccer shirts. We are staying in the Osu district in the center of Accra at theMotel4.com – not to be confused with having any connection the internet since the hotel has no internet connection or website. Most places here are named God is Great, God is King and Trust in Him so names that have nothing to do with the business itself are quite common here.
Yesterday I went to my first field meeting to meet some of the Kiva clients – each fellow has to meet and journal about 15 clients per week. Since Kraben (Kiva partnership organization in Ghana) has only one official vehicle, we took tro-tro’s to the meeting. A tro-tro (also named by my fellow Kiva fellow Delana as a ‘sweat-sweat”) is a beaten up minivan (and not the cushy kind with DVD’s and comfy seats) with extra seats put into it. Yesterday I counted 16 adults in the first one and 17 adults and 2 kids in the second one – a tro-tro doesn’t leave its stop until it is “full” so the battle is to always find one that is almost full so you don’t get stuck waiting in the heat! The fare per person is about 25 – 40 cents – in Ghanaian cedis this is 2500 / 4000 – the currency is devaluing in about two weeks since it is becoming rather impractical to carry around a million cedis ($100US) in your purse. It feels like monopoly money when you are millionaire!
The first group meeting we went to was 3 tro-tro rides and a 20 min walk into the village to find the Addente Barrier Women’s Association who meet every Tuesday under the banyan tree. Our next group Abundant Grace was another 2 tro-tro rides away – they meet every Tuesday in one of the women’s stall’s that sells snacks and drinks. All of the women in each group have received 1 million cedi ($100) as their first initial loan and should cycle through to their second loan once they show steady repayment cycles of their first loan and some of the group members are on their 3 or 4 their loan cycle– as part of their training they receive basic book keeping skills and each woman has a bank book where each loan payment and repayment is recorded. The women are subdivided into smaller groups of about 5-7 and this smaller group is held responsible for the repayment if one member defaults on their loan – the interest rate on the loans received through Kiva’s partner Kraben is about 20% – this is relatively common for NGO micro finance programs – commercial micro finance that are beginning around the world typically charge more in the 40 – 50% range.
At Abu dent Grace I meet Agnes. Agnes is not sure how old she is, but she has birthed 10 children, 8 of whom are still alive and she has 13 grandchildren – 4 of whom still live with her today. Her husband deserted them 22 years ago and she has been taking care of her children alone since that time. She has been a member of Abundant Grace for 7 years and owns a “chopbary” (a stall that also has 3 or 4 tables to serve food). Though Agnes does speak some English (it is the official language in Ghana and all signs are posted in English) she speaks Twi and our conversation is facilitated through Millicent – a fantastic young woman who works for Kraban. Agnes has savings in the bank and wants to send her youngest son to vocational school so that he can learn to type – this will give him the opportunity to get a job in the government or a NGO like Millicent. When I comment on how impressed and humbled I am by Agnes’ feats in life, she laughs with a wide grin and says that is her duty as a mother – to take care of her children. I ask her if she thinks that they will take care of her when she is too old to work. She says she hopes so, but doesn’t want to put that burden on her children, so she plans to save for her retirement once she has paid for her son’s education. It is truly humbling to sit across from this woman and know that she supports her entire family on less per month than what I usually spend on a weekend in San Francisco….when I ask if she has any questions for me, she says that she wants Kiva lenders to know that she would re-invest more money in her business if she were given another loan!
My culture shock is competing with my jetlag to spin my head in more directions…the heat, crowded streets where any second I could be hit by one of the crazy drivers incessantly honking while yelling “Obroni, Obroni” (white person) to get me to buy something or take a cab or talk to them, the excitement in the village kids eyes when we blew up 3 beach balls for them to share amongst the 20 of them, the vibrant colors of women’s head dresses, the dust and soot in the back of my throat all converge on slight nausea and giddiness. One moment Delena (the other Kiva fellow who is an amazing 20 year old woman from North Carolina who has been here for 5 weeks) and I are dying laughing about cultural impressions and the next we have more questions than I ever thought possible. Today we are spending the day at the Golden Tulip aka the “Obroni” heaven – the only 4-star hotel in Accra. There is wireless Internet, a swimming pool and a reprieve from being Obroni! More on our adventures there later.
Africa is hard and I wonder if I am up for conquering it
Warriors of the Light…in Ghana
Takoradi, Western Region, Ghana
Waking up to the refreshing cool air and the morning cockerels crowing around 4:30…is Africa’s “alarm clock”…..not mine!
This is when most Ghanaians start to move around. It makes sense….it is the coolest part of the day. Similarly they are in bed around 9 p.m., having had dinner around 6 p.m. We are yet to get on this schedule…and love it when we do!
We are in Western Africa…..it takes getting used to.
We normally go into the field 2-4 days per week. Millicent, one of Kraban’s many outstanding staff members meets us at Sakoman Square for our field trips into the Greater Accra district. Three hours later, three tro tros, a communal taxi, followed by a hefty hike up a red dirt road, we arrive at the first of our four Tuesday group meetings scheduled for that day. The heat was in full force.
The field work is so exciting and uplifting. It is inspiring to walk into a group who are excited to see you…..and that they are deeply thankful for giving them a chance. The majority of Kraban’s loans are the “village banking” based on the Grameen Model. Many of the women’s groups in Greater Accra have been meeting for 2-7 years and you can feel the “bonds” that have evolved over time.
The regional Community development program is a critical partner in the successful delivery model for micro credit in Ghana. They go into the villages and educate the women on the value of the women’s groups. Many groups “pick up the gauntlet” and initiate themselves with officers, and savings book deposits are recorded at their weekly meetings. Once the group achieves a certain consistency and credibility, they can recommend themselves for loan applications through the micro credit network.
Kraban is one of the most popular micro credit NGO’s in Ghana. They have a slightly lower interest rate with an attractive, initial grace period on the first month’s repayment on the loan. Lastly, and more importantly, they have an outstanding business and life skills training program called T.E.A.C.H. that is experiential in nature. It provides women with the “missing” educational and business skills that many of them did not have access to when they were younger. I have been impressed with the significant impact this program is having on the lives of the women I have spoken to so far.
The field work in Greater Accra is challenging. None of the Kraban field workers own a car. Private cars are a rare private commodity, reserved for the most affluent in Ghana. The work is physically and emotionally demanding. It takes commitment to sustain the rigors and demands of field work in Accra. The Kraban staff, Nana, Kwame (alias “K”), Millicent, Mariam are exceptional. Each member I met have a profound, intuitive capacity to listen and honor their clients; the client’s “voices” were felt and heard. They are genuine. This deeper inner “connecting” is what really touched me. It is the ability to deeply connect with another….what I call the “common touch”……what Kipling in the poem “IF” wrote ……”never to loose the common touch.” This makes Kraban an extraordinary organization.
Despite the challenges of the field work in Greater Accra, I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to feel the “belly” of Kiva’s work. This is where the “rubber meets the road.” It is organizations like Kraban Support Foundation and Kiva’s other micro finance partners who actualize Kiva’s vision…they are the true “Warriors of the Light.”
Bob Marley in Ghana…
I hear Bob Marley beckoning me: “Rise up this morning. Smile at the rising sun.” Rhythmic reggae vibrates in my head, waking me up. My hand parts the seashell curtain-door. Inside, red, yellow, and green stripes of the Ghanaian flag decorate every wall. I glance down at my cell phone, as I belly up to the bar. It is 10 am.
Every Monday morning at Point Five Bar, 28 members of the Dwen Hwe Kan Group meet to repay loans, discuss business, and socialize. In the Fante language, Dwen Hwe Kan means, “With every step you take, consider the future.” The dynamic support system of group lending encourages each member to patronize fellow member’s businesses. Point Five Bar is owned by Amelia Avokliya, a member of the group. I am here to interview Amelia and the other entrepreneurs. This is the only reason I am at a bar at 10 am, I promise.
I sit down with Ema Saa Imoro. Naturally, Ema is somewhat timid of the obroni sitting in front of her. Obroni is a completely friendly term for outsider, or white girl in my case. I try to break the ice with a rather sad attempt to speak Twi. I’ve mastered, “How are you?” and “I love you” and “Where is the bathroom?” Most Ghanaians are quite amused when I string all three phrases together. “Wo wo te sen? Me do wo. Me pese mi ko jun so?” Ema chucked to her sister sitting next to us, “Silly Obroni.”
An hour into my conversation with Ema, I am dizzy with humility. Ema is a widow and the proud mother of four daughters who all live with her. Ten years ago, Ema’s mother died and she dutifully raises her four younger siblings who also live with her. It took me a minute to fully absorb this noble feat. But wait, that’s not all. Ema also cares for her 80 year old father. Every day at 3 am, Ema begins cooking the wakye she sells in the village of Effiakuma. I picture her waking up in the morning–eternally tired yet infectiously happy, quietly strong yet magnetically warm, perpetually giving yet unaware of her own selflessness. I backtrack a step to verify what I was hearing. “Ema, you take care of nine people?” Ema didn’t even bat an eyelash; “These people are my own, so I always find a way.” Sadly, our time together came to an end.
Next in line to talk to is Kiva client Ramatu Kadre. Ramatu sells cosmetics and hair supplies. Ramatu is the proud mother of seven children who all live with her. Ramatu’s husband works in the port of Takoradi, but sadly he has been out of work for one year after a heavy container fell on his arm, leaving it severely broken. Ramatu is the sole breadwinner, yet she somehow manages to also care for her sister’s 18 year old and her 25 year old daughter’s five month old baby. Like Ema, Ramatu financially supports nine people.
At times, people become desensitized by all the sadness, war, crime, and injustice in the world. As a Kiva Fellow in Ghana, I hope to never become desensitized by all soul-baring determination I witness with each Kiva client I meet.
Jacki in Ghana
Hi…my name is Jacki Marshall, and I am from Charlotte, North Carolina working with the remarkable Kraban Support Foundation in Ghana. It is my first time in West Africa, and I was very excited about coming…..it is very different from East Africa, an area I am more familiar with. I shall be sending weekly posts back to the Kiva site, and I would love for you to join me on this amazing journey……Get ready for the ride…..I am!
The pre-departure was interesting. Where was I going to stay? How was I going to get my visa managed fifteen days before my departure….I did not feel comfortable being parted from my passport so close to my departure. Fortunately, it is possible to receive a 30 day visa at the airport upon arrival for $100. I went for this option knowing I could extend it later.
As providence would have it….. I had a family to stay with when I first arrived; I had met the daughter Regina in Charlotte quite by accident six weeks before I was leaving for Ghana. The last Sunday before my departure Regina and Rachel from Congo came over to my house in Charlotte, North Carolina and cooked a wonderful Ghanaian dish “red red”……and fried plantain…. I was hooked!
I was “on go”…..after a short two day hiatus in England visiting my family, I took off with Ghana International Airlines…six hours later we touched down in Accra, only one hour behind GMT.
It took nearly two hours to get to my new home where I would be staying with Regina’s mother, Ami. Two to three hours to get anywhere in Accra is quite typical as we were to later find out. Accra is one of the largest, most congested urban cities I have experienced. With over six million people, it keeps “bulging” as more and more people move in from the country seeking the “bright city lights”…. and a better life. All the streets are lined up with small kiosks, tables, peddlers carrying their goods on their heads……all “squeaking out” a living, mostly by small businesses, such as food kiosks, fresh vegetable stands, small provision kiosks, coconut stands, small drink stands, mobile phone “top ups,” where you add time to your mobile phones. Trading is the economy; “Each buys a little from each other.”
I found the heat challenging. I had never been this HOT in my life, and I have been fortunate to travel to many subtropical countries prior to Ghana. This was the hottest yet. Night time is the worst……because 60-70% of the time Accra does not have power…and therefore, no ceiling fans. No sweat lodges needed here!
My host Ami lives in Osadakaye, one of the more, densely populated districts of Greater Accra. Her nickname is “auntie,” and she is 67 with four grown children of her own. Three live abroad, one in London and two in the USA, one of which is Regina, my new found friend. She presently takes care of three school age “cousins”–Priscilla (15), Leticia (13) and little Jason who is 2 years. When I got there Jason was just getting over a cough and malaria. Ami supports them, pays for their school fees; in return, they help out around the house. Priscilla and Leuticia wake up at 5:30 am and have chores to do before going to school at 7:30 am. This continues after school. They usually cook the evening meal and help run “Aunties” drinks bar that is in front of her house. The drink bar closes at 9 pm. It is finally time for bed.
This extended family arrangement is very typical. Caring for extended family members is a cultural norm in Ghana. Ghanaians expect it from each other, particularly if a family member appears to be doing well. Contributing factors might be the death or illness of a parent, but more commonplace are the financial challenges a particular family may face. I find it a very attractive characteristic of the Ghanaian culture.
The power situation is serious. The power is out 60-70% of the time, and it has had a huge economic impact on the country (and our journaling!). Many small and medium sized businesses have gone out of business. The power outages started in October 2006. Apparently, the hydro-electric turbines were placed at too high a level, in the event of a low water level, which is now the case. It has made life very challenging. Fortunately, the power outages are equitably distributed through out Accra. The power situation makes us “plan ahead”……we make sure the cell phone, laptops, camera chargers etc. are CHARGED just in case.
To give you a couple of “windows” into life without power, we have attempted to download information four times in two days from an internet café, only to be told three times there is no power, and on the last attempt when there was power, network access was slow, and to come back later!
Similarly, in another instance, I wanted to send an email to Delana my Kiva Fellow in Ghana before she left Houston. She was joining me four days later. Whilst I was in Nana’s (Kraban’s Executive Director) office writing it, there was no power….then after about three hours, magically, we both heard the light, slow buzz of the power coming back on. What a lovely sound! We jumped on the internet and we were connected. I shall never take my internet access for granted ever again. One of the many, many life appreciating insights…. that continue to unfold.
