Moo Tay Hanya (Let’s go on a Journey or ‘Go Big or Go Home’)

Tamale is only one of the areas in which YA operates. Alex and I got the chance to accompany my aunt up to the Upper East region of Ghana, into Bolga(tanga) and Navrongo to get a better grasp of the organization's reach within more rural areas of the country…

ROADTRIPPP

Our Journey from Tamale to Bolga (heading North)

We left Tamale bright at early around 7AM for Bolga, bumping along to a random Dolly Parton/Tracey Chapman/Elton John mix tape (needless to say, I was NOT the DJ). Against a looping landscape of giant anthills and mud huts we got the shock of our lives when we came across a couple of nomads resting with their two CAMELS, yes CAMELS.

 

Chilling on top of a camel :)


They were accompanied by their handlers, two French-speaking merchants from Burkina Faso (just north of Ghana) who had travelled down South to buy some goods and then return home. They were ridiculously nice and let us take loads of pics! Although I’ve lived in Kuwait for 10 years, this was the closest I’d ever gotten to one, let alone sitting on it J Wicked! Great start to the trip.

 

We spent our time in Bolga with the YA regional representative Conrad. We visited more students who had been through the vocational training program, however this time we visited significantly more young women. Many of them had started apprenticeships as seamstresses or hairdressers and were now self-employed and contributing significantly to their family’s income. There was an interesting mixture of single and married women from different backgrounds, yet all were supporting young children, another common trend in African society. All of them were quite young too (as YA beneficiaries are a max of 25 years old) and stated that their experience with YA had given them financial independence to be functional caregivers for their children in the absence of a male companion or sometimes, in spite of it.

                  

an open traditional iron. heated charcoal is used to keep it hot



      

 

Obiya, a YA apprentice perfecting her skills



Manual sewing machines

 



3 generations of pigs



After spending the night at my aunt Agnes’ relatives' place in Navrongo (that’s 7 more! – 42) we started off the next day (Friday) by visiting members of YA’s second stage of intervention to end the cycle of poverty – parents. This consisted of local community groups of single and widowed mothers who had come together to form a sort of co-operative business/support group. YA supports their endeavours at a business venture so that they can use their generated income to provide for their children's health and educational needs. This group had started a pig farming business where they raised and sold young piglets in the market. The selling of livestock is a profitable market in developing areas such as Ghana, which still has a strong agricultural basis. YA has supported 5 similar groups in the area through the delivery of executive training sessions in group business management, the provision of some building materials and the access to veterinary specialists to ensure the health of the animals. While these groups are still in the process of becoming fully operational, they are poised for massive economic returns that will certainly benefit the community and their families.

 

Members of the single mothers/widows YA supported co-operative



 

Textbook Ceremony

Our last amazing stop was to drop off textbooks at a JSS (Jr. High School) in the rural community. In Ghana students write exams before progressing from primary to JSS and from JSS to SSS (High School). The students we visited were preparing for exams in April and still had not received science textbooks for the 2011/12 academic year! Absolutely unreal compared to what my educational experience was like at their age! We were able to come together with the Regional Assistant Director in charge of Supervision from the Ghana Education Service (Ministry of Education), the Headmaster and the village Chief, to present the YA funded textbooks to the students. (pics, vid of chief). In the local dialect, the Chief said that YA had essentially given students the educational equivalent of a fishing pole and line, so that they would have the ability to learn and go further than they had previously been able to.
 

JSS 3 student handed textbook





The fear in my eyes is real :)

Tired, exhausted, ready to fall asleep standing up, but not until we made one last touristy jaunt at Paga, Ghana’s local crocodile farm J. It’s basically a small body of water that harbours a (growing) family of tame crocodiles that people can come see, feed and pet, all for a nominal fee of course ;) I’d been before with my family but it was so much fun to watch Alex, the newbie take a go at it. It was like standing on the glass floor at the CN Tower, you weren’t in any REAL danger but there was always the excitement of the threat of it! The crocs were mostly so tame because they were fed so regularly by their trainers, take a look.



In a few short days (and that entire week) we had touched on all three areas of YA involvement; the youth themselves, their parents and providers and the community at large. Now the real fun begins as we’ll get to learn more about facilitating the obstacles and celebrating the triumphs each level faces in working to create a better tomorrow for the youth!