Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
This summer I traveled to Ghana with a group of four students from the university of Iowa
and we went on a five week ‘needs assessment’ trip in a small village called Kobreti about
five hours north of the capital, Accra, in western Africa- in Ghana.
Our advisor was Craig Just from the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department.
The purpose of the assessment trip was to get an idea of the village and some of the
things that could possibly help them develop as a community.
Our two major facilitators on the trip were Benjamin Kusi and then Moses. Both of them
were able to take us around the village and help us interact with the locals. Most people
in the village only speak Twi, the local language in Ghana, so without them it would be very
hard to communicate.
Nate and I were assigned to the engineering aspects of the assessment- quality of water,
is their water making them sick, or not- just trying to find out as much information as
we could about the community from like an infrastructure point of view.
There’s two centrally locate boreholes located in the village of Kobreti, and those are currently
providing all the water to the village, and so it’s very important that this water is
safe for them to drink.
So we’re hanging out in Kobreti and all of the sudden a big truck shows up and starts
to take a lot of water for drinking, for a farm nearby, for the goats, and for the kitchen,
and evidently for a lot of other people too.
…and from an engineering standpoint that’s a water supply issue that we would have never
even thought of had we not been there and observed that, that given day.
There were sixty-nine families that we accounted for in our surveys, asking pretty simple questions
to try get an idea of the overall health and wellness in the community.
Where they get their water, do they treat their water, would they be interested in treating
their water, things like that, just trying to get a feel for the village and what they
would be open to.
So we wrote down a bunch of data, I took a family photo, and simple first aid, public
health education as well.
I didn’t know what to expect when I went for my first day at the district hospital.
Just the manpower of the hospital was the first initial shock, for me. And because of
that shortage of manpower I was basically a functioning physician for the time that
I was there- what I said was the final say.
So that was a little scary, but I was OK with it because I knew the reason for it was that
they just didn’t have enough people to help, so at least I was someone.
A big deal for us was to not rush things. We really wanted to take our time and develop
a real relationship with the community.
One thing that’s pretty interesting about Ghana, and places like it, is that they do
have a lot of very different foods than what we would eat here.
One of personal favorites is Fufu. The best I could describe it would be…kind of a doughish
type material, submerged in a spicy soup.
…and now he seems to savor Fufu- is that true Thomas?? (Laughs) Thomas loves his Fufu.
We had an opportunity to make Fufu…
…it’s quite the process! The first couple times you see it you have no idea how the
lady still has a hand, because it’s very well-coordinated!
We had a final closing ceremony, full village, the chief elder was there, Thomas, Nate, Sara
& myself; Benjamin translating, Moses translating as well.
We had bought some traditional Ghanaian fabric and had a seamstress close by where we were
living make us traditional Ghanaian dresses and shirts.
…it was sort of a way for us to say that we felt like part of their community.
Then, finally, at the very end, this was an opportunity for us to give those family photos
to them as sort of a thank-you for the time that they had spent with us.
There’s very few mirrors, and so people haven’t really seen pictures, or what they
look like. Once the first few pictures were handed out, and everyone realized what was
going on, that ‘we have a family picture’ and everyone was just huddling around, ecstatic
and huge smiles.
It was nice, when the business end of the trip was all finished and we were there for
such a long time that we did have a few days to just kind of enjoy Ghana.
We were able to go to the Museum of the Slave Castle, and then were able to go to a national
reserve where there’s a rope bridge that winds across the canopy of one of the major
forests there.
After our time in the village, we were just…trying to wind down and reflect on what we’d seen,
and try to brace ourselves for coming back to the states.
I took a lot of things out of Ghana, but I think the main thing was just the change in
perspective going abroad brings you- just to see some people have such difficult lives,
for just water and food…
I think the biggest thing for me coming back is just appreciating a lot of the benefits
that we have here in the U.S.
You know, you go to these places, and they don’t have that much. But you meet people,
and they’re happy; maybe happier than people here. You know, they’re very friendly, and
it’s a very good feeling. They really welcome you.
It was very much a family feeling, in the village and then where we were staying. They
called me ‘Sister Sara’ and gave hugs, and were just so excited every time they saw
us.
I didn’t expect to feel like I was leaving my family when I left. Over five weeks time,
you don’t expect to have another family, but that’s what it felt like. �