What is one supposed to think? (take 2)

Two things in the past week that have happened:

I have been asking myself why I am ready to invest my hard earn cash into some Shea Butter processing somewhere in Northern Ghana? As I write this the first building is been completed and things are moving ahead of schedule. I know that what I am doing will not change the system or make "systemic and disruptive change"s as George would say.

In part it’s because of the personal connection I developed with the Taha community. It has to do also with their response to be challenge I gave them. In the end there are maybe thousands of small communities in more remote areas that deserve a hand. Maybe they have even more pressing needs. Taha is my surrogate Ghanaian village, my family here on the Dark Continent. From a development point of view it may not make much sense but much of what is being done in the development sector doesn’t make much sense anyway.

It’s also in part because of my own African experience. After spending a full month in Toronto “learning” about development and all the different ways we are at EWB making changes. After spending the past four months on my own change project and observing what all the other EWBers are doing; I want to make concrete changes. I found my Dorothy and I want to do something that will make her life better. I have seen the impact of similar projects on a community and it doesn’t solve their problems but it helps and makes their life a little better.

And thirdly, all of the above could be just a pile of bull droppings, perhaps I am just being self indulgent.

While in discussion with the 5 member, executive the subject of the Secretary came up. Abdulai will be the interim Secretary and I didn’t understand why. They explained to me that they couldn’t find a woman qualified for the job, a woman who could read and write. You hear it right people; a village of 800 souls and there is no woman or young girl who can read or write. How on earth could this be? Taha is a stone's throw from Tamale the biggest city in Northern Ghana. It’s a small village with no electricity but already under attack from urban sprawl. I could write in length about education, or the lack thereof, or it’s necessity but all that I can think is the how the hell is this possible?

I took Siera to the Tamale Teaching Hospital on Monday for a follow up on some of her tests. The attending physician did his consultation on a table with a few plastic chairs in the middle of the mens ward. He made it clear to Siera that she should never be admitted to this hospital, it’s not a healthy place. We sat there between a few beds with patients in them and it took some time. When the doctor finally came he apologized profusely for making us wait.

There is a man who came to the hospital some time ago to be treated but didn’t have insurance. He was prescribed medications but his family having problem raising the money ($15 Canadian) only bought half of the medication. But after taking the meds he felt fine for a while. He came to the hospital that evening because he got sick again. He waited longer then he should have because the family had difficulties raising the money for the consultation ($6 Canadian). As we were sitting there he was already on oxygen and without a special med ($15 Canadian) to reduce the swelling of his brain he would die within an hour. The family now was struggling not only to get the money but to find the meds since it seems that everyone in Tamale was out. While sitting there during Siera’s consultation I couldn’t help peeking once in a while at the curtain down the hall with the dying man behind.

After the consultation we drove back to Gumany and by the time I went to grab some dinner the man was dead. I have a very hard time driving by someone with a flat tire on the side of the road, or by someone stuck in a snow bank. It made me feel that I just drove by and didn’t stop and yet there is nothing I could have done. The money in my pocket was useless. From the ignorance of that person in not understanding the initial treatment, the constraint that getting the equivalent of $15 Canadian and the nonavailability of a fairly common medication; the outcome was cast.

Ghana has been beautiful but it also has been hard. Walking by and seeing but choosing not to see. Knowing but forgetting that we know. Remembering just enough so that we can carry on and do our job. I am glad that I am leaving soon because this place could syphon the marrow out of my soul. Maybe I am just not cut out for this place.

I am on my last sprint to the finish line; I have to focus on what I came here to do. I have to stop looking around. In my free time I can play with pieces of wood, concrete, small diesel engine, grinding mill and build stuff; that is something I can do. It feels that it is the only real thing that I know how to do, building stuff.

Who knows, maybe some day a few young girls from Taha will be able to make it to High School? Maybe the Shea Butter processing will help? Just not this year.

Rock & Roll Gushiegu and the Malaria Blues

Three weekends ago I was preparing for my visit to Gushiegu to spend some time with Director Joseph. I don’t know what happened that weekend; I may have got hit by a chronic case of laziness. I could barely get out of bed and get the regular stuff done, like the laundry generated by 5 days of being on the road on the motto.

On Monday morning after packing my stuff I waited for the clinic to open and got tested for Malaria and parasites. The two previous nights I had a short period of high fever, hit the 102 in the middle of the night for a few hours. Then it went back to normal for the rest of the day. I have to mention that I take my temperature often. It’s a tell sign of Malaria and Typhoid Fever. About every bacterial or parasites infections will have the same set of similar symptoms, fever eliminates many options. The oddity with my temperature is that it always registers low. At first I thought it was the calibration of my $10 digital thermometer but after comparing with other thermometers it appears that I am always in the 97.1 to 97.7 degree C range. As opposed to the normal 98.6 C.

Maybe this is why I start sweating before everybody else??? Anyhow I tested negative to everything.

After getting a negative on the entire battery of tests; I hit the dusty trail. I made it to Gushiegu just in time to find out that my Director had been call for a meeting in Tamale and was leaving. Trying to salvage the situation I manage to tag along his MIS officer and get some insight on the District. The next day I went out with one of the extension agent, I least I could spend time getting a good feel for the District. The first night at the guest house, no fever and I got great sleep. Second night, Tuesday, I got the fever and barely slept. So on Wednesday I went to the Gushiegu Hospital to get tested again.

If you are sick, or healthy, the hospital is probably the last place you want to be. The waiting areas were just overcrowded with people sitting on the floor. By the look of it they were just camping waiting to be care for. Fortunately paying cash accelerated things; Paying for the initial consultation, getting the initial consultation, paying for the tests, getting the tests, getting the tests results, paying for the medications, getting the medications, only took 6 hours. Meanwhile people who came before me were still waiting to see a physician. Infants with severe diarrhoea had accident on the floor. Someone would wipe it with a dry cloth and 5 minutes later there would be someone sitting on the same spot. 

One of the waiting area, Gushiegu Hospital.

 I tested +1 for Malaria, which means it was in the early stage. If you are +2 it is very serious, +3 you’ll probably die. The doctor wanted to keep me in for 24 hours and I just refused. I just wanted to get my meds and go back to the Guest House without touching anything. Although I got started right away on the medication my condition kept getting worse. For the rest of that day and the next I just couldn’t get out of bed. Zachary, the innkeeper, made sure that I had food and water at all time. He even did a run to the Chemical Dealer (pharmacist) to get me some re hydration salts and help me to the bathroom a few times.

By Friday morning I was back on my feet. I packed, fed myself and finally got to spend 3 hours with the Director. The ride back home was uneventful except for the many breaks I took along the way to rest and rehydrate in the shade. It took me a while but I made it home safe and before dark.

This is Africa and we get sick. Sometimes it’s really bad, sometimes it’s just a pain in the ass; there are always cheap drugs available to fix the wide array of ailments we can host. But we get sick. You do all the right things; apply copious amount of bug repellent on your body, religiously use the mosquito net, wear long leg pants and long sleeve shirt at night. But you still can get Malaria. We try to eat the right “safe” food and drink the good water but we still end up with diarrhoea and bacterial infections.

As we speak Siera just finished her Malaria treatment, the second in the past month. Marielle was treating hers a few weeks back, Binnu last week. I am just starting to feel better from a severe case of the runs; my first one since my Malaria bout. It wasted my Wednesday and half of my Thursday. By Saturday I felt much better… I could list the ones from the team who got sick in the past month, one way or another, but it would include just about everyone. Maybe there is something we can do better? What can we do better?

Or maybe that’s just the way it is. It’s just where we are.

Africa is beautiful and exciting Mistress, exotic, full of surprises; but she is a demanding one.

Making Shea Butter Part 2:

Things have progressed drastically since the last time I wrote about the women group. I went back a few days after giving them the 100 GHC and they had already processed the first batch of butter. They had turned a net profit of 20 GHC. It seems like a lot of work for this little money but they were very happy with it.

So they can make a profit, humble but still a profit.

The mixing all done by hand

 I gave them another 400 GHC so they can have a bigger working capital and make bigger batches and be more effective. Now the group is up to 60 women and the energy is just intense. As of today they have increased their net profit to around 350 GHC. Essentially in a few weeks they could reimburse me the initial $500 and have some working capital to keep on going.

Cooking the Shea oil to remove the excess water.As it colls off it will take a creamy texture

Meanwhile I connected with Walesu an independent project coordinator. His work is mainly with the Illich Family Foundation. He acts as the project manager and liaison for the Foundation when they sponsor the building of a school or other facilities. He also has a good working relationship with the Taha community; he was the project manager for a school the Foundation build in the village. He is also involved with different Shea processing facilities. With the support of different NGO they have set up processing plants, train the women groups and also have acted as quality control to ensure the produced butter meets international standards.

Abdulai and 2 elders from to women group

A small diesel engine drive the crusher and the mill. If you want to change tool you just move the strap.

 Together we worked out what it would take to build a processing facility with the mill and all. We are still working on the details but it will be over 11000 GHC ($7500 Can.). Meanwhile Karie went back to Canada all excited about the project. She dusted off the rolodex and start contacting wholesaler of cosmetic ingredients; she is getting some traction. In her past life she had a small manufacture of bath products.

The store room for the final product. The black bags are filled with butter. Next it needs to be package in 25 KG boxes.

Last weekend we took 3 of the leaders of the women group to another town where the women have set up shop 30 years ago. They produce on average 1000 Kilos of butter a month that they make for Body Shop. They show us around in details the process they use. They talked about the importance of consistency and quality control. They talked in length of what it did to their community. The women were so impressed and so excited. When they went back to the village and share with the other women of the group all hell broke loose.

They reeeeeaaaalllllyyyy want to do this.

So here’s what I told them:

1-     If they form an official group with a charter and a bank account (in Ghana they can officially register a group and it enables them to do business)

2-     If they get the support of the chief and the chief is ready to give the group the land they need

3-     If the men of the community commit to provide the labour to build the facility

4-     If the woman group commits, as the facility comes on line, to bring their production standards to meet export regulations

5-     If they commit to the training that Walesu will provide

I will find the money.

I just receive a txt on Monday morning and the chief has officially given the land to the women. The men have committed to the building. The executive of the group is in place and Abdulai is part of the executive as the community liaison. They are working on the official papers and the bank account.

We already bought the roasters; they should be delivered to the village as we speak. We are buying some of the other equipment that can be an immediate net benefit for production. Mostly small things like the proper mixing bowls. Since the price of the nuts is likely to rise because of the season we are looking at securing 5,000 to 10,000 KG of nuts to enable them to keep producing for the local market till next July. When I return we’ll work out the final sequence of events for acquiring the mill and the construction and the final budget. We also have to account for ongoing operating costs.

Example of a drying rack in the back and a washing rack in the front. The fence prevents animals like goats to contaminate the site.

 The normal interest for a loan in Ghana is around 28%. I suspect that the total amount including the working capital will be around 15,000 GHC ($11,000 Can.). Our agreement with them is for 10%. It is a decent return if it works but there are substantial risks attached to it.  Ghana is a little far to look after an investment.

The group getting debriefed after the visit.

Until they are fully set up and trained they will keep supplying the local market. We are looking at some of the aggregators like the Body Shop. We are also looking at the Canadian markets; we have a few wholesalers who are interested. The preliminary costing of the different transports and fees indicate that it would be a viable “cottage” business.

So I told Karie to get my sock out from under the mattress and get a thick pile of US dollars to Olivier; my son is coming for a visit on the 15^th. It will be more efficient than using the ATM, 400 GHC at a time.

The game is on.

Dom