That frustrating moment...

That frustrating moment (or month) in the development worker’s career 

Yep, it’s happening. The honeymoon stage is over and I’m hitting walls and falling on to my butt in the dirt. The paths I thought I was going to explore are closed or I’ve realized I haven’t even made it far enough to enter them. But let me give you some exciting updates before I delve into the frustrations.

Wow. It’s been almost a month since I last blogged... time is flying here. I cannot believe it’s been over 3 months since we landed in Ghana. I also cannot believe that Christmas is just 5 weeks away! Normally, around this time, I would be preparing to sing Christmas carols as the snow flurries fell and Pennsylvania cuisine would transition to hearty winter foods. Because I’ve never lived in the tropics during fall/winter, I’ve been missing those key aspects of my favorite time of year: fall colors, pumpkin stuff, apples, cool weather, scarves, sleeping under several blankets, and fires in the fire place. However, I have to be content with the hot, sunny weather here and rejoice in the little things... like green beans!

The “minor” growing season is coming to an end here in Ghana, as we end the second rainy season within the coming month. Then comes the dry season: meaning more sun, more heat, and more dust. Right now, our 4-H garden is producing some small green beans, planted about 2 months ago. While there aren’t enough to market them, 4-H gave the first harvested handful to their white advisor yesterday – and man did those green vegetables make her evening! Vegetables are not often eaten fresh/semi-fresh here but are rather cooked down into stew or sauce. I’m super excited for when the lettuce comes! Plus, there may be some orange sweet potatoes ready for our AgriCorps Thanksgiving dinner next week! #thelittlethings

Well, the strike sort of ended about 2 weeks ago, so we’ve only missed 2 weeks of the 13 (ish) weeks of the first term. I’ve enjoyed being in the classroom again and am thankful for all the work that got done on the pig barn construction during the strike! It’s looking pretty snazzy with the walls and roof up. We’re almost ready for the pigs!

Check out the splendid 4-H Enterprise Gardens and Piggery Barn (we had just weeded the garden, hence it looks so nice)

In other news, Saviour 4-H was able to go on an educational field trip during the strike. We traveled to the next town over (about 7 miles away) to visit the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG). The 45 students who attended got to learn about the major cocoa varieties, see coffee trees (something that made the white people very excited), experience different cocoa seed fermentation methods, and visit the “flavor lab” where the wafting aroma of chocolate filled the air as they did some quality tests on the final product. If you want to learn more about cocoa, check out Dustin’s latest blog post.

Various Cocoa and Shea varieties grown in Ghana. Little did I know, shea is a completely different plant from cocoa, but its butter is often used as a filler in chocolate/candy bars (without you knowing)

4-H Saviour members on the trip to CRIG

Traditional sun-drying method for cocoa seeds

In other obroni news, the AgriCorps team got to see some pretty cool agriculture lately. We traveled to the Ghanaian version of the mid-west by visiting the African Atlantic Enterprise Farms in Afram Plains (region of Ghana around the Volta lake). The huge farm has several pieces of modern agricultural equipment not often found in Ghana: of these is a massive pivot irrigation boom that pumps water from the lake to irrigate the 40 acres under cultivation. Although the farm is still in its development stage, it is a very interesting approach of how Africa can capitalize on local resources (i.e. a lake and irrigation system) to maximize rural agricultural production.

The first thing that caught our eyes as we approached the farm... you'd think you were in Kansas, not Ghana

One of the village cattle, grazing as the sun set over Volta lake

This is Trip, the Ghanaian mascot of the Afram plains farm - he made my weekend even more enjoyable as he accompanied me on all of my explorations of the farm and surrounding area (note: I miss my dog, Bella)

Another exciting event was traveling to Kumasi (the second largest city in Ghana, behind Accra) for FAGRO (the Food and Agriculture Expo of Ghana) this past week. With over 30 vendors, some of which seem to be great partners for 4-H Ghana and AgriCorps, we had a successful trip. We also were able to tour a bit of the city, eat some good food, and stay in air conditioned hotel rooms for a couple nights! It was definitely a great get away.

I don't think I'll ever have another blog post with so much JD Green in it, but this still was exciting to see! John Deere has a great vision for African agriculture, and they're patiently waiting for mechanization to take hold.

A nice evening view of Kumasi from the walk to our hotel

Now time for the deeper reflections:

Change is hard. Period. Even if it is something small, humans usually have a difficult time adapting to change. Now think about coming into a completely new culture and trying to implement something that has never even been considered before. Sure, at first people want to change their habits because they are excited to have a foreigner working with them. But then they realize I am just another human with different ideas and they soon lose interest in change: so things start slowing down, going backwards, or hitting me in the face. Skills I thought I was sharing with the 4-H members have disappeared and I’ve begun to question my purpose here.

But then I realize this is an occurrence for anyone in development: change is gradual and patience is more than a virtue - it is essential for success. Perseverance, too, is a requirement to pursue these long-term changes. Although I find myself often discouraged after being in my community for over 2 months, I must remind myself that I still have 7 more months and these people have a lot of potential. The piggery project isn’t going as I envisioned it, club meetings are still disorganized, people aren’t keeping records, and teaching still seems to be about using the cane to subdue “disobedient” youth. Some of my goals have been met, but so many more sit untouched, taunting me as though they will be unattainable. Sure, it is discouraging, but I picked this career. As many of you may know, I am normally a results-driven person, but results look really different here: I must remember that patience and time are required for them to come. Then again, do I really need to see results to feel successful or of value? My mind tells me that I do, but my heart and faith tell me that I should not feel that way. My value doesn’t lie in what I do, but rather who I am and who I love. Development work isn’t about projects or products; it’s about people and processes. I’m not really in the business of agricultural development. I’m in the business of loving and investing in people: while they may be frustratingly different from myself and slow to develop the skills I know will help them, I must be patient and graceful in working with my community.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm just learning to live where I am.
Sometimes its the little things that get you through the day... like helping John fetch water when I went to visit him. I'm thankful that I don't have to carry 4 gallon buckets of water on a 5 minute walk up a hill on my head every day like he does! But it still was a fun experience!