KUMASI, GHANA
From our understanding, parents in northern Ghana send their
daughters south to find jobs due to drought, while others end up in Kumasi in
an attempt to escape early marriages and teen pregnancies. They born babies and
those babies grow up emulating their mothers’ destiny- trade & little to no
education. It is axiomatic that this status quo will inevitably produce a
stunted generation in Ghana’s future leaders.
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| Dr. Moore & his new girlfriends |
Our Blessing O. Foundation (BOF) team in Kumasi is simply
outstanding. Every week they go into these communities where young ladies
congregate after a strenuous day’s work of carrying loads on their head from
the market to people’s cars. Just to find a place to lay their heads to rest,
they rent space from a landlord by paying 2 Ghana CDs per
night, approx. 53 cents, about $16dollars/month, $189/year. This space is
scanty and primarily consists of wooden boards for beds. Now imagine this- you
made just enough that day to feed yourself once, so in dejection you come back
only to be confronted by a large male demanding rent. You’re desperate and in a
frazzle go asking to borrow money from your neighbors, who are leery in giving
you a hand out because this isn’t your first or seventh time in asking. Out of
sheer desperation you succumb to his alternative plan- sex as payment. After
the 4th intercourse, you not only conceive your child, but also
contract a sexually transmitted disease. There are no ways around circumventing
this vicious cycle. All are in despondency, except for one large male.
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| A visit to the Muslim community of young ladies |
During one of his lectures, Dr. Moore illustrated emotional
trauma by using this metaphor- you get into an accident and discover that
multiple parts of your body were impacted because they are internally
connected: your lungs punctured, bones broken, ligaments torn and so on. The
girls will end up fearing men, bodies physically worn out from the long hours
standing and carrying heavy objects, normalizing suffering, acting out by
abusing others more subservient to them, the list goes on and on. The severity of
trauma cannot be mitigated by placing well-intended bandages and calling that a
solution. The situation demands full
attention. And I’m tired of Africans using the gift of our innate resilience as
an answer to what to do when these things happen, especially to young ones. We mustn’t
always suffer and smile, thank you Fela.
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| Ministering at a local Ghanaian church. he brought a powerful word that day |
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| The crew; our diligent GH coordinator- far right |
After meeting with high-level government officials and other
NGOs, one thing is clear- all stakeholders are overwhelmed by the situation at
hand, and only present partial solutions, most of which are short term and in-comprehensive, except for Matilda, a solo Ghanaian NGO superstar with
extensive research, who presented viable long-term solutions.
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| Press conf at the inaugural ceremony; President with our fabulous GH team |
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| Mama Theresa- Our incredible cook. It was love at first taste |
The presence and expertise of our stellar Program Design
consultant, Dr. Moore, proved to be a backbone not only for this trip, but also
for subsequent ones to come. Credibility is important when establishing an organization
in a new context, especially in a country not of your own. When interviewed by
the press, Dr. Moore readily backed up BOF’s agenda and strategy, and in that
moment I felt the securing of our work there in Ghana.
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| BOF President thanking God |
So, where do we go from
here?
