Go Back to Your Roots - Kumasi

Go Back to Your Roots - Kumasi, Ghana

Although Donn was born in his uncle's clinic in Florence, Oregon, he spent six of his first eight years of life in Kumasi, Ghana. Jeff was born in a clinic in Kumasi. Those of you who are acquainted with Jeff know that his middle name is Kwame, "boy born on Saturday," in the Twi language. Donn's parents, Don and Sylvia, served as Lutheran missionaries and started Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, in the Kwadaso Estates neighborhood of Kumasi.

Coincidentally, Donn's brother, Jeff, and his wife, Tini, are volunteering, for a year in Kumasi, for Project Peanut Butter http://www.projectpeanutbutter.org/ , preparing the factory for production of RUTF (ready to use therapeutic food) for severely malnourished children.

So we headed back to Ghana (Donn and Jeff's roots) for part of our Christmas holiday!

We took the Nigeria bus once again to Accra, where Jeff and Tini were spending some time taking care of business transactions. The day-long trip wasn't nearly as harrowing the second time around, but Donn left his passport on the bus after we arrived in Accra late Tuesday night! For a few frantic hours, we worried about all of the issues that have to be taken care of when one loses a passport in a foreign country. Ready to make a police report, get new passport photos, find the US embassy in Accra before noon, and prepare ourselves for an unknown amount of time getting all of our ducks in a row, we stopped first at the bus station to see if anyone had found it. Luckily, the passport (and other important papers) was waiting for him as soon as he walked in! Relief! Praise and thanks! Amazement! 

Later on Wednesday, we made our way with Jeff and Tini to Kumasi, about a 45-minute flight from Accra. 

We spent the next five days exploring Kumasi! On Thursday, Jeff and Tini showed us the factory they have been preparing for production for the past five months. Many logistical obstacles and government bureaucracies have been the source of countless frustrations, but their hope is to have the factory ready by February. There is great need for RUTF in many places of the world, but with the ebola epidemic taking its toll in closely neighboring countries, the need is even greater (http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/ebola-leaves-hundreds-thousands-facing-hunger-three-worst-hit-countries). 

For a few hours on Friday, we explored the Center for National Culture in Kumasi and trekked around to find a recommended restaurant for a late lunch. We followed an elderly gentleman on his way to afternoon prayers who then handed us off to a mechanic who was heading the way we wanted to go. On our way back to the cultural center after lunch, we narrowly missed being hit by a tro-tro, one of Ghana's modes of transportation. We had just walked by some venders and were ready to cross the road, when we heard a loud crash. The tro-tro had run head-on into a telephone pole by the venders' stalls ten seconds after we had just passed them! Needless to say, we were a bit shaken up.

We're standing by an India rubber tree. It sends down aerial roots to help support the heavy branches.

 

One of many statues in the Cultural Center commons.

Saturday's activity took us to the Central Market, touted as West Africa's largest market.  We learned that most items are made with the words "reuse and re-purpose" in mind. The ingenuity was amazing! Our guide was only available for a few hours, so we didn't see all of the market. I bet that would take days and days to do!

Our guide, Comfort, with the expansive market behind us.

Well, it sure was expansive! Tini arranged for a guide, Comfort, to help us walk through the maze of stalls and venders.

Snails!

Chickens!

Not only can you buy most anything you can think of, some of the stalls are little workshops where the wares are made. We saw people making sandals, sewing garments, and cooking food.

This is the main market; it just goes on and on . . .

                                                  




It is said that there are over 11,000 venders within the market itself.

Food vendors outside of the main market.

I don't think that number includes the many others set up outside the market boundaries.

More stalls outside of the main market.

Most of the sewing is done by men, their work-spaces in a second story above the market. Some were transforming men's slacks into women's skirts.

These metal pieces are fabricated in another part of the market, then sold in nearby stalls.

Ah, fabric! It took a long time to decide what to buy, if you can believe that!












 











On Sunday, we attended the morning church service of the Lutheran church that Donn and Jeff's parents started over 50 years ago. 

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church has a school associated with it as well.

Holy Trinity is a big school!

 

The old church (on the left)

We arrived late and so, of course, were escorted to the front seats! All eyes were upon us! I'm sure they were thinking, "Who are these obronis?" There were about 40-50 people in attendance, all ages.

The new church building, still under construction.

My favorite part of the church service was the offering collection. There were actually two collections, but what was fun was the harmonious singing and the joyful dancing that happened during the offering. Can you give me an Amen? Amen!

 

Donn, William (?), Adowa, Jeff

After the service ended, all the visitors were expected to introduce themselves to the congregation. So that's when everyone learned who we, specifically Donn and Jeff, were. Later on, three people came up and introduced themselves as members who were at the church when Donn and Jeff were there as boys! 

One of the "old" members, Adowa, was a playmate of theirs. She took us on a walking tour of the neighborhood to show us the first house the guys lived in. We also met Adowa's daughter and granddaughter whose name is Karen!

The first house Donn and Jeff lived in, in Kumasi. The lighter colored building is the "garage", where the first church services were held while the first church building was constructed.

Sunday was, indeed, a day to get back to ones roots. I think it's quite amazing that these two guys got to go back to and see it again.

Songhai Center, Porto Novo

Finally. . .  a day off! 

So we visited a place we've been wanting to see - Songhai Center. It is a site located just north of Porto Novo, Benin's capital city. It's about 35 km east and north from Cotonou. We traveled in convoy with another teacher for an interesting outing.

On our way east toward Porto Novo, we came across a goat market, located next to the highway. The day we visited Songhai was the preparation day for the Muslim holiday Tabaski (Eid al-Adha), Feast of the Sacrifice. It commemorates Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son. The market sells goats for Muslims to use in their observances. 

Part of the goat market for Tabaski.

Most people took their goat(s) home on a motorcycle. This picture of full of images! (Craig Johnston)

Others used larger transportation.

After making our way east, just a few kilometers from Nigeria, we headed north toward Porto Novo and arrived at Songhai Center.

Songhai Center, named after one of the great ancient West African kingdoms of the 14th century, was established in 1985 by Father Godfrey Nzamujo, a Dominican priest, who had prior instruction in microbiology, chemistry, and computer science. He saw a need for training West Africans to be self-sufficient. The mission of Songhai "aspires to develop alternatives to help Africans stand on their feet through agricultural entrepreneurship" (Songhai brochure).

Almost 30 years later, Songhai continues to train young West Africans in an integrated approach to agriculture, technology, manufacturing, and marketing.

We had a guided tour of the site, in French, of course!

We started out with a visual display of the basic ideas.

 We saw many aspects of the center, from agricultural activities . . .

Tomatoes

Corn

Citrus trees, including limes, oranges, and grapefruit

livestock . . .

Cane rats, known in Ghana as grass cutter. Would you eat a rodent?

?

Turkey!

Pigs!

Geese!

and fish (pisciculture) . . .

Tilapia ponds

Catfish pond

Feeding time!

Songhai attempts to produce much of it energy needs through converting animal waste to bio-gas and harnessing solar energy.

 

A solar food dryer, this one was drying herbs.

Solar panels amidst a tomato patch.

 

The crops and animals raised on site are either sold in the onsite store, or processed into other products. Raw materials not grown on site were also processed after being brought in from around the area.

This woman is stoking the fire for a fish/poultry smoker.

The fish/poultry smoker wasn't filled yet.

 

Bread/cookie oven

 

He's grinding corn.

 

Palm nuts will be pressed for the oil.

Cashew removal from the shell. (Craig Johnston)

Cashews were dried, sorted, and bottled here.

We were a bit concerned about quality control, which looked virtually not-existent, except for the building where yogurt was made.

 

Manufactured products get sold at the store onsite. They are also trucked to local cities (Porto Novo and Cotonou) to be sold at stores there. Songhai's model of entrepreneurship has been utilized in other cities in Benin, as well as in other African countries.

Another product made onsite is a water filtration system. These clay pots filter about 2 liters of water an hour. Safe, clean water is a luxury in most of the country.

 

Songhai Center also has sleeping accommodations for visitors.

After our tour, we ate at the restaurant there. Our choices were African or European cuisine.

This was our menu!

Our last stop was the store. Those are papayas in the foreground.

We took the same route home the way we came. Most of the goats had been sold, but we did see some other interesting things packed in cars to get to the markets.

This car is loaded with oranges, on top in bags and inside all the way to the front seat.

We were impressed with what Songhai represents and accomplishes for the people who work and train there. Many of the workers at Songhai are university interns - sometime as far away as Gonzaga. They even use the interns sustainably. At the end of each cycle, they select one or two of the top interns to stay and train the next batch of students. We might arrange Songhai as a future field trip for our school.

This was a near closed system for producing agriculture. It was very interesting to see in this part of the world. Our short experience with Benin has given the impression that the people are consumers rather than producers. Albeit the consumption is survival based - get enough to survive today. The idea of investing now (energy, time, finance, etc) for future gain is not part of the local mindset (Donn did some reading on this phenomenon). Songhai is a model of being producers. Almost every part of their system produced something that could be consumed or used as a resource for the next level. It is promising to note that the Songhai model is growing in this part of the world.