May 23rd

see post below for basically last weeks events =P

just a story to share here really, other than this little update: I'm in Wa, which is in a different region of the country altogether, to use internet. its only 2 hours away from Bole or so. Staying the night here apparently because we didnt plan this internet usage trip out very well lol. I'm here with 3 other JFs though, Adam FK, Gajin and Spencer.

So the other day one of the executive members of a farmer group society in Mankoma came up to talk to me while i was chilling out in the shade (hydration is a really serious issue for me, to the point where im worried i may not be able to stay here for the whole placement, but im doing my best to deal with it). He had a pretty amazing story to tell. His farmers society has been doing pretty well for itself overall. it started out planting groundnuts because it had identified this as a potential market, but just this year had switched over to maize and casava because the groundnuts werent doing so well in the soil. theyre presently doing 12 acres or so total.

the stated goal of this society was actually really impressive to me. they formed specifically to fight poverty in their region and employ people in the village. and theyre really, really close to making a huge stride forward towards that goal. theyve just completed construction of a depot, where they can store their fertilizer and other goods, and next to that have nearly finished a processing center where they are going to put a grinder to process the food they produce. they plan to employ dozens of people from the village to work there, thereby reducing the unemployment rate and providing steady wages to many community members. except theyre short on cash by about 1000 cidis, from what i gather. they need some money to roof the building, and then a bit more to buy the processor. right now they only have 150 cidis in the bank, they had to pay 500 cidis to the district assembly to use a tractor to plow their land. basically, theres this amazing opportunity to employ and develop an entire village and be a shining example of success, and its 1 grand away from happening. otherwise its probably going to tank and just become another failed project. theyve invited me to their exec meeting tuesday, to offer my ideas and input on how they can raise this money. im not really sure what to say to them, they seem to think i have connections to big canadian NGOs but really im nobody here... its heartbreaking. i could probably personally fund the entire project myself, but thats not really helping in the way that matters. NGOs wouldnt really be helping either... so i dunno. im trying to think of local ways to raise that money, either through advertising deals or something else. ive also been told that if they owned their own tractor instead of renting it, theyd be farming 60 acres instead of 12, which is also ridiculous.

anyways, got some emails to send. shall post later hopefully =)