I'm in Tamale! I will be leaving for Bole Tuesday.
Getting here was quite the journey. We had to travel by bus from Accra to Tamale, which took 18 hours. 4 and a half of those hours were spent waiting, because our bus broke down after we'd passed Kumasi. That was pretty interesting in and of itself though. We all spent some time talking to the people on the bus with us. One of the better moments was sitting with this guy from Denver who was on the bus with us, him on a ukelele and me on a harmonica, doing a tiki hut style song while a little girl danced around us, imitating my harmonica playing.
The heat here is something else. I'm pretty much sweating the second I move. It's worse inside because the air is stagnant, you need a strong breeze to make a difference.
I've done some pretty quintessential African things already. Riding in the back of a pickup truck along a dusty road, piling 5 people into a cab, haggling with merchants on the street etc. It's an absolutely amazing experience. I could go on at length but I think I'm on a short time scale here =S I did buy my first cellphone though. I managed to drop it within 24 hours, thankfully theyre pretty resiliant. I'm sure my brother will send me an email making fun of me for that =P
Check in later!
-W
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
12 hours to departure
This is a pretty difficult period to put into words. I'll do my best.
How does one approach the idea of being transplanted from familiar, comfortable territory to what is for all intensive purposes a new world? a different order of life?
I'm pretty calm about it. I don't know why, but I've never gotten terribly excited about traveling, the act itself. Usually the fact that I went to Germany, or Greece, or France sank in after the event itself. I was in data collection mode for a few days, and then processed all of the information afterwards. in Ghana i think if i go into data-collection mode I'm going to burn out after the first month, because of how much work that would be to maintain. Instead i need to seriously *live* there, and figure out how to do that quickly. And this is significantly different than people I know who have moved to places like China or Japan or other places. I have a set goal and precisely 3 and a half months to do it in. There's no leeway, I can't take a leisurely pace to the macro-scale of analysis, I need to hit it hard and fast and understand it as quickly as possible so that I can have an impact.
That's what I want, but realistically that might not happen, and might not even be what needs to happen. Maybe that macro-scale analysis should wait like it always has till afterwards, and I should just focusing on gathering the information despite the difference in time. But again, I'd like to be more... aware that I'm in my placement, rather than just disassociated from my physical self for it. For that I think id need a clear understanding of the culture and everything before I did the hard work.
so its sort of a problem for me... id rather that i got 2 months to observe the culture and come to understand it first, and then dive into the work. instead im doing both at the same time. this is trouble for how my brain handles complex situations like this i think.
in any case, id like to think about something else...
where am i right now? who am i right now? what am i expecting?
im feeling ready academically speaking, as in we reviewed a lot of technical information that will come in really handy. but as for psychologically preparedness for traveling, i was in better shape at the start of the week. i seem to have an unconcious preparedness system in place for traveling, and coming to a giant city instead of hitting up a hot desert threw me off by a big margin.
im very eager and hopeful, but im remembering myself a bit. all my social science training is kicking in, slowly but surely, and im remembering what questions to ask and when and how. its tough recalling stuff from that long ago though. its also tough putting myself in the margin of space i want to be. so instead of being deliriously optimistic, i want to be practically realistic but hopeful. not quite there yet. thats sort of what my previous post was about. we were asked to write out our commitments to the people we were working for, i wrote 2, the first being an ideal and the second what i would probably actually do. i wrote the second because i realized the first was simply not going to happen.
i feel as though ive kind of wiped my mind of expectations, though im not terribly sure why. i think this was a concious decision to some degree, because i dont want to have so many preconceptions about what im getting into. rather i just want it to be as though im exiting one river and entering another, changing flows and finding my new rhythm with a new stream of life. expectations feel like theyd get in the way of this, as though id be expecting certain rocks in the river to direct me in certain directions, or as though im expecting bends in that river where they may be none. why go through that trouble when i can let the rest of the river steer me in the right way when i get there? it just means asking a lot more questions of a lot more people i think.
on a side note, i think my doxy is messing with my stomach in some unpleasant ways. not too terribly sure what to do about it, other than hope it tides over. its been a bit better the last day or 2 anyways. hopefully i wont have to switch.
How does one approach the idea of being transplanted from familiar, comfortable territory to what is for all intensive purposes a new world? a different order of life?
I'm pretty calm about it. I don't know why, but I've never gotten terribly excited about traveling, the act itself. Usually the fact that I went to Germany, or Greece, or France sank in after the event itself. I was in data collection mode for a few days, and then processed all of the information afterwards. in Ghana i think if i go into data-collection mode I'm going to burn out after the first month, because of how much work that would be to maintain. Instead i need to seriously *live* there, and figure out how to do that quickly. And this is significantly different than people I know who have moved to places like China or Japan or other places. I have a set goal and precisely 3 and a half months to do it in. There's no leeway, I can't take a leisurely pace to the macro-scale of analysis, I need to hit it hard and fast and understand it as quickly as possible so that I can have an impact.
That's what I want, but realistically that might not happen, and might not even be what needs to happen. Maybe that macro-scale analysis should wait like it always has till afterwards, and I should just focusing on gathering the information despite the difference in time. But again, I'd like to be more... aware that I'm in my placement, rather than just disassociated from my physical self for it. For that I think id need a clear understanding of the culture and everything before I did the hard work.
so its sort of a problem for me... id rather that i got 2 months to observe the culture and come to understand it first, and then dive into the work. instead im doing both at the same time. this is trouble for how my brain handles complex situations like this i think.
in any case, id like to think about something else...
where am i right now? who am i right now? what am i expecting?
im feeling ready academically speaking, as in we reviewed a lot of technical information that will come in really handy. but as for psychologically preparedness for traveling, i was in better shape at the start of the week. i seem to have an unconcious preparedness system in place for traveling, and coming to a giant city instead of hitting up a hot desert threw me off by a big margin.
im very eager and hopeful, but im remembering myself a bit. all my social science training is kicking in, slowly but surely, and im remembering what questions to ask and when and how. its tough recalling stuff from that long ago though. its also tough putting myself in the margin of space i want to be. so instead of being deliriously optimistic, i want to be practically realistic but hopeful. not quite there yet. thats sort of what my previous post was about. we were asked to write out our commitments to the people we were working for, i wrote 2, the first being an ideal and the second what i would probably actually do. i wrote the second because i realized the first was simply not going to happen.
i feel as though ive kind of wiped my mind of expectations, though im not terribly sure why. i think this was a concious decision to some degree, because i dont want to have so many preconceptions about what im getting into. rather i just want it to be as though im exiting one river and entering another, changing flows and finding my new rhythm with a new stream of life. expectations feel like theyd get in the way of this, as though id be expecting certain rocks in the river to direct me in certain directions, or as though im expecting bends in that river where they may be none. why go through that trouble when i can let the rest of the river steer me in the right way when i get there? it just means asking a lot more questions of a lot more people i think.
on a side note, i think my doxy is messing with my stomach in some unpleasant ways. not too terribly sure what to do about it, other than hope it tides over. its been a bit better the last day or 2 anyways. hopefully i wont have to switch.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Profound thoughts concerning commitments
I will make you reflect, think, consider your reality; your importance, your place in a larger world. I will make you hope things you have not thought to hope for, and make you believe the power to achieve these things is yours.
I will live life alongside you. cry, laugh, work and play. I will share your hopes and dreams, and let you know that I believe they can be real.
Truth:
Ideals are for people who want to end the world.
Tears are for people who want to make it better.
I will live life alongside you. cry, laugh, work and play. I will share your hopes and dreams, and let you know that I believe they can be real.
Truth:
Ideals are for people who want to end the world.
Tears are for people who want to make it better.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
May 3rd
I did my sector placement presentation today. This was basically the most stressful part of the week I think. A lot of people stayed up really late and got something like 45 minutes of sleep beforehand. I hadn't really finalized my presentation plan until a few minutes before I had to go up so it was just a wee bit sketch =P
My presentation was on organizing farmers groups. While I didn't quite get the full strength of my message across, I think it was a pretty solid learning experience. I'll give the low down on my actual presentation and than what happened.
A) So in my mind I broke down organizations into three categories:
1: Social Input: These are the things that group members bring with them when joining the group. So for instance, when organizing a group of rural farmers, you have various things to take into account; ethnicity, race, class, social status, prestige, age, religion, etc.
2: Organization: Basically the methods you use to organize your group. so whether your a diplomacy, tyranny, oligarchy, etc. or a cooperative, corporate, or unionized entity. also, does one delegate, volunteer, etc. roles, or even share them communially?
3: Linkages: those parts of your group that extend beyond its boundaries and attach to its important contemporaries - e.g. the market, collaborative institutions, other groups, etc.
B) When I went around talking to the three discussion groups, some interesting ideas came up. for instance;
1: the skills and physical resources people bring to a group alter their status in it and in society. so someone with a plow or a diploma of some kind may be given much more influence in the group.
There were probably more but I was in the process of entering a coma at the time.
In any case, the presentation made it pretty clear I need to make less presumptions about what people know and how they can think. A lot of people commented on how they had difficulty understanding what I was asking about because they couldnt understand it from a social context but more from a technical aspect, which is probably why they went to saying things like the physical capital individuals could bring to a group, so maybe they misinterpretted me and i in turn misinterpretted them, but I think people got the jist of what I was going for, in that there was definitely discussion about the thick myriad of social issues preventing a group from functioning smoothly. so for instance, is it better to have all men, all women, or a mix in your farmers group? this has various repercussions and implications depending on context, method, and goal, but also in inputs, organization, and linkages. an all male group has different inputs, a different thought process of organization, and a different priority of linkages. this is crucially important to people looking to work with farmers group in Ghana i think.
gotta head out for food =)
My presentation was on organizing farmers groups. While I didn't quite get the full strength of my message across, I think it was a pretty solid learning experience. I'll give the low down on my actual presentation and than what happened.
A) So in my mind I broke down organizations into three categories:
1: Social Input: These are the things that group members bring with them when joining the group. So for instance, when organizing a group of rural farmers, you have various things to take into account; ethnicity, race, class, social status, prestige, age, religion, etc.
2: Organization: Basically the methods you use to organize your group. so whether your a diplomacy, tyranny, oligarchy, etc. or a cooperative, corporate, or unionized entity. also, does one delegate, volunteer, etc. roles, or even share them communially?
3: Linkages: those parts of your group that extend beyond its boundaries and attach to its important contemporaries - e.g. the market, collaborative institutions, other groups, etc.
B) When I went around talking to the three discussion groups, some interesting ideas came up. for instance;
1: the skills and physical resources people bring to a group alter their status in it and in society. so someone with a plow or a diploma of some kind may be given much more influence in the group.
There were probably more but I was in the process of entering a coma at the time.
In any case, the presentation made it pretty clear I need to make less presumptions about what people know and how they can think. A lot of people commented on how they had difficulty understanding what I was asking about because they couldnt understand it from a social context but more from a technical aspect, which is probably why they went to saying things like the physical capital individuals could bring to a group, so maybe they misinterpretted me and i in turn misinterpretted them, but I think people got the jist of what I was going for, in that there was definitely discussion about the thick myriad of social issues preventing a group from functioning smoothly. so for instance, is it better to have all men, all women, or a mix in your farmers group? this has various repercussions and implications depending on context, method, and goal, but also in inputs, organization, and linkages. an all male group has different inputs, a different thought process of organization, and a different priority of linkages. this is crucially important to people looking to work with farmers group in Ghana i think.
gotta head out for food =)
Saturday, May 2, 2009
May 2
Learning for today was centered around a case study that took an intense look at a development project that was undertaken in Zambia to essentially change the primary crop of production in a village from maize to a more drought-resistant crop called Sorghum. We essentially broke down an entire market system and the development process that the project wanted to undertake.
One of the things that came up this time, that came up with a similar case study during JF day at conference, was what happened before and after the market went through a cycle. so in this case the development agency created a micro-market in their target region, giving a large number of farmers processing plants, machines, and seeds to get set on their product. there were a variety of other incentives as well. it didnt specify where these seeds were bought, or where the equipment was produced. after the first year the aid company left, leaving the market it had created to run itself. essentially the aid process had to have created a sustainable market cycle, where farmers create output, sell it in a market, and re-invest their funds into their projects and livelihood or potentially find other investment sources.
what i was most centered on personally were the after-shocks of this however, and the potential for unintended consequences.
although it was not a particular issue in this case in the time-scale at which we viewed it, a possible repercussion exists at the market level.
imagine there are two villages, each producing around the same quality and quantity of grain, and selling it to a common market. if an aid company came in and heavily invested development into one of these two villages, its quality and quantity would skyrocket above that of the other village, meaning it would be forced out of the market and village B would no longer have a market for its product: the people would lose their livelihoods in order to increase the livelihoods of their neighbours in the next village over.
similar processes could occur at the individual level. say for instance one farmer had a wonderful return on his crop, whereas other farmers did poorly because of a lack of experience. this single farmer would gain a larger share of the profit, increase in social class in the community, etc.
in either case, "development" has in fact contributed to economic disparity, and created a worse situation. similarly, there are ways around this; in the village case, government regulation limiting where a market can gain its resources (buying no more than 60% of its market from a single source for instance). likewise, a development agency might yield better long term results by making promotion of social responsbility a part of its project, so that if a farmer became more successful than his neighbours, rather than using his money to buy their land, they might invest in a school or agricultural training. effectively, im interested in knowing what sorts of macro effects micro actions can have. this is obviously difficult to ascertain, but would be indefinitely valuable.
I had other thoughts, but its 2 in the freakin morning. night!
One of the things that came up this time, that came up with a similar case study during JF day at conference, was what happened before and after the market went through a cycle. so in this case the development agency created a micro-market in their target region, giving a large number of farmers processing plants, machines, and seeds to get set on their product. there were a variety of other incentives as well. it didnt specify where these seeds were bought, or where the equipment was produced. after the first year the aid company left, leaving the market it had created to run itself. essentially the aid process had to have created a sustainable market cycle, where farmers create output, sell it in a market, and re-invest their funds into their projects and livelihood or potentially find other investment sources.
what i was most centered on personally were the after-shocks of this however, and the potential for unintended consequences.
although it was not a particular issue in this case in the time-scale at which we viewed it, a possible repercussion exists at the market level.
imagine there are two villages, each producing around the same quality and quantity of grain, and selling it to a common market. if an aid company came in and heavily invested development into one of these two villages, its quality and quantity would skyrocket above that of the other village, meaning it would be forced out of the market and village B would no longer have a market for its product: the people would lose their livelihoods in order to increase the livelihoods of their neighbours in the next village over.
similar processes could occur at the individual level. say for instance one farmer had a wonderful return on his crop, whereas other farmers did poorly because of a lack of experience. this single farmer would gain a larger share of the profit, increase in social class in the community, etc.
in either case, "development" has in fact contributed to economic disparity, and created a worse situation. similarly, there are ways around this; in the village case, government regulation limiting where a market can gain its resources (buying no more than 60% of its market from a single source for instance). likewise, a development agency might yield better long term results by making promotion of social responsbility a part of its project, so that if a farmer became more successful than his neighbours, rather than using his money to buy their land, they might invest in a school or agricultural training. effectively, im interested in knowing what sorts of macro effects micro actions can have. this is obviously difficult to ascertain, but would be indefinitely valuable.
I had other thoughts, but its 2 in the freakin morning. night!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
April 30th
For the Jfs: http://africansignals.com/
And now for the not-JF folk:
Firstly, sorry for not updating more regularly; school and what-not.
Secondly, I thought I'd do a quick run-down of what exactly it is I'm and with whom for those who don't quite know.
Engineers Without Borders is a charity organization that, while originally very engineering oriented, is now a very soft-skill based organization. I mean this in that it utilizes sociological practices and organizational skills over technical expertise of any engineering background. Granted, I have the urge to try and build a windmill in my spare time overseas. But that's probably something unique to me.
My placement is with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Actually, today we did a training on impact which definitely helped me get a clearer picture of what I'm doing. Previously the only picture I had was that I was training government workers to train farmers in a curriculum entitled “Agriculture as a Business.” The impact lesson put the final goal of this placement into focus for me though. I'd thought of what the final goal would be, namely that farmers would be taught to utilize their farm as a means of generating profit and improve their livelihoods, but I hadn't really identified this as a distinct point in space or time. Thus I was left trying to draw a line from my placement activities to an effected change that I hadn't really pinned down as my end goal because I was considering it too far away from my placement. I.E. I wasn't imaginging my placement being part of acheiving this, but rather part of starting this. Instead I'm very much feeling that I'm an integral part of this process now, and my placement will be drawing a clear line from point A (my feet hitting the ground) to point B (improved rural livelihoods).
There were quite a few other learnings today, but I'm a wee bit tight for time sadly. I will give a fuller update later this week!
-W
And now for the not-JF folk:
Firstly, sorry for not updating more regularly; school and what-not.
Secondly, I thought I'd do a quick run-down of what exactly it is I'm and with whom for those who don't quite know.
Engineers Without Borders is a charity organization that, while originally very engineering oriented, is now a very soft-skill based organization. I mean this in that it utilizes sociological practices and organizational skills over technical expertise of any engineering background. Granted, I have the urge to try and build a windmill in my spare time overseas. But that's probably something unique to me.
My placement is with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Actually, today we did a training on impact which definitely helped me get a clearer picture of what I'm doing. Previously the only picture I had was that I was training government workers to train farmers in a curriculum entitled “Agriculture as a Business.” The impact lesson put the final goal of this placement into focus for me though. I'd thought of what the final goal would be, namely that farmers would be taught to utilize their farm as a means of generating profit and improve their livelihoods, but I hadn't really identified this as a distinct point in space or time. Thus I was left trying to draw a line from my placement activities to an effected change that I hadn't really pinned down as my end goal because I was considering it too far away from my placement. I.E. I wasn't imaginging my placement being part of acheiving this, but rather part of starting this. Instead I'm very much feeling that I'm an integral part of this process now, and my placement will be drawing a clear line from point A (my feet hitting the ground) to point B (improved rural livelihoods).
There were quite a few other learnings today, but I'm a wee bit tight for time sadly. I will give a fuller update later this week!
-W
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Reflections and Practical Planning
I know of some folk who've been to Africa, but I doubt that part of their objective whilst there was to become as much like the people they were there to aid. It's going to be an odd feeling. My basic goal at that level is to become Warwick if Warwick were born in Ghana. What is that Warwick like? This seems intrinsically related to culture and the environmental pressures on personal growth. Clearly I can't overcome the biological ones though. It's interesting to think about how that might work out in the long run. My brain is predisposed to think in certain patterns by genome type, yet heavily modified by environment and experience. The cells work in a particular way because of my diet, because of the level of exercise I get, etc. If I change both of these drastically, not to mention put a much greater workload on parts of the brain that normally don't have much to do (for instance, the part of my brain that considers essential needs and the part concerned with emergency situations or handeling difficult issues are not fast-linked. I cannot make connections and plans concerning these issues as quickly as someone who faces famine on a regular day, or who has to plan a 45 minute walk to get water into their day). How will this affect my work capacity in other areas? Will it be a temporary drain on mental resources for short periods or fundamentally change my brain structure as it reorganizes itself to deal with a new reality? If so, how will this affect my work capability and effectiveness? How can I maintain quality and efficiency? Should I be altering my standards of what quality and efficiency even mean?
Complicated questions with no simple answer! Likely, as usual, a little bit of yes and no to all. I am certain this experience is going to dramatically and permanently affect my cognitive processes in particular ways. How I perceive and articulate intellectual theories and issues concerning poverty, development, politics, etc. will be fundamentally affected I'm sure. But what about simple things, like how I perceive and articulate hunger? It's easy to say things like "There won't be grocery stores, you will not be in a consumer society any longer and thus you must prepare for a greater level of scarcity and fewer choices." But this has real repercussions for you actual cognitive capacities beyond having to just think about food more. Firstly I am putting resources towards planning on food that previously would've been expended on other issues. Maybe this won't matter so much, since I will be cutting out a lot of downtime for my brain in the western context (no TV, less internet, etc etc.). But then theres the bigger picture: Thinking like this will mean I am literally re-wiring my brain over the long term. Your brain adapts to circumstances by developing new neural connections. Thus if I make it a habit of thinking about food over Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart every day, the neurons responsible for processing that information efficiently will alter their patterns to process the newer information efficiently instead. And this does not affect just those single issues! Firstly theres the obvious statement that I do not have Stephen Colbert neurons, but rather a matrix of neurons dealing with information input, parsing, memory storage, comprehension, and linking to other issues. So any alteration to individual inputs in fact affects an entire cognitive system. Secondly, these systems are not discrete - memory is linked to hearing, which is linked to linking, etc. They all form a unitary web. Thus changing a particular system means the overall input into this web will vary. All of this is to say that my neural connections are going to be doing some very interesting things, all of which will be directly related to my overall feelings. I'll be rather displeased during those processes where neurons are disconnecting and re-associating, and happy when my neural web has maintained phases of stability. On top of this it will be fundamentally changing me as an individual. This will of course have direct affects on my ability to function. How that will play out, I haven't a clue though. Hopefully well! /rant.
Another major issue is my actual placement. The placement lists my location as blank. This is somewhat disconcerting. I take it to mean I will be traveling. From what I gather my objective whilst over there is to teach people how to teach, and to some extent influence what they teach. So I'm going to be taught how to teach people how to teach. My gray matter rebels against that kind of sentance structure, but its what's going down. It's surprising what skill sets related to this someone from our society already possesses though. I've a feeling the training will be more about realizing things we already know. Simple things like the distinctions between learning styles (auditory, visual, etc.). I'm tempted to save some PDF's on learning style studies to my laptop as a resource, it might come in handy. I'm also considering putting together my conception of how a learning plan designed to attune people to how other people function in a learning environment, while simultaneously attempting to alter that learning environment to bridge the gap between gender inequalities, socio-economic inequalities, etc. So much to think about! But it will be worth the effort to do.
Complicated questions with no simple answer! Likely, as usual, a little bit of yes and no to all. I am certain this experience is going to dramatically and permanently affect my cognitive processes in particular ways. How I perceive and articulate intellectual theories and issues concerning poverty, development, politics, etc. will be fundamentally affected I'm sure. But what about simple things, like how I perceive and articulate hunger? It's easy to say things like "There won't be grocery stores, you will not be in a consumer society any longer and thus you must prepare for a greater level of scarcity and fewer choices." But this has real repercussions for you actual cognitive capacities beyond having to just think about food more. Firstly I am putting resources towards planning on food that previously would've been expended on other issues. Maybe this won't matter so much, since I will be cutting out a lot of downtime for my brain in the western context (no TV, less internet, etc etc.). But then theres the bigger picture: Thinking like this will mean I am literally re-wiring my brain over the long term. Your brain adapts to circumstances by developing new neural connections. Thus if I make it a habit of thinking about food over Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart every day, the neurons responsible for processing that information efficiently will alter their patterns to process the newer information efficiently instead. And this does not affect just those single issues! Firstly theres the obvious statement that I do not have Stephen Colbert neurons, but rather a matrix of neurons dealing with information input, parsing, memory storage, comprehension, and linking to other issues. So any alteration to individual inputs in fact affects an entire cognitive system. Secondly, these systems are not discrete - memory is linked to hearing, which is linked to linking, etc. They all form a unitary web. Thus changing a particular system means the overall input into this web will vary. All of this is to say that my neural connections are going to be doing some very interesting things, all of which will be directly related to my overall feelings. I'll be rather displeased during those processes where neurons are disconnecting and re-associating, and happy when my neural web has maintained phases of stability. On top of this it will be fundamentally changing me as an individual. This will of course have direct affects on my ability to function. How that will play out, I haven't a clue though. Hopefully well! /rant.
Another major issue is my actual placement. The placement lists my location as blank. This is somewhat disconcerting. I take it to mean I will be traveling. From what I gather my objective whilst over there is to teach people how to teach, and to some extent influence what they teach. So I'm going to be taught how to teach people how to teach. My gray matter rebels against that kind of sentance structure, but its what's going down. It's surprising what skill sets related to this someone from our society already possesses though. I've a feeling the training will be more about realizing things we already know. Simple things like the distinctions between learning styles (auditory, visual, etc.). I'm tempted to save some PDF's on learning style studies to my laptop as a resource, it might come in handy. I'm also considering putting together my conception of how a learning plan designed to attune people to how other people function in a learning environment, while simultaneously attempting to alter that learning environment to bridge the gap between gender inequalities, socio-economic inequalities, etc. So much to think about! But it will be worth the effort to do.
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