Ghana vs Ghana and South Sudan

Settling in Ghana

Since my arrival some weeks ago a reoccurring question has been: do you see any change since you were here last?

That seems like a rather easy question to answer. But it really isn’t.

I mean, yes it is easy to say there are more roads now, well in the sense that more roads have been fixed and is tarmaced.

But aside from that...

Ghana I am sure has changed, but I don’t remember what it was like. I remember South Sudan.

Now if the question is: is Ghana very different from South Sudan the answer is ‘yes, very’.

But then the tricky part comes again –how is it different?

Well there are the obvious elements – there are tarmac roads from south to north in Ghana. There are streetlights in most larger towns. And most buildings are permanent structures, even in the rural areas. Of course the mud homes exist, but not as a sense of poverty, more as tradition... and they are build like ‘kraals’ not as single huts.

And then all the things that are hard to explain, unless both has been experienced, from clothing styles, to accents and hand shakes... 

I remembered Ghana reflecting my experience in Uganda, but even if those two countries are more similar – there is still a major difference from East to West on this continent, and they have to be experienced, as they (or I cannot at least) be explained.

Maybe one of the challenges for me to settle in Ghana is also work.

The job description is not that different, but due to the level of development and organisational structures, the work is. And I am lost!!!

Ghana doesn’t live up to any of the ‘most vulnerable’ ’most deprived’ ‘most at risk’ requirements so many donors like to set. There are of course all these groups in society, but as a country by comparison to other – definitely not. Or possibly I am just too marked and don’t see the deprivation, in my excitement of the overall development level...

Somehow it seems the main challenge many partners here is facing, is ‘how to involve women in governance and decision making’ (this somehow is universal it seems) and ‘how to make governance non party political?’ especially in this run up to the election in December...

The latter is very different from that of many is South Sudan working more on the level of ‘how do we protect people from being tortured or killed when speaking their political opinions?’...

This is not to say that the tasks facing Ghana are not challenging they definitely are – they are just at a different level.

And I am sure the longer I say the more I will catch on.

The faith of a Fulani family

Meet Fatima.


She is (by my guess) somewhere between 30 and 35. She is Fulani and she is the sole provider of 3 children aging from around 9 to 16 (I think)...

The eldest girl has just joined the household from Bukina Faso and is in a situation where she has to choose to stay here in Ghana or go back. Who she goes back to is unclear as her father is roaming in parts of Ghana and not providing for her or her mother.

The middle child is Issifu. I guess he is around 10 or 12... not sure. He spends his day hearding cattle with help from his little brother.

Issifu is the reason I met Fatima and the other siblings. An IBIS inetrn met Issifu at a school project graduation one day (those of you who read danish: http://helene.toenning.com/?p=155). He had driven his cattle to grase in the area around the school. He apparently does this regularely to be able to see the children going to school. For Issifu that is all he asks at the moment - to go to school.

And this is why we on Wednesday morning drove from Bole southwards to the minig village Tinga. This is the area where Issifu lives. We passed the school, a small household a small stream and a larger stream and there was the field with the cattle pen in the corner, and Issifu milking. We left him to finish milking and went to find his family.

When we entered the outside grounds of the household we met Issufu's mother - Fatima, holding a sheep in a rope. She greated us with a big smile and asked us to go inside to meet the head of the household.

And now it becomes interesting. Issifu's family lives with a person to whom they have no relation. Fatima has 'bonded' them to this house hold in exchange for a room and food. The family works in the House hold, Fatima helps with the domestic choores and on the farm, the sister works with domestic choores  and Issifu and his brother tends to the cattle.

While talking to the head of the house hold he informed us that he himself found education very important, and that he was putting his own 7 children through school... And potentially maybe if Fatima could also take on Issifu's cattle tending duties he could see that Issifu could go to school. Unfortunatley, the tow wives in the Household didn't seem to think this was a good idea, as they would then loose the extra two hands Fatima provided them... what the outcome will be is still to be determined. IBIS field staff is returning next week to follow up on potential solutions.

However I don't see much light as a single case. The Fulani are not highly regarded in the Ghanaian society, they are a roaming tribe tening to cattle, and they are settlers in Ghana, not originally from here. Few Fulanis have become wealthy and those who have, have often done so by being given cattle as a gift after many years of hearding service.

I don't know how many families are finding themselves in modern day slave bondage with local farmers, but I am sure that we have not met the only family of the kind. And I truly hope that we can find a way to change the faits of these families, so also their children get a chance to go to school. Advocacy to change the minds of people seems the way forward on this and many other issues.