Development of Waste or Waste of Development

- either way is has produced a lot of trash!

On a weekend visit to Elmina in Ghana we decided to walk into town, mostly because the taxi we called didn't show up and after some 45 minutes we decided that we could just as easily walk...

It was only some 45 minutes we were looking at so why not (should you make the same decision, put on sunscreen). All in all it seemed like a great idea – a nice walk on the beach!

Now we were given the advise to turn in through the village before we reached town, or the beach became dirty...

After about 20 min walk we passed a fishing village. They were hauling in the nets, and there were quite a lot of people around - and fish not to forget. After this we came past the village dump and the beach was for some time full of empty half litre water sachets. These sachets are most peoples access to pure water, and they are to some extend recycles, but obviously not all go through that process.

As we continued on towards the town, we came upon the larger village area that is the out skits, and the poorer one, of Elmina. We figured that when they had said the beach turns dirty, that this meant something like what we encountered earlier. This turned out to be a wrong assumption.

Not everything is as it seems.

We climbed the rocks creating a natural peer, and here we found ourselves in the toilet. Literally!

The rocks were the toilet of the entire village, and as we passed it became more and more used, so here we were jumping - carefully I might mention – in between human shit. As we were trying not to step in anything that would leave permanent memories – worse than it was at the time – we were somehow also wondering how many diseases we would be carrying with us from here – at least I was.

This thought somehow developed from concerning me, to concerning the kids in the village. This concern was brought on by the fact that amongst all this human biological waste, the kids used the water puddles between the rocks as bathtubs... Somehow they seemed to have missed the day in school were they were taught how diseases spread.

We managed to get through the toilet, none of us more contaminated than we could proceed. So we did – on to the dumping grounds of this village... not a pretty sight.

Anything that was somehow plastic waste was here. And it stretched for what I would guess to be half a square kilometre... that is a lot of waste. And guess what this also seemed to double as – the kids play ground. And here my thoughts were once again taken back to that class on spread of diseases... really wish someone in this area would have attended school that day.

Now I am not blaming people here for the massive waste – what are their options? I am blaming all of us. We consume like there is no tomorrow, and we in the western world (not really sure about this concept, west of what, the east, well how is that determined unless we have a centre... anyway) somehow try to do well with it and dispose of the waste in an attempted environmental manner.

But what happens here?

If people here don't know the risk of their kids getting sick by bathing in water where someone just shit (oh year, we were swimming a few kilometres down the beach - but in the ocean...) then how can they know about environmentally friendly ways of disposing of trash. And even if they did, how would they do it as it is costly, and doesn't seem to be a priority of the government?

Plastic, palm trees and blue sky

We proceeded from the dumping site into town, and walked around for a bit until we took a taxi back to our weekend home.

When safely arrived we, of course, went to the beach and out for a swim – felt we needed to get cleaned up a bit... however I was joined by a plastic bag in the water... as I escaped a closer encounter with it and lied on my back to float on the waves I looked at the beach here. So nice! Absolutely clean, and when looking up it was palm trees and blue sky... and yet less than 4 km to the east, it was a garbage dump (I still had an eye on the plastic bag in the water. Knowing where it potentially came from I was very happy for the high level of salt in the water)...!

Now if we hadn't taken that walk, I wouldn't have known about the toilet and the garbage dump, and I would have left thinking that all the beach of Elmina was amazing and beautiful. It isn't.

My experience of the beach while floating around in the water was that of a tourist. The experience those growing up here get is that the beach is a place for shitting and dumping garbage...

Somehow the two seem contrasting.

Would I go back to Elmina and stay on the beach out of town – absolutely! Would I wish I had some skills in the field of developing proper dumping sites, public toilets and hygiene and sanitation teaching – absolutely!

Unfortunately I don't. So I will go back to Elmina, and just enjoy the beach and walk through the village and not the toilet should we go for another walk.

But should I know anyone who is looking for a development project that will not be a development of waste – but preferably the contrary. I think Elmina might prove a good place for a pilot.

Have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!