In Ghana, the first Friday in December is "National Farmer's Day"- a holiday where local farmers are recognized for their contribution to Ghana's agricultural production and recognized for their individual success. Award ceremonies are organized at the regional, district and national level throughout Ghana and politicians embrace the opportunity to share their message to the mass crowds (of course arriving with their entourage of large SUV's and closely followed by the local media).
I was invited by one of our partner NGO's to attend the Northern Regional celebration in Saboba, a small town near the Togo border. We left Tamale around 6 a.m. and made our way first towards Yendi. Yendi is a well known town about 45 minutes outside of Tamale..."well known" because that is where the Dagomba Chieftancy Crisis errupted back in 2002. Though the conflict has subsided in most parts of the North, Yendi is still a very troubled town, as the crisis has yet to be resolved and violence between the tribes still plagues the area.
One thing about road trips in Ghana, is that you can never enter a vehicle with the expectation that your journey will be an uninterrupted venture from point A to point B. Rather, it is a journey filled with short stops at numerous towns and villages to visit with a friend, pass a message on to a relative, check the price of yams, and conduct numerous other ventures along the way. Therfore, our "3 hour" trip nicely rounded out to a nearly a four hour escapade. So as mentioned above, our first stop was in Yendi, where I was left for about 15 mintues with the driver while my coworker conducted a short visit with a friend.
The driver was a lively man who was very interested in telling me about his life and learning about how things are done in Canada. I had a fascinating, but heartbreaking conversation with him about the situation in Africa and the struggles that most face everyday. Fusi told me that he spends half his salary on water because the "water has not flowed" in his neighbourhood for 5 years. The rest of his money is spent on his four children's school fees, three other relatives school fees that he's expected to pay, and then he mentions "What of food...I cannot buy proper vegetables or the food I'm supposed to after I have spent 4 months trying to pay my children's school fees...I do not have piece of mind". I know I do not often include these realities in my blog, but Fusi's story hit me like a slap on the face as I was forced to face the realities of a typical northern Ghanaian. He told me that "men die of frustration in this land" and reminded me that Africa "is not okay...the situation is NOT okay." I sat there for many minutes unable to muster a response- how could I possible tell him I knew how he felt or that I understood...we both knew the situation was not the same where I was coming from and anything I could think of to say felt so mediocre & petty. But Fusi seemed to simply appreciate that I had listened and he kindly smiled approvingly.
After the first stop in Yendi, we investigated yam prices in a few places and carried on. Midway through the journey we had to make a pit stop (of course at my request...darn that weak bladder) in the middle of the bush. There is no point in "holding it 'till the next town" because there won't be a bathroom in whatever village you might come across- if you're lucky you'll find one of my "favourite" cement structures like the one at T-Poly. So the bush would have been best, except my coworker had just finished informing me that the bush fires we kept seeing were started because farmers think that gets rid of some of the snakes. I squatted in the bush repeating to myself "Please no snakes, please no snakes...." while also attempting not to urinate on my long skirt or my leg.
Finally we arrived in Saboba were a large rectangle of canopies had been assembled in a parched, yellow field. Many people were bustling about and a local group of dancers and drummers were making their way around the inside of the rectangle. The ceremony began a few hours late and entailed nearly 40 awards of best cassava crop, best fisherman, best yams, etc. etc. etc. and the award our group worked on "Best Entrepreneurial Group". Most recipients received a bicycle and some other farm related goods from various different sponsors.
Once the ceremony was over I had a chance to visit with some of the EWB (Engineers without borders) volunteers who are working with MOFA (The Ministry of Food and Agriculture). Then it was back to the truck for a long, bumpy ride home and the acquisition of nearly 60 yams from various villages.
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