Shifra’s Journal – December 15, 2009

There are no signs leading to Airfield Community. From the main road you would not know that anyone live in the bush. An airport was planned for the area, but will probably never be built. Land was available and 400 people settled in the area. They came from the coast, from the north or escaped Togo, in search for farming land. They have small farms, mostly for the family consumption.

Last Sunday we went to visit the homes of the people of the Airfield Community. I got on the back of Eric’s motorcycle, riding in the "bush", following narrow paths through cassava and corn fields. We stopped at ten family compounds. Each compound had about seven mud homes with straw roofs.

I walked into the “homes”: Clutter of wood, boxes, baskets, dry corn and cassava, and not much inside. Adults were separating the corn kernels from the cob, removing the stem from the chili peppers, removing the beans from the pods. It was special to meet the kids at their homes with their families. They were shy. They call me “Madam Benny”. I found out that Eric, 11, the brightest child in school, live with his grandparents. His parents and the rest of the family are in another village. Lizzy, 12, in torn clothes live with her mother and younger sister. Lizzy asked me for a school bag. With Judy’s donation we are getting seven school bags. Beautiful babies and toddlers, future students at the new school.

At the compound of Kofi Gama, the 75 year old who is at the construction site every day, we met the community secretary. He did not speak English, but a young man explain to me that they are discussing what to do regarding the five community members who refuse to participate in the construction. They have communal labor law, and if a person does not participate in the community project, the fine is 5Gh Cedi per day, but those five families refused to pay.

It is a new reality (which I tremendously enjoy), to experience Ho from the Aku Sika sewing shop.

It is a busy place. African artwork and jewelry beside all the clothes that Sister Aku sews . Many locals, missionaries, volunteers shop here. Local women with the baskets on their heads stop at the shop: banana, coconut, papaya, oranges, tomato, onion, and I buy most of the food at the shop.

My first week production: a shirt for me and Benny.

There was a celebration in Aku Sika’s daughters’ school. “Sanitation Day”, a Foundation from Finland funded toilets for the school…

Benny hopes that he will have enough money to install toilets in Airfield School, so that the teachers and students will not have to go in the “bush”.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Building Airfield School, Volunteer posts from Ghana, Volunteering in Ghana. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.