Week Four

We survived our first month in Ghana! This week has been kind of a
lull week due to the fact that we’re finishing up the last phase 3
class in Senkubenase and we’re still waiting to start teaching phase 1
and phase 2 in the other villages. Because it’s been a bit slow, we’ve
had lots of time to refigure the databases we use and to figure out
more effective ways to work with our loan collectors and pod leaders.
There have been a couple times that there was a discrepancy as to
whether the pod leader was withholding some of the money he collects
or whether it was the loan collector. So, we’ve created a new system
where the pod leader has to give the loan recipient a receipt when
they collect their monthly payment. The pod leader takes the
signatures and the money to the loan collector. The loan collector
counts the money and then signs on the pod leader’s sheet. If there is
any sort of discrepancy between any of the parties, we’ll now be able
to track it to its source. The power has been out for several days,
but we hope to have those printed and out for distribution by Monday
for June collections.

Another momentous feat we’ve been working on is the database. Douglas,
the head collector, is fairly new to Excel and thought he should use
“save as” every time he put new information into the database. As you
can imagine, there would be 5 or 6 documents that all were “the
database” but no one knew which one was the most up-to-date. We taught
him how to “save” his changes in the same document and things have
been working out great. We’re trying to create an Excel program that
would allow us to run statistical analyses to figure out which
villages do the best, if there is an ideal age for students, what
businesses are most likely to be able to pay back on time, etc. Each
of us here has an area of expertise and so it has been fun to see how
individually we can create value for the larger scope.

On a non-SEED related topic, Stephen Sr. bought us puppies!!! We have
two little puppies that we’ve named Old Dan and Little Ann. When we
found out they were brother and sister, we couldn't resist naming them
after the dogs in Where The Red Fern Grows. We’ll upload pictures when
we get to Accra next.

Till next week,
W.W.A.C.
(Wayne, Wendy, Andi, and Carter)

Andrea Barlow Week 3

Another week gone by here in Ghana.  Time is flying.  This week things really got moving and we have been busy.  In the mornings we have been helping out at one of the local schools.  There are many to pick from.  I have been assisting with class 5 and 6.  They are actually very well educated and have great English.  We have been working on decimal fractions as well as English skills.  The teacher asked me to cover science that day which was all about food preparation and preservation.  He could not understand the fact that we just buy everything at the store ready to go for us.  One of their main exports is cocoa and he wanted to know all about what happens when the bags or dried cocoa get to America.  I honestly could not even fathom.  He has asked me to come back next Tuesday and preserve some kind of food for the class and show them all the steps.

            As far as the actual loaning part we have started our second class of second time loans and are finishing up our first class.  For the first class we finished all the lessons covering savings, budgeting, and other simple accounting things to find out profitability.  After the class finished on Monday we wrote loan proposals for each one.  Luckily the “Loan Master” Douglas has been assisting us to help determine the amounts for the second loans.  The native knowledge is essential. 

            As far as Africa itself it is everything anyone could expect.  We haven’t had power in days.  It’s hot!  Nothing starts on time.  Everyone is extremely happy and kids are obsessed with us.  They also are always asking us for money or candy and yelling “obroni” as we walk down the streets.  I am even more adamant now about not giving handouts.  A group of BYU nurses gave all the little kids toothbrushes and floss.  While this would seem like a good idea they were used as toys and just created terrible behavior in the children. The people are amazingly strong.  They carry everything on their heads.  It’s common to see people walking around with full trees on their heads balanced and not even using their hands.  It really is incredible.  They also work insanely hard and work from 3 am until the sun goes down and have multiple jobs.  It’s been great getting to know the locals.  They are definitely a special people.  

Week Two

Greetings from Abomosu! This week has been fantastic. The four of us
have split up and are teaching phase 3 classes in Akwadum and Ekorso;
about 15 students total. One of the most rewarding experiences about
teaching these incredible people is when it finally “clicks” for them.
The information we teach is just theory, until it can be taught in
such a way that it becomes applicable to them. By far, the most
challenging aspect we have come across is trying to communicate. As
great as our translators are, we are never quite sure how much of our
teaching is being communicated to the students.  We will be finishing
up Akwadum and Ekorso phase 3 classes this week, which is when we will
turn to teaching phase 1 and incorporating Abomosu into our classes.

Paddy, one of the students from Ekorso, seems to really have a grasp
on the importance of figuring out all aspects of a business. Over the
weekend, we saw him in one of the villages we were touring around.
When asked what he was doing, he responded, “I want to make sure I am
paying a good price from my suppliers.” If only all of our students
could be like him!

We have our weekly service lined up! We will be helping out at the
schools and the new community library. They also have a health clinic
that we’d like to volunteer at, but Stephen wants us to help get this
library project off its feet. The library is beautiful! They probably
only have 50ish books so far, but with the help of a generous donation
from World Joy, they expect to have the library filled with books in
the next several months. Stephen and the other community leaders are
making a strong push to help increase adult literacy. Instead of
seeing adults sitting around, Stephen would like to see them reading.
The plan is for us to do story time with the children, in addition to
tutoring the adults in the evening.

We’ll be making our first trek to Accra this weekend! Wish us luck ;)

Sincerely,

W.W.A.C.
(Wayne, Wendy, Andi, Carter)

Week 1

We are grateful for the support people we have had in our lives that
have helped us get from point A to point B. There was a group of
school kids that were on our plane from JFK to Ghana who didn’t have
their visas, so they had to de-plane, which delayed our plane. People
like Liz Allred, who was in charge of making sure we had all the forms
we needed, have a very thankless role, but are imperative to have. A
team is only as good as their coach; we so grateful for all the many
coaches we have had and continue to have on our team that helps us be
successful.

Our first night we spent in Accra and the next morning we drove up to
the small village we will be living at in the hills called Abomosu.
As we were driving up to Abomosu we had a few “interesting”
experiences.  We first were stopped by a cop who asked to see our
license and insurance.  Then he wanted proof we had caution triangles
which are required incase a car breaks down or there is an accident.
They were under all the baggage so we had to unpack the whole car.  He
still wasn’t satisfied and said the tires needed more air.  Douglas,
the head loan collector who was with us slipped him 5 cedis (about
$1.50) and the cop said we could go.  Only a few minutes later we were
stopped by another cop holding an automatic rifle and dressed in army
gear and a helmet ordering for us to get out of the car.  Yelling
“show me your guns!” He asked us a series of questions and was
satisfied and we were allowed to progress.  It was a interesting car
ride.

Our week has been full of going out with Douglas and meeting with
people who are behind on their loans.  We have done very well. We have
also put a lot of time and effort into trying to locating and
accounting for all of the cash which has been sitting around while the
interns were away.  Our days have also been filled with trying to
update the accounting ledger and records so we can have accurate
records of who is behind and who is not.  We are getting the layout of
the land as well as understanding how businesses are run here.

As our fun weekend activity on Saturday we took a $1 and one-hour taxi
ride to “Tini Waterfall” and hiked for a half hour to get up to a
remote waterfall that fell from a beautiful cliff.  It was really
amazing!  We couldn’t help ourselves and climbed over a bunch of rocks
and jumped on in. It was a tad cold but not too bad.  It really was
beautiful!  We then walked down to the village and bought some yummy
fried banana chips and FanIce which is like ice cream! Sooo yummy! We
later drove home dodging pot holes and driving more on the side of the
road than the pavement because it is more smooth.  It is green and
beautiful here.  We look forward to beginning teach our phase 3
classes to people who have already paid of their original loan on
Monday.

Week 12: Saying Goodbye

We had a busy last week in the bush. Margaret came back from Accra to give us a send off party. We finalized funding in Asamama, worked on collections, enjoyed a last dinner with the Abu's, gave our farewells to Douglas, and headed to Accra. Somewhere in there, we managed to volunteer at the Abomosu Health Clinic twice for a couple of hours, as well as take the hike to Teeny Falls (which is a beautiful hike, even if there is no waterfall during the Dry Season). Since we are in Accra now, we decided that we would let the pictures speak, since we've been limited in posting pictures while we haven't had the best internet. Enjoy!

We are going to miss the people we've gotten to know so well over the past few months, particularly the Abu's and Douglas. We are so grateful for the opportunities that we've had to learn and grow in Ghana this semester.

At the Health Clinic, David was given the task of tearing paper in half...a lot of it.

Teeny Falls

Douglas and his daughter, Annette. Douglas' family made us some AMAZING fufu and palm nut soup.

Week 11: Funding

The Asamama Farmers

This week, we’ve finally gotten everything in order to fund our Asamama class. We’ve had some challenges due to our inability to connect to the internet. We’ve had to be patient until the internet was working well enough to access the database, but once all of the accounting was verified for Ghana WSV cash flows, we were given the go ahead to fund our 27 students. Up until the point in the semester, we had only funded second-time loans. There’s a different sense of accomplishment with the first time loan recipients. The process of teaching the classes were longer in duration. Also, the amount of time invested in due diligence, interviewing, grading homework, selecting the best students, and writing business plans was quite extensive. We couldn’t have asked for a better last Friday in Abomosu than we got with funding the 27 top students from our class of 60 finishers.

Week #10

We are starting to wrap things up here in Ghana. We were very excited to end the week by funding our Akwadum/Akwaduso combined second-loan classes. We were able to give out 17 loans to four different pods. All of these 17 people paid back their first loans in full and on time. Additionally, they attended all of our intermediate classes and did well on their homework. They were all so excited to finally be receiving their funding that they were willing to meet us early on a Saturday morning to fill out the paperwork and get the cash.

This week, we also attended a school fundraiser for Akwadum and Ekorso. Douglas was the chair of the event, so we went to support him. It was fun to see him fulfilling one of his other roles, and it was a testament to what an amazing man he is. Douglas is very impressive with all that he manages to get done from day to day. We enjoyed spending time with his two youngest children, Slyvester and Annette.

The interns with Douglas' son, Slyvester

After funding our Akwadum/Akwaduso class