summer in Ghana

Cross Cultural Collaborative offers many exciting opportunities for people who want to spend their summers in Ghana.

You can volunteer to work with children in a fishing village, take workshops to learn indigenous skills, go on a tour or just relax at our cultural center across the street from the ocean.

Because we are a small, self funded non-profit we ask people to pay for room and board and lessons,etc. The cost is low and the rewards are memorable.

There is a wonderful site where you might find funding. This is a comprehensive, pretty amazing source for funding opportunities and also residencies...in case you don't want one in Ghana!

change comes oh so slowly

There is a book entitled " Africa-Dispatches From A Fragile Continent" written by Blaine Harden.

It's a fascinating glimpse into African culture ,covering many countries on the continent, but because I work in Ghana, I am suggesting Chapter 2: Eye of the family.

Although written in 1990 and referring to the '80's what is striking is the timeliness of the story.
Unfortunately, not much has changed. He talks about the burdens encountered by a Ghanaian who has to support his extended family...sometimes not even a blood relative, but maybe the daughter of your mothers next door neighbor. It's skewing of the economy and the collapse of so many businesses. If you hire a relative to work for you based on his relation to you instead of his skills, you will not be in business very long.

He talks about the belief in juju (magic) which doesn't help either. And there's jealousy- deceit- guilt...

Almost every visitor to Ghana remarks on how happy and friendly the Ghanaians are. Well, it's not unlike life in the rest of the world where there is a public face and the face you show your family.

Interesting film

I happened across a film called " T Shirt Travels " which you can view free on snagfilms.com.
Although about Zambia, it really represents most of Africa and is compelling on many different levels.

It starts with the question. "What happens to second hand clothes that are donated to organizations like the Salvation Army ? " For one thing a significant number of them travel through many hands and end up being sold on the streets of Africa. And as the film unfolds, many other questions come to mind.

The largest export business in the US, according to the film , is second hand clothes. They have many local names in Africa. In Ghana the term translates into dead white mans clothes. Africans can't imagine giving them away unless the owner is dead and doesn't need them anymore. In Accra there's a long line of second hand mens suits for sale. I am told that they are bought to bury people in. I guess what comes around, goes around.

Although this sounds like it might be a humorous film, it is really very sad. There are no more textile mills in Zambia. And this film raises the question of colonial mentality and the perception thst donating their clothes, to the westerner, is a good thing, but to many Africans it's just another example of throwing them the discards.

Volunteering

Why would someone want to volunteer to work in a developing country? It's not for the money. To volunteer usually means to work for free and often involves paying for the opportunity.

Perhaps it would be to experience another culture, not as a tourist, but as an accepted member of the community. The volunteer is able to intereact with locals on a very personal level.

Your reason for volunteering is very important because it can mean the difference between a good experience and an unhappy one.

Some of our volunteers at Aba House are fantastic and with some I am reminded of the saying, "You get what you pay for."

One might think that there is a correlation between age, experience and maturity in the making of a good volunteer, but that's not necessarily true. Some young people blossom when given the chance to help and some older people can't handle the adjustment to new curcumstances.

Above all, a sense of humor helps. There are times when I think that the only reason that Ghanaians let visitors in is to have someone to laugh at. An outsider is fair game, especially with children. We've had volunteers eager to practice their new vocabularies...only to find that the children didn't teach them to say what they thought they were saying!

I would also suggest that you have a serious conversation with yourself about your comfort level. Can you live without hot water for a few weeks, and how about electricity? Can you, heavens forbid, wash your clothes by hand? Does it really matter if the humidity curls your hair? If you want a foreign country to be just like home, then maybe you should have stayed at home.

As a volunteer you probably expect to be a teacher. If you approach the experience the right way, you will also be taught. It's a very liberating feeling to meet new people and to see things through their eyes. There's something about working in another enviroment that makes people introspective. This is a good time to evaluate what you want to do with the rest of your life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "No man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

And if you're a good volunteer, this will be true.

VIDEOS

If you'd like to see how we make paper at Aba House:

http://www.youtube.com/abahousekids

If you'd like to be in the picture, come volunteer. We are interested in all of your skills that can be taught to our kids.

We have some donated computers..would you like to come do a workshop on how to use them for self publishing? aba@culturalcollaborative.org

Want to see some more videos? On the VIDEO page at http://www.culturalcollaborative.org see how to make glass beads, print adinkra cloth and drum without drums. It just takes imagination.

check out some other blogs

http://artezanolinks.blogspot.com

amazingly full of content about textiles, culture , plus much more

with a link to her fiber focus blog which is also full of interesting information

http://globalwomenscrafts.blogspot.com

Karen has a big heart which is obvious when you read her blog

Lucky us, she is volunteerting to work with the Aba House kids

http://janeingramallenart.blogspot.com

Jane is a well know paper maker who travels the world making paper from indigenous plants. This blog is about the show she is organizing called ONE WORLD-MANY PAPER featuring paper artists from over 40 countries and Ghana is represented by the Aba House kids

and the rendition of Aba House which you see above is by Evans, one of our regulars. It will become part of a wall hanging which is being co-ordinated by our volunteer Leslie.

Aba House

This is a picture of Aba House. What you don't see is the ocean across the street, the goats in the back and our neighbor Mr. Hummer. I call him Mr. Hummer because he has one parked in his yard right next to us.

Talk about cross cultural....here we are in our mud house which is based on indgenous African architecture teaching visitors about traditional culture and there he is. Well, he lets us use his swimming pool, so we'll leave it at that.

Aba House has 8 guest rooms with attached bathrooms. The rest of the house was designed with open areas for exhibitions, classes, workshops and outside, which is where we do most of our creating has alot more space.

In the photo you see sugar cane growing and that is what we use to make our paper. Most people, when they hear that, smell the paper. No it doesn't smell sweet, but it's sweet to look at!

And do you see the crocodile? He and several that you can't see protect us and were made by a young local artist who, wonderously, has never seen a real one.

James is self taught and when asked where he gets his inspiration, he says "I saw it in a dream."

If you come to Aba House, you will meet James, the crocodiles and I'll even introduce you to Mr. Hummer.