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.

African textile workshop

Once upon a time, in Ewe villages of Ghana, women would save a small piece of each piece of cloth that they bought and add it to a patchwork. For those with alot of cloth this was a public display of wealth.

The culture of African cloth is so fascinating that we offer a workshop each summer where participants can learn textile techniques from African artisans, visit museum and galleries, cloth markets and villages.

African textile workshop in Ghana

August 2- 15, 2009

Workshops and accommodations are at Aba House, a building based on indigenous African architecture located in a fishing village across the street from the ocean. Attending will give the unique opportunity of interacting with Ghanaians on a personal level.

You can download a brochure at http://www.culturalcollaborative.org

or contact aba@culturalcollaborative.org

The new year

In typical African fashion we are bit late with our first blog of the new year. It's our goal to get one out each month.....I am in awe of people who manage to write one everyday!
Ghana has a new president, John Atta Mills, and America has a new president, Barack Obama. Last year when President Bush came to Ghana, I asked a Ghanaian why he thought that he had come and the Ghanaian said, "I think that he's selling mosquito nets." Let's hope that when President Obama visits the expectations are higher.

The Aba House kids are participating in One World-Many Papers, an exhibit being assembled in Tawain and traveling around the world until the end of 2010. It will open at the Distillary Gallery in Boston, MA USA on April 3,2009.
The exhibit is a map of the world made up of handmade paper from 42 countries. The Aba House kids were asks to represent Ghana and are the only children in the exhibit. As always, we are very proud of them.

Aba will participate in a conference, also to be held in Boston, entitled "International Opportunities in the Arts" to take place April 3-5,2009.

We have put together a teachers kit ( grades 1-3) that contains everything needed to teach a unit on Ghana. The feedback from teachers using them has been positive. Among other things the kit contains a DVD of various craftspeople working in Ghana and a DVD of Ghanaian music. If interested, contact us and we'll send more information.

For a fun diversion go to http://www.adinkragame.com/ and pass the cursor over the symbols.
And if you want to buy adinkra stamps, we'd be happy to sell them to you.

As always, we will be working with the Aba House children this coming summer and have several volunteers to teach papermaking, bookbinding and other creative skills. We are looking for a volunteer to teach computer skills. Aba House has 6 donated computers and many, many children who'd like to learn how to use them. Know any geeks who'd like to summer in an African fishing village?

And we'll end with a poem by GOETHE:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genious, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.



aba@culturalcollaborative.org

Gallery opening

The Aba House kids had a show of their work at the Phoenix Gallery in NYC.
We have posted a few photos of the opening at http://picasaweb.google.com/abatours
We'd like to thank everyone who joined us for the opening.

If you couldn't attend, but would like to make a purchase, please go to http://culturalcollaborative.ecarter.com

All proceeds from sales are used to pay school related expenses for the Aba House kids in Ghana.