Carol's question:
My first year university room-mate and friend Carol Wai donated to my EWB fundraising campaign and asked the first question about Ghana. First of all thank you for your donation Carol, it means the world to me to see the impact we're having able to continue. I'm sure it won't be much of a stretch for you to imagine me being in a new environment, not knowing what to wear, or even how to order a coffee.
Here is what I learned in response to her question "What does a Ghanaian think of then they hear Canada?".:
First I asked a young boy yelling "foreigner!" at me in his local language. His response: "I don't know, what is Canada? Give me Canada!
Then I asked my''sister'', the woman of the house in the family I am staying with. Her reply: "I think you are from Canada. Tom is also from Canada." (Tom is a previous EWB volunteer)
I thought a university student might know, so I asked one: University student: "I think it is far away." (Further probing questions got no more info. This is how far rote learning goes.)
Of course the supreme chief's primary son had an interesting response. He asked back: "Do you have machine or hand weeding of maize (corn) in Canada?"
***I had no idea - do we even weed corn fields in Canada? can anyone answer this for me?***
(He then wanted to know if we have traditional chiefs in Canada to which I said yes, and then whether my chief was a good chief, which he further defined as being a very wealthy chief like his father. He didn't really believe that I didn't know how wealthy my traditional chief was, and explaining that I was traditionally Irish didn't clarfiy matters at all.)
Last of all I was speaking to politician from Ghana's capital who was visiting Walewale (the village that I am currently in) for his sister's funeral, and this was his response:
"I think the best NGOs are from Canada. They are the most effective and the best are helping all of Africa more than any country, because they have the most and the best NGOs. I think soon Canada is the best country in the world and everyone is wanting to go to that country. What can you do for my constituents?"
(I was super-excited to ask this guy, because he would actually know a little about Canada, but I guess a politician is a politician anywhere. Its worth noting that China is providing by far the most funding, and who has the best strategy could be debated late into the night.)
Great post Pam! Sounds like you had an interesting conversation on types of "good" NGOs, and where the best ones come from. Can't wait to hear more from your conversations and observations!
ReplyDeleteThanks Josh, I find that in Canada I judge development by the ethical framework it works in, and in Ghana on effectiveness, which I suppose has to do with what information is available to us. I'll post more on it.
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